Warning: May contain spoilers. And yes, I know, we’ve been through it all back to front by now, but here’s my tuppence worth (if it’s even worth that. Bah, who cares, none of you are paying anyway). Slumdog Millionaire? A good night out, if you don’t mind footage of children being mutilated in your feelgood flicks, but really, best film of the year? Though I am glad to see it get the nod for score – say what you like about M.I.A.’s Paper Planes but that stuff is catchy and hey, I loved the big dance sequence at the end.  Mark my words, with this whole tanking economy business, musicals are going to be HUGE again. It’s an uplift thing. Brace yizzerselves. Milk impressed me, but more for the story – hard to go wrong with such a subject, really. And yes, Sean Penn plays a gay man convincingly, but why is everyone acting as if this is the world’s greatest accomplishment? As for that Benjamin Button business, I have no intention of going near it, frankly. Anyone like to tell me why I should? And seriously, Angelina Jolie in Changeling? I’m not saying she’s bad, but frankly, I couldn’t get past the fact that she was never, ever seen without her eye shadow. Such weighty issues distracted from the frothy subject matter of missing children and women being incarcerated.  Heath Ledger scared the pants off me in The Dark Knight, but it’s impossible to know how much of my knowledge of his subsequent death infused my experience of that film. I would suspect a lot, and along with the rest of the world, predict he’ll win the Supporting Actor gong. Finally, I did enjoy Wall-E, the first part in particular, where he trundles adorably around cleaning up rubbish on a burnished earth. Didn’t quite warm to the stuff in the spaceship so much, in terms of the aesthetic, though the concept was amusing. What else about the Oscars? Not seen Doubt yet, have been avoiding The Reader (I’ve read the book, I know the story) and don’t want to go near Revolutionary Road until I’ve read the book and know that story too. And hurray to Martin McDonagh for In Bruges. But seriously, it just all feels interminably dull and uninspiring. Does anyone really believe these awards mean anything other than a box office boost?