Now that Bruce Springsteen won't be singing, and Slumdog Millionaire has Best Picture in the bag the 81st Oscars are looking kind of boring. Not only is Slumdog a lock for Best Pic, but it's also pretty much the one to beat for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Song and Best Adapted Screenplay. There are people that will tell you that Milk or The Reader may sneak up from behind in the Best Pic category. Pay them no mind.

The one race that is still genuinely interesting is the one for Best Actor. Only in an incredibly strong year would Frank Langella's brilliant performance in Frost/Nixon be considered a long shot, or at the very best a dark horse. Brad Pitt's performance in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is probably the one that I liked the least out of the bunch, but I'm still not one of that film's many detractors.

I've been mulling over Sean Penn (Milk) vs. Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler) since the nominations have been announced. As far winning is concerned, Penn probably has the edge at this point, but not by much. As far as my own preference, I'm not 100% decided either way. I don't really care if Penn has won already, and I'm not letting that influence my decision. In a lot of ways he pulled off a bigger stunt than Rourke did. After all, he's considered to be one of the most straight-faced, tough-as-nails actors working today and he played a homosexual man with total conviction. Rourke obviously had more of a personal emotional base for his character. Ultimately, that means I probably give a slight edge to Penn as well. The real conclusion is that they are both completely deserving of an Oscar.

This race reminds me of the one between Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York) back in 2003. Both performances were excellent, and I remember that many Oscar prognosticators were split on who was going to win. Almost nobody predicted that Adrien Brody would ultimately walk away with the prize for his performance in The Pianist. Does that mean a split could happen this year? Possibly. There are crazier predictions out there. If a split did happen, Frank Langella would be the one to benefit from it.