There was a time as recently as 4 years ago where movies didn’t excite me. At all. I could have cared less to take 2 hours of my time and sit still watching something. And then I was jobless and going to the movies became a fun experience for me because it took me away from my joblessness and took me to a suspenseful place, or a funny place, or a smarter place, sometimes even a dumber place.

In 2008, I decided to see every “Best Picture” nominee, because it was a reasonable, reachable goal. And I achieved that goal. The joy of seeing all of the movies was that I could bitch about how “Juno” didn’t belong in the same category as “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will be Blood,” “Michael Clayton,” and “Atonement.” And thankfully, “Juno” didn’t win “Best Picture.

This year, Oscar decided to mess with my wallet, by nominating 10 movies. However, I’ve outsmarted Oscar because now I have a job and thus money that I can choose to spend on movies, as opposed to food or housing. With that, I give you my picks for the 82nd Academy Awards (I’m only going with the main awards, not the visual, audio editing, etc.):

Best Foreign Language Film
“The White Ribbon”
“The Milk of Sorrow”
“Un Prophete”
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
“Ajami”

The Winner: “The White Ribbon.” Running away. I saw none of these and never will because lately, I find that reading subtitles distracts me, which is troublesome. But this isn’t about my neurosis, so we’ll move on.

Best Animated Feature
“Up”
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Secret of Kells”
“The Princess and the Frog”

The Winner: “Up.” If it’s nominated for Best Picture and none of the others are, it would stand to reason that it would be the winner. Its only other contender is “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” but I think “Up” is a fairly solid pick here.

Best Adapted Screenplay
“District 9”
“An Education”
“Up in the Air”
“In the Loop “
“Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire”

The Winner: “Up in the Air.” This is an easy pick on the surface, but harder when you start to think about it. “Up in the Air” has lost a lot of steam in terms of hype and I think that “Precious” is a contender, but for my money, “Up in the Air’s” screenplay was miles better than its competition here.

Best Original Screenplay
“Avatar”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Up”
“A Serious Man”
“The Messenger”

The Winner: “The Hurt Locker.” I’ve changed this pick 3 times now. Originally, I went with “Up.” Then I decided on “Avatar.” Finally, I went with “The Hurt Locker.” I picked “Up” because I think it’s a dark horse with some legs, but I’m not sure that this is such a dark horse year for the Oscars, in terms of award distribution. The dark horses came in the nomination process. I’m going with “The Hurt Locker” over “Avatar” because comparing the two screenplays, I thought “The Hurt Locker’s” was better, but still not necessarily the best in this category.

(In some sort of idiotic recalling of nominees, I included “Avatar” (which is not actually nominated) in this category and excluded “Inglourious Basterds” (which is). This was an obscenely gross error, as far as I’m concerned. I’m still going with “The Hurt Locker,” though. I apologize for me stupidity.)

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon (“Invictus”)
Woody Harrleson (“The Messenger”)
Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”)
Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones”)
Christopher Plummer (“The Last Station”)

The Winner: Christoph Waltz. Someone tell me how Stanley Tucci and Matt Damon got nominated for “The Lovely Bones” and “Invictus.” Please. Who saw “The Lovely Bones?” Moving on…

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga (“Up in the Air”)
Anna Kendrick (“Up in the Air”)
Mo’Nique (“Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire”)
Penelope Cruz (“Nine”)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (“Crazy Heart”)

The Winner: Mo’Nique. If you had told me two years ago that Mo’Nique would be winning an Academy Award, I would have asked you who Tyler Perry paid and how much. She was stunningly good in “Precious.” All of these performances (I haven’t seen “Nine”) were phenomenally good and I’d be happy if any of them won. I’m looking forward to this category as much as any other, short of “Best Picture.”

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”)
George Clooney (“Up in the Air”)
Jeremy Renner (“The Hurt Locker”)
Colin Firth (“A Single Man”)
Morgan Freeman (“Invictus”)

The Winner: Jeff Bridges. Easy. He makes the Bad Blake character a beautiful man, even when he’s throwing up on himself outside of a bowling alley in Santa Fe. He’s just great. As much as I loved Clooney, this deserves to be Jeff Bridges award.

Best Actress
Meryl Streep (“Julie and Julia”)
Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”)
Carey Mulligan (“An Education”)
Gabourey Sidibe (“Precious: Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire”)
Helen Mirren (“The Movie That She Was in During This Film Cycle, No Matter What It Was About or Who Saw It”)

The Winner: Sandra Bullock. Hard. The opposite of its “Best Actor” counterpart. Streep and Sidibe are contenders and Sidibe would fit the bill as a “great story” if she won. Sidibe was great in her role as Preciouis. And Streep (though I haven’t seen “Julie and Julia”) is Meryl Streep. She can win any time she’s nominated. And of course, don’t forget Mirren, who I don’t care the least bit about, but people fawn over even though she seems to play the same character in her movies. And just because she should be mentioned, I loved Carey Mulligan in the very underrated “An Education.” But for me, surprisingly as it was to me, Bullock was terrific in “The Blind Side.” Just the right amount of sass. And charm. And presence. You really can’t take your eyes off of Bullock in her scenes. She’s just great. I can’t believe I’m typing this. She was also in “All About Steve” this year. Let’s try to forget that and move on.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”)
James Cameron (“Avatar”)
Quentin Tarantino (“Inglourious Basterds”)
Lee Daniels (“Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire)
Jason Reitman (“Up in the Air”)

The Winner: Kathryn Bigelow. This is massively awkward because of Cameron and Bigelow’s previous marriage and the fact that their vehicles here are so different (more on that soon). I give the nod to Bigelow, very tentatively over Cameron, because of the suspense she built in “The Hurt Locker.” Tarantino is considered “due” by Academy standards, but he’s not the kind of director that mainstream America roots for, like Scorsese is/was before he won his “Best Director” award for “The Departed.” I don’t know that Bigelow has the body of work to push her past Cameron if this is a head-to-head, but “The Hurt Locker” is an Academy movie and “Avatar” is not, or at least shouldn’t be. Which reminds me:

Best Picture
“Up”
“Up in the Air”
“An Education”
“Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire”
“Avatar”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“The Hurt Locker”
“District 9”
“The Blind Side”
“A Serious Man”

Before I get to the my pick for winner, I’m going to place odds on each of these movies to win “Best Picture” in terms of my own personal opinion. I’d like to take wagers from folks, but I’m not sure if I’d ever pay out if someone won. Here’s how I think they stand:

“Avatar”: 3 to 2
“The Hurt Locker”: 2 to 1
“Inglourious Basterds”: 5 to 1
“Precious” Based on the…”: 8 to 1
“Up in the Air”: 10 to 1
“Up”: 15 to 1
“The Blind Side”: 25 to 1
“An Education”: 50 to 1
“A Serious Man”: 100 to 1
“District 9”: 150 to 1

The Winner: “The Hurt Locker.” “Basterds” is right on its heels and you cannot count out “Avatar” because you never know with the Academy. If Cameron had not won for “Titanic” I would be pretty sure that “Avatar” would win this year, but “The Hurt Locker” comes out, despite its lack of an audience, in a time when the War on Something (Iraq) is really unpopular and it showcases the realistic human element of that life and is incredibly suspenseful. “Basterds” is a realistic dark horse, but I don’t think there’s enough Tarantino support. I’ll take my own 2 to 1 odds on “The Hurt Locker.

And now, I let you know how I really feel about movies. Here are the “Best Picture” nominees, ranked in reverse order of how much I enjoyed them.

10. “Avatar”: Just a giant, expensive piece of crap. The writing and acting are deplorable in this movie. For as pretty as it is, I don’t really care. I don’t like when a director/writer relies on art direction to make a movie. To me, a script will always make a movie. And “Avatar” ain’t got that, baby.

9. “District 9”: I waited to see it until the last moment and I can see why. I’ll never know if this movie wanted to be an action movie or a black comedy, because it didn’t really work on either front. An interesting enough story, I guess. It wins out over “Avatar” here because it didn’t take too much of my time, whereas James Cameron owes me 150 minutes.

8. “A Serious Man”: Forgettable performances, forgettable writing, predictable ending, because it was done by the Coen brothers. Time has not favored this movie in my head.

7. “The Blind Side”: There’s a huge gap between “Avatar” and “The Blind Side.” This was an enjoyable movie. It was not groundbreaking cinema, but I never looked at my watch once and found it a passable way to spend 130 minutes of my life.

6. “Up”: The opening 15 minutes were great, but from there the movie slipped a little for me. I didn’t love this. It was an okay effort. I found myself hopelessly annoyed with Russell.

5. “Precious: Based on, eh whatever”: Great performances by Mo’Nique and Sidibe make this movie very good, but not great. The writing seriously could have used some work.

4. “An Education”: We now enter the great category. This was a terrific movie that could have very easily been in my Top 2 with a different ending. But before the ending, I loved every bit of it. Equal parts somber, weird, cute, and interesting, its greatness was due in large part to wonderful performances by Carey Mulligan and the always great Peter Sarsgaard.

3. “The Hurt Locker”: I did not leave the theatre raving about how good of a time I had, but I can acknowledge certainly that this is a great movie. As I’ve mentioned already and everyone else has, you won’t find a more suspenseful movie. The acting is pretty good, though I don’t believe Renner deserved a nomination for “Best Actor.” It finds itself ahead of “An Education” because of the movie that it wants to be and succeeds in being. Bigelow took a risk making this movie and pulled off a great piece of film.

2. “Inglourious Basterds”: I don’t think I had more fun at a movie than I did the first time I saw “Basterds” in theatres. The end sequence is phenomenal, but not my favorite. I could watch the first scene of this movie every day and never, ever get tired of it. I would go so far as to say that it is the best written scene I have ever seen in a film. “Au Revoir Shoshanna!”

1. “Up in the Air”: This will eventually go down as one of my favorite movies ever. It’s kind of like “Garden State” for intelligent 20 and 30 somethings. Except the ending is perfect. And the acting is perfect. And the writing is perfect. And…Look, this is not groundbreaking cinema. Every year, there is/are one or two or three movies that resemble “Up in the Air” in some way. None are this good though. This is a movie that can easily have its viewers changed by the time they leave the theatre. It sticks with you long after you see it. Not enough can be said for how good Clooney, Farmiga, and Kendrick are both together and separately. Their performances are completely spot on. I saw it twice in theatres and I could easily go again and again and again and, you know what, it would affect me the same each time. And I love that in movies. And that’s why “Up in the Air” is my favorite movie from this cycle of films. And the one I’ll be rooting for the most this Sunday.