I'm curious where people are parking their money during these economic times. 

*When is it a good idea to get bullish? 

*Is the current run-up in the market for real or a sucker's rally?

*Where will the DOW be at the end of the year?

*Are there specific stocks or sectors that you like?

Having seen three of the five Best Picture nominees, Slumdog Millionaire is the best (Haven't seen Frost/Nixon and Milk), but it's a narrow victory.

Slumdog Millionaire tries to do too much.  The lead protagonist, Jamal, and his brother witness and experience unimaginable tragedies throughout their childhoods.  We learn of these tragedies through flashbacks in Jamal's appearance on a game show later in life.   We also learn the horrific conditions of the people of India and -- in that sense -- Slumdog Millionaire provides a valuable service, helping the world learn more about India's plight.

There are heart-wrenching scenes which make us want to turn our eyes.  As a father of two, seeing a child intentionally mamed -- for profit no lesss -- is perhaps the most difficult thing to watch.  There are also tender moments involving the two boys and a young girl whom the two brothers meet as they go forward in their journey.  While difficult to watch, it's these scenes that give Slumdog Millionaire its soul; they provide us the reason for caring about these three children.

The best scenes are those involving the trio when they're younger. It's easy to love these children and impossible to understand how adults could exploit such beautiful creations of God.   There is, however, a slight disconnect between these three child actors and their teenage counterparts.  The older actors don't carry forward the passion, charm and scars of sacrifice that the younger actors created for them earlier in the film.  The older Jamal doesn't seem like the good-hearted and charming young lad who played his part in the earlier years.  Instead he -- and this goes for the other two teenaged actors too -- act like three entirely difference characters.

There was also too much whimsy for my taste.  Instead of maintaining a sense of seriousness given the dire fates these children suffered, the film unnecessarily pushes farce.  One example is when the boys try to steal food from a moving train.  Another is when they act as tour guides for the Taj Mahal in an effort to scam money from unsuspecting vacationers.

Slumdog Millionaire ends a little too neatly.  You could almost see the red bow on it as they rolled credits.  That's too bad because the movie has a raw authenticity to it... so much that I Googled to see if the story was a true one. (It's not.)  The film's back story is so serious that I wish its payoff scenes kept in accordance.

Looking over my review I noticed that it sounds negative.  I didn't mean that.  Slumdog Millionaire is still a wonderful film because of its superior film making and acting in the early time period.  There's also a terrific musical score that will likely make it into my car CD player.  And, above all, the movie has heart.   I give Slumdog Millionaire an 8 on a 1-10 scale.

Go see Slumdog Millionaire.  And write in with your opinions.

My wife and co-anchor, Kelli Saam, and I are avid fans of the Academy Awards.  Since we started dating we’ve played a game to see which of us could correctly predict the most number of Oscar winners.  We even have an Oscar Trophy with “J” or “K” engraved next to the year’s winner.  Thus far, Kelli leads 9-7.

The categories are weighted so that the more prestigious categories have a higher point value.  Best Picture is worth five points, the acting categories are four, screenplays are three, etc.  The lowest value is one for categories like Short Documentary, which no one cares about.  The total value of all of the categories is 50.   

Neither of us is allowed to make the same prediction in the same category.  This is known as The Titanic Rule.  In 1997, Kelli and I agreed on almost all of the categories as Titanic was predicted to win so many awards.  Since we both picked Titanic so many times there wasn’t as much suspense and wasn’t as much fun.  Since then we alternate the first pick with every other category.

With such deep thought and effort spent on our Oscar game, it’s imperative we see as many of the nominated films as possible.  Because we now have children, we have to have a crash course in movie watching since most of the nominated films are not appropriate for kids.

We started this past weekend and both saw The Reader.  This was very good although I’m hoping the other four Best Film nominations are better.  Kate Winslet, who spends half the movie nude, is very convincing as an illiterate former Nazi guard who has an affair with a 15-year-old boy.  Ralph Fiennes is -- as he’s always been since after Schindler’s List -- aggravatingly dull with his one-dimensional step-by-step plodding-like acting.  The story is interesting enough, however, to withstand Fiennes’ acting.  On a 1-to-10 scale (10 being best), I give The Reader a 7½.

                                                         -30-