Welcome ladies and gentleman to the 3rd annual Academy Awards Prediction contest. Here is where all conflicts are resolved and one's true abillities are put to the test. Two men enter. One man leaves.

This. Is. Thunderdome.

"A Beautiful Mind" (Universal and DreamWorks) A Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment Production Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Producers

"Gosford Park" (USA Films) A Sandcastle 5 in association with Chicagofilms and Medusa Film Production Robert Altman, Bob Balaban and David Levy, Producers

"In the Bedroom" (Miramax) A Good Machine/GreeneStreet Production Graham Leader, Ross Katz and Todd Field, Producers

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (New Line) A New Line Cinema and Wingnut Films Production Nominees to be determined

"Moulin Rouge" (20th Century Fox) A 20th Century Fox Production Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann and Fred Baron, Producers

My pick: Well this is the big one isn't it? Who's gonna walk away with the trophy by the end of the night? In my mind it's likely down to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and A Beautiful Mind. But has the rumored smear campaign and historical inaccuracies damanged the Ron Howard film from winning? Rings is a big budget epic and I think the Academy loves the epics but I'm betting that A Beautiful Mind will walk away with the Oscar. I think any damage has been minimal and it was the front runner for quite a few weeks preceding the show. In addition, I feel that Lord of the Rings should probably win Best Picture and that the Academy likes to deny my desires. This way I'm outtthinking them.

In actuality, I'd say that Memento, The Man Who Wasn't There, and/or Mulholland Drive should have gotten a Best picture nomination.

Aaron's pick: The Fellowship of the Ring. I'm proud to say I've seen 4 out of the 5 here, and all of them are great movies that I would not be upset to see win. "Fellowship" definitely struck me as the most epic and ambitious and it was an amazing 3 hours.

"Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" (Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies) Nominee to be determined

"Monsters, Inc." (Buena Vista) Nominee to be determined

"Shrek" (DreamWorks) Aron Warner

My pick: It's Shrek all the way. Having seen none of these, that's my expert opinion. But from what I've read, Shrek sounds like it worked on several levels. Btw, Jimmy freaking Neutron? Okaaay.

Aaron's pick: Shrek. I don't think this award is going to come down to any sort of technical consideration, so I'm basing my pick primarily on how fun and creative Shrek was.

Ron Howard, "A Beautiful Mind"

Ridley Scott, "Black Hawk Down"

Robert Altman, "Gosford Park"

Peter Jackson, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"

David Lynch, "Mulholland Drive"

My pick: Peter Jackson's film is a massive undertaking and he pulled it off fantastically. Robert Altman directed a huge ensemble cast with ease and got the Golden Globe. David Lynch rules. I don't think Ridley Scott's ever won a Best Director Oscar before and neither has Ron Howard. So this should be difficult...

I'm gonna say that Peter Jackson's going to win this. The Academy will appreciate his ability to skillfully present such a huge experience (Titanic, Gladiator, Ben Hur, etc.).

Aaron's pick: Peter Jackson. Honestly the fact that he was making two other movies at the same time shouldn't be considered, so my vote is simply for handling such an epic tale amidst so much fan pressure and expectations.

Russell Crowe in "A Beautiful Mind"

Sean Penn in "I Am Sam"

Will Smith in "Ali"

Denzel Washington in "Training Day"

Tom Wilkinson in "In the Bedroom"

My pick: Denzel Washington's going to win since he didn't win for The Hurricane and because it's high time he got recognized for his abilities. The Academy's also likely to give the award to Washington since only ONE African-American actor, Sidney Poitier, has ever won a Best Actor Oscar. Of the others, Russell Crowe just won last year and Will Smith's still earning a status as a serious actor.

Aaron's pick: Russell Crowe. I'm a big fan of his anyway, but I think watching a dual progression of both age and mental stability was very impressive.

Halle Berry in "Monster's Ball"

Judi Dench in "Iris"

Nicole Kidman in "Moulin Rouge"

Sissy Spacek in "In the Bedroom"

Renee Zellweger in "Bridget Jones's Diary"

My pick: Renee Zellweger's role is comedic, and the Academy rarely rewards the humorous. Nicole Kidman got a lot of acclaim from Moulin Rouge. And Halle Berry's performance in Monster's Ball has been applauded. Dame Judi Dench is a veteran and unlikely to be given the prize. Sissy Spaceck is also a veteran but she hasn't won in 20 years while Dench won one in 1999.

Assuming Denzel Washington wins for best Actor, it seems unlikely to me that the Academy would also give Halle Berry an award that night also (thus making her the first African-American woman to ever win for Best Actress). So I'm thinking Sissy Spacek's going to win the Oscar. Though I think it could easily go the other way.

Aaron's pick: Nicole Kidman. To sing like she did, dance, and do so well in such a strange movie takes real talent. 

Jim Broadbent in "Iris"

Ethan Hawke in "Training Day"

Ben Kingsley in "Sexy Beast"

Ian McKellen in "The Lord of the Rings: The

Fellowship of the Ring" Jon Voight in "Ali"

My pick: Ian McKellen! Although Jon Voight and Ben Kingsley are strong competitors, I think Sir Ian McKellen's performance as Gandalf the Grey won over a lot of voters.

Aaron's pick: Jim Broadbent. No strong reason here, except that playing the second half of a character must take some talent.

Jennifer Connelly in "A Beautiful Mind"

Helen Mirren in "Gosford Park"

Maggie Smith in "Gosford Park"

Marisa Tomei in "In the Bedroom"

Kate Winslet in "Iris"

My pick: The Gosford Park actresses disqualify each other. Marisa Tomei won an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny and Kate Winslet's fallen off of film radar. Jennifer Connelly will win.

Aaron's pick: Jennifer Connelly. Although she's nothing like her real-life counterpart, she made for a memorable and powerful character.

"Amelie" by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet; dialogue by Guillaume Laurant

"Gosford Park" by Julian Fellowes

"Memento" by Christopher Nolan; story by Jonathan Nolan

"Monster's Ball" by Milo Addica & Will Rokos

"The Royal Tenenbaums" by Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson

My pick: Memento! Please Memento!

Aaron's pick: Memento. This is my personal indulgence. Considering this movie should have gotten a ton more nominations, I doubt it's going to win anything. But this definitely was the best screenplay of the year, period.

"A Beautiful Mind" by Akiva Goldsman

"Ghost World" by Daniel Clowes & Terry Zwigoff

"In the Bedroom" by Rob Festinger and Todd Field

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson

"Shrek" by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Joe Stillman and Roger S.H. Schulman

My pick: It'd be sweet if Ghost World won since it's an adaptation of the comic. But I think the Academy will instead reward the screenwriters for their difficult task of translating Tolkien's prose for the silver screen.

Aaron's pick: A Beautiful Mind. To take such a highly interior subject and make it into such a great film is truly impressive. I felt that most of the others really just had to transfer words into action.

"Amelie" Art Direction: Aline Bonetto; Set Decoration: Marie-Laure Valla

"Gosford Park" Art Direction: Stephen Altman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah

"Moulin Rouge" Art Direction: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Brigitte Broch

Art Direction: Moulin Rouge is taking this one home, although it's hard to decide. They all seem quite deserving.

Aaron's pick: Fellowship of the Ring How many sets did this film have? Must have been tons.

"Amelie" - Bruno Delbonnel

"Black Hawk Down" - Slawomir Idziak

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Andrew Lesnie

"The Man Who Wasn't There" - Roger Deakins

"Moulin Rouge" - Donald M. McAlpine

My pick: Damn this is a tough category. It'd be cool if The Man Who Wasn't There won but I think it's down to LOTR and Moulin Rouge. Sweeping shots of Middle Earth vistas wins out. LOTR for me.

Aaron's pick: Fellowship of the Ring. I'll never forget the sequences in the mines...they were some of the best I've ever seen. That alone did it for me, although I would not be shocked to see any of these movies win. All were very unique in their approach.

"The Affair of the Necklace" - Milena Canonero

"Gosford Park" - Jenny Beavan

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - Judianna Makovsky

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor

"Moulin Rouge" - Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie

My pick: Moulin Rouge will win here. As much as I liked The Lord of the Rings and their veritable army of armor makers, Moulin Rouge excelled at vibrant and colorful outfits.

Aaron's pick: Moulin Rouge. Harry Potter and Fellowship both just required cloaks and such. Moulin Rouge was an entire time period recreated.

"A Beautiful Mind" - Mike Hill and Dan Hanley

"Black Hawk Down" - Pietro Scalia

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - John Gilbert

"Memento" - Dody Dorn

"Moulin Rouge" - Jill Bilcock

My pick: Moulin Rouge is too fast paced and Memento, although deserving, is not nominated enough in other categories to win this one. It'll be LOTR: The Fellowship.

Aaron's pick: Moulin Rouge. How you manage to make such a fast-passed, dizzying movie into something so easy to follow and understand is a true talent.

"A Beautiful Mind" - Greg Cannom and Colleen Callaghan

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Peter Owen and Richard Taylor

"Moulin Rouge" - Maurizio Silvi and Aldo Signoretti

My pick: Best Makeup can be such a confusing category sometimes. I'll go with my gut reaction and say that Gandalf, orcs, dwarves, Elves and hobbits will be enough to earn the Academy's respect. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, one more time.

Aaron's pick: Fellowship of the Ring. I just can't figure out how they made the hobbits look like, well, hobbits.

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence" - John Williams

"A Beautiful Mind" - James Horner

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" - John Williams

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Howard Shore

"Monsters, Inc." - Randy Newman

My pick: The Lord of the Rings, baby.

Aaron's pick: Fellowship of the Ring. I actually remember the music striking me at several different moments of this film, which is a rarity.

"If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc." Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

"May It Be" from "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" Music and Lyric by Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan

"There You'll Be" from "Pearl Harbor" Music and Lyric by Diane Warren

"Until" from "Kate & Leopold" Music and Lyric by Sting

"Vanilla Sky" from "Vanilla Sky" Music and Lyric by Paul McCartney

My pick: Randy Newman could record himself ordering at McDonald's and have it put on a film soundtrack. Enya's too ethereal and mystical. Therefor, it's gotta go to Vanilla Sky.

Song: Vanilla Sky. After watching Dylan win it last year, I've learned my lesson: Sentimental baby-boomer favorites is the way to go.

"Amelie" - Vincent Arnardi, Guillaume Leriche and Jean Umansky

"Black Hawk Down" - Mike Minkler, Myron Nettinga and Chris Munro

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Gethin Creagh and Hammond Peek

"Moulin Rouge" - Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage and Guntis Sics

"Pearl Harbor" - Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

My pick: By all accounts, Black Hawk Down sounds like a worthy competitor for this award but I'm going to go with The Fellowship of the Ring since it's likely to sweep the technical awards.

Aaron's pick: The Fellowship of the Ring. One of the keys to creating a realistic fantasy world is the way it sounds. And while the Ringwraiths annoyed the hell out of me, the rest of the movie did a good job with this

"Monsters, Inc." - Gary Rydstrom and Michael Silvers

"Pearl Harbor" - George Watters II and Christopher Boyes

My pick: Zooming airplanes and gunfire versus John Goodman and Billy Crystal trading witticisms. I'll say Pearl Harbor.

Aaron's pick: Monsters, Inc I haven't seen it, but the sound in Pearl Harbor was horrible, because you heard Ben Affleck talking.

"A.I. Artificial Intelligence" - Dennis Muren, Scott Farrar, Stan Winston and Michael Lantieri

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" - Jim Rygiel, Randall William Cook, Richard Taylor and Mark Stetson

"Pearl Harbor" - Eric Brevig, John Frazier, Ed Hirsh and Ben Snow

My pick: A.I. had some wonderful visuals (and arguably deserved more nominations) but I'm gonna got with The Fellowship on this one. The mines of Moria ruled!

Aaron's pick: Fellowship of the Ring Because it also had tons of visual effects, and all of them manage to seamlessly merge into the movie, rather than standing out as obvious "oh, look what we can do with a computer."

"Amelie" A UGC Images Production, France

"Elling" A Maipo Film and TV Production, Norway

"Lagaan" An Aamir Khan Productions Pvt. Ltd. Production, India

"No Man's Land" A Noe Productions/Fabrica Cinema/Man's Films/Counihan Villiers Productions/Studio Maj/Casablanca Production, Bosnia & Herzegovina

"Son of the Bride" A Pol-ka Producciones/Patagonik Film Group/Jempsa/Tornasol Films Production, Argentina

My pick: Can anyone say Amelie? I knew you could.

Aaron's pick: No Man's Land I know, Amelie will probably win, but this movie deals with a contemporary subject and blends death and humor...how can it go wrong?

"Children Underground" A Belzberg Films Production; Edet Belzberg

"LaLee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton" A Maysles Films Inc. Production; Susan Froemke

"Murder on a Sunday Morning" A Maha Productions/Pathe Doc/France 2/HBO Production; Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and Denis Poncet

"Promises" A Promises Film Project Production; Justine Shapiro and B.Z. Goldberg

"War Photographer" (Films Transit) A Christian Frei Filmproductions; Christian Frei

My pick: War Photographer. A simple guess from a man who's not seen any of these.

Aaron's pick: War Photographer. Maybe it will relate to people nowadays? Who knows?

"Artists and Orphans: A True Drama" A Not by Chance Production; Lianne Klapper McNally

"Sing!" A KCET/Hollywood and American Film Foundation Production; Freida Lee Mock and Jessica Sanders

"Thoth" An Amateur Rabbit Production; Sarah Kernochan and Lynn Appelle

My pick: Thoth. He's a pretty wise ancient Egyptian god after all.

Aaron's pick: Thoth. Fun name.

"Fifty Percent Grey" A Zanita Films Production; Ruairi Robinson and Seamus Byrne

"For the Birds" A Pixar Animation Studios Production; Ralph Eggleston

"Give Up Yer Aul Sins" An Irish Film Board/Radio Telefis Eireann/Arts Council/Brown Bag Films Production; Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O'Connell

"Strange Invaders" A National Film Board of Canada Production; Cordell Barker

"Stubble Trouble" A Calabash Animation Production; Joseph E. Merideth

My pick: I'm tempted to say For the Birds from Pixar. Actually that's the only thing I"m familiar with in this category and thus am gonna change my vote to... Strange Invaders. It reminds me of those days of yore playing Space Invaders and that wacky live action martian movie Spaced Invaders.

Aaron's pick: Strange Invaders I'm curious who they are.

"the accountant" A Ginny Mule Pictures Production; Ray McKinnon and Lisa Blount

"Copy Shop" A Virgil Widrich/Multimediaproduktions G.m.b.H. Production; Virgil Widrich

"Gregor's Greatest Invention" A Sudwest Film Filmproduktion; Johannes Kiefer

"A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa)" A Polish National Film School Production; Slawomir Fabicki and Bogumil Godfrejow

"Speed for Thespians" A Lester Films Ltd. Production; Kalman Apple and Shameela Bakhsh

My pick: Speed for Thespians. What an awesome title.

Aaron's pick: Gregor's Greatest Invention I'm curious what it is.