This year's Oscar race is becoming better contest than any other as I can remember. Here are my picks, not necesarily winner predictions, for Oscar 2004.

• Best Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (It's really the whole triliogy that will win the prize, because the sums of three pictures are great than its parts.)
• Best Director: Peter Jackson (He co-wroted, directed this enormous endeavor to the breathtaking height in the modern Hollywood filmmaking. For that feat alone deserves an Oscar.)
• Best Actor: Bill Murray (He wasn't acting. He was simply there, lend his presence to the movie and his heart to everyone watching the picture.)
• Best Actress: Keisha Castle-Hughes (I'm a sucker for a brilliant young actor/actress.)
• Best Supporting Actor: Ken Watanabe (I haven't seen other candidates' films, but Ken overshadowed and overpowered Cruise to show how a memorable presence is created beyond good looks.)
• Best Supporting Actress: Holly Hunter (I simply adore her. Period.)
• Best Cinematography: City of God, Cesar Charlone (Sometime ingenuity triumps multi-million production value.)
• Best Editing: City of God
• Best Animated Feature: Finding Nemo (No contest here, but The Triplets of Belleville is equally beautiful.)
• Best Screenplay: Finding Nemo (Pixar storytellers have an edge over other great scripts in this field.)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Mystic River, Brian Helgeland (THE script that gave the material to work with to this year's Oscar-nominated actors.)
• Visual Effects: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Simply Epic-Looking.)

I'm looking forward to next week's telecast of the Oscar.