The Academy Awards are coming up this Sunday, and even though no one really cares (nor should they) who wins what at Hollywood’s biggest circle jerk, the event is capping off a run of particularly strong movies that ended 2008. Here’s a brief overview of the Oscar hopefuls, though don’t worry: you won’t find any predictions here.

The Academy Awards are coming up this Sunday, and even though no one really cares (nor should they) who wins what at Hollywood’s biggest circle jerk, the event is capping off a run of particularly strong movies that ended 2008. Here’s a brief overview of the Oscar hopefuls, though don’t worry: you won’t find any predictions here.

Slumdog Millionaire: Probably the most buzzed about movie currently, and for good reason.  Given life by Simon Beaufoy’s fantastic adaptation from novel “Q & A,” Slumdog is a refreshingly original story that mixes joy with heartbreak and sacrifice with love. It is poignant, funny, romantic, and intelligent—it captures an essence that is undeniably human. The film boasts a brilliant cast, with the child actors portraying the central characters perfect at every age. And if Danny Boyle’s breathtaking direction—shooting the slums of Mumbai so that it becomes a character itself—is the soul of the film, A.R. Rahman’s original soundtrack is the pulsing heart. You won’t find a more enjoyable movie all year.

Milk: Milk follows the life of Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official who was killed a year after being voted into office. As Milk, Sean Penn’s acting chops are on full display: he goes beyond mimicry of gestures and vocal inflections and completely immerses himself into the character, turning in a truly remarkable performance. The rest of the cast, led by Josh Brolin who plays Milk’s fellow San Francisco supervisor and eventual assassin, is stellar. The film is a real passion project for director Gus Van Sant, who, working from a script penned by newcomer Dustin Lance Black, vividly recreates San Fransisco’s Castro district in the 1970s with great attention to detail. An excellent film in its own right, Milk is given an added punch considering today’s ongoing struggle for gay rights, punctuated by the passing of Prop 8.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Based loosely—very loosely—on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name, Benjamin Button traces the life of a man (Brad Pitt) as he ages backward. It’s an intriguing concept and the film’s stunning visual effects do it justice, but unfortunately the rest of the movie doesn’t quite match up to its beautiful appearance. The acting (especially Pitt’s) is just what it needs to be to move the narrative along, but it serves as more of an empty vessel for the story itself to move through. The real problem is the script, essentially a regurgitation of Forrest Gump and written by—surprise! the same man, Eric Roth. Responsible for such visionary films like Fight Club and Se7en, David Fincher does what he can with Benjamin Button, and while it is by no means a fail it lacks the magic it could’ve had, considering the premise.

Doubt: Originally a Pulitzer-prize winning play on Broadway, Doubt is brought to the screen by the playwright himself, John Patrick Shanley. Though it loses some of its spark in this transition, the film nonetheless is a tight and fluid work that fearlessly tackles several hot issues—racism, homophobia, and patriarchy to name a few—all within the Catholic church. As it was first a play, the film is character driven and every single one of the main actors delivers: Amy Adams is wonderfully vulnerable as a conflicted nun, Viola Davis is absolutely devastating in her one ten minute scene (one of the film’s best), and Philip Seymour Hoffman holds his own as he goes to toe-to-toe with the legend herself, Meryl Streep. Streep—for lack of a better description—acts the shit out of Doubt, and it is to Hoffman’s credit that their back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse match fulfils the provocative nature of the film and leaves the viewer’s mind buzzing with uncertainty.

The Reader: Though slightly controversial because of its Holocaust-era subject matter, The Reader defies the trap of taking sides, and is a beautifully shot and carefully paced movie that stays with you long after the credits. It takes place in post WWII-Germany and follows the story of Michael Berg, a teenage boy who enjoys a torrid love affair with thirty-something Hanna Schmitz (Kate Winslet). The affair lasts only a summer, ending abruptly when Hanna disappears and leaves Michael bewildered and brokenhearted. The next time Michael sees her, he is a law student sitting in on a Nazi war crime trial, in which Hanna herself is a defendant. Just as Michael struggles to reconcile his lover’s horrific past with the profound impact she had on his life, we as viewers are given no easy way out in judging the crimes of another generation. Kate Winslet, in taking on a role that is anything but black and white, gives one of the finest performances of her career. The Reader is poignant and provocative—even if you don’t cry, you’ll definitely think.

The Wrestler: This is a simple and powerful film, and one of the best you’ll see all year. It follows a washed-up professional wrestler, Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) as he struggles to define his life outside of the ring. Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream) shoots the movie with a palpable rawness—it is brutally honest and realistic, sometimes painfully so. Though Rourke’s own journey as an actor is paralleled in Randy’s attempt at a come-back, it doesn’t take away from the weight of his performance: Rourke is the movie. He lives and breathes Randy’s passion, his aching vulnerability, his every win and his every failure. The Wrestler is one of those movies that’s so damn sad and painful, you’ll feel like your heart gets ripped out. But when it fades to a black screen at the end and the first chords of Bruce Springsteen’s title song are strummed, you’ll be glad that you suffered the pain.

Frost/Nixon: With a crackling script, solid direction, and captivating performances, this is an all-around great film. Frank Langella, in a towering feat, stars as Richard Nixon in the recreation of the famous television interviews between the British talk-show host David Frost and former president Nixon. Ron Howard directs with a deft touch and sets a quick pace, allowing the film to gather momentum as it builds to its dramatic climax. Frost/Nixon is more than politics or history—it is drama too, and good drama at that.

Revolutionary Road: I haven’t seen this one yet, but with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunited under Winslet’s real-life husband Sam Mendes’ (American Beauty) direction of the fantastic Richard Yates novel of the same name, what’s not to like?

Others to keep an eye out for:

Rachel Getting Married: A decent film showcasing a staggering performance by Anne Hathaway.

The Visitor: Well-respected character actor Richard Jenkins finally gets his leading role in writer-director Thomas McCarthy’s beautiful (and underrated) movie about immigration.