America, or at least the Americans who cover the film industry, were stunned by the out-of-the-blue announcement that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences would be expanding the number of Best Picture nominees next year, from five to ten. The last time there were ten Best Picture nominees was 1943; apparently, winning the war gave Americans less desire to praise movies? Anyway, some people are crying foul, saying that crummy movies will now get nominated, and that's just dumb. We think this is a great idea, and we've got five reasons why in the last five years' worth of great films that didn't make the cut. Of course, in honor of the we also have a list of five other things that the Oscars still need to fix.

By now, you've all probably seen commercials for The Soloist: Jaime Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., mentally imbalanced musical genius, friendship that transcends differences, yada yada yada. Between the storyline, the high caliber of actors involved and the talent behind the camera, it's as if someone was trying to craft the quintessential Oscar movie. And even though the year is only one-third over, you just know that the folks over at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are already engraving the plaques on a bunch of their awards, knowing full well that this movie will surely sweep all categories. Is The Soloist the most gratuitously Oscar-friendly movie ever? We think so, and we think it offers aspiring filmmakers a sure-fire recipe for garnering awards. Follow these instructions, and you'll be hugging Daniel Day-Lewis backstage in no time.

Have something better to do with the next 12 hours of your life and can't be bothered watching the Oscars? Can't say as we blame you. Keep checking here as we'll update the winners as they happen.

Winners:
Best Picture - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Actor - Sean Penn in Milk
Best Actress - Kate Winslet in The Reader
Director -- Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Heath Ledger in Dark Knight
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role -- Penélope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Best Foreign Film -- Departures (Japan)
Original Song -- "Jai Ho" -- Slumdog Millionaire
Original Score -- Slumdog Millionaire
Filming Editing -- Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Mixing -- Slumdog Millionaire
Sound Editing - Dark Knight
Outstanding Visual Effects -- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Documentary Feature -- Man on Wire
Best Documentary Short Subject -- Smile Pinki
Best Short Film (Live Action) -- Spielzeugland (Toyland)
Achievement in Cinematography -- Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle
Achievement in Makeup -- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Achievement in Costume Design -- The Duchess
Art Direction -- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Best Animated Short Film -- La Maison de Petits Cubes
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year -- WALL-E
Original Screenplay -- Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black
Adapted Screenplay -- Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy

After nearly two decades spent in B-movies, thankless roles and boxing rings, Mickey Rourke is once again being praised for his acting, and he stands on the brink of winning the most prestigious acting award in the land -- the Academy Award for Best Actor. If he wins, it's a total game-changer, and his life and career have the potential to improve dramatically. We've thought about it, and come up with a list of ways that Rourke's life will change once he's holding that little gold statue in his hands.

There are just a few days till the golden statuettes are handed out. You're running out of time to see all the nominees so you can sound like you know what you're talking about at your Oscar party. Don't panic! You have options. You could call in sick and go on a nonstop marathon of movie watching, get your guests liquored up on party night so they just think you know what you're talking about, or tell everyone you're taking a vow of silence until Capitol Hill sorts out this whole economic stimulus thing. All these carry with them a certain amount of risk, though, so I propose a fourth option: just watch Pixar's WALL-E instead. Seriously. Recently I was embarking on my own movie marathon to re-familiarize myself with the choices. I started with WALL-E, which is up for an award in the Animated Feature category, and it occurred to me how it shared many elements of other Oscar nominees. Really, if you've seen this endearing story, you've seen most of the others. Keep reading to find out how adorable robots can help you out come the night of the 81st Academy Awards.

Earlier today I read that the producers of award darling Slumdog Millionaire have decided to be extra classy, milking the success of the critically lauded film to create a reality show loosely based on the Oscar-nominated movie. Described as a tweaked take on the popular series Secret Millionaire, the brilliantly titled show Secret Slumdog Millionaire will send a bunch of wealthy people into the slums of Mumbai in an effort to help poor people (and assuage rich white guilt or something). Sounds like a brilliant plan! Why not piggyback one crap, potentially exploitative idea on to a relatively good one for maximum stupidity? I've decided to do the same thing, taking ten other films up for Oscars this year and coming up with reality show pitches based on their premises. I better get an executive producing credit for these gems.

The Oscars are rapidly approaching on February 22, and we've created a sweet Oscar section on the site full of galleries celebrating the upcoming ceremonies, as well as looking at Oscar moments from previous Academy Awards events. (Hey, did you ever notice that while the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences defines "academy" to mean "a society of artists," most Hollywood movies define it as "a school where wacky hjinks occur"? See: Police Academy, Snowboard Academy, Ninja Academy and Stripper Academy. Wait -- on second thought, don't see Stripper Academy.) Check back on Oscar night, and we'll have a liveblog of the ceremony as well as lists of winners as they're announced. And if you want to see who we think is going to win this year's Academy Awards (and who we want to win), check out our Picks and Predictions gallery. (If you want to see who we think is going to win the Police Academy Awards, we'll just tell you. It's totally gonna be Steve Guttenberg.)

Every year, the Academy Awards categories are announced, and the praise is heaped on the nominees. But what about those actors, writers, directors and films that are left out? Where is their praise? Where are their small, naked statues? Considering how good a year 2008 was for movies, there were plenty that we here at MWoP felt were unfairly passed over for Oscar nominations. (Sure, some of them won Golden Globes or SAG Awards, but do those count, really?) Check out our list of those who were forgotten in our Oscar Snubs Gallery!

The Screen Actors Guild Awards were given out last night, and while the winners weren't all that surprising, there were some genuinely awesome moments during the broadcast that deserve recognition. However, since we're fair and balanced pseudo-journalists, we'll also tell you the worst moments, the ones that made us hate celebrities and awards shows and the world. And since we love criticizing celebrities' wardrobes, we'll do the same thing with their outfits! Hit the links below to see them both.

The SAG Awards: Best and Worst Moments

The SAG Awards: Best and Worst Fashion

Because actors don't get enough attention as it is, let's lavish them with adoration some more by celebrating the winners of the SAG Awards, movie edition.