Ben Affleck stars in his third directorial effort, Argo. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Ah, the Academy Awards…that ratings driven, self-important novelty that never fails to grab my attention each year, despite the fact that I have no respect for it. The winners are often chosen not because they are indeed the best, but because their backers ran the most aggressive campaigns. What keeps me watching is the stubborn hope that a deserving artist will be presented with a shiny accolade to accompany their outstanding achievement from last year. There’s a good chance that might happen in at least a few categories this year, though infuriating Hollywood favoritism has somehow placed Ben Affleck’s “Argo” as the front-runner, despite the fact that it failed to receive a Best Director nomination.

Shortly after the nominees were first announced last month, I had a thoroughly enjoyable discussion/debate with Mark Dujsik, the excellent critic of MarkReviewsMovies.com. We predict the winners and losers, while offering our own thoughts about the nominees, the snubs and who we think deserves the gold.

Editors note: Two recent Pixar films did manage to score nominations for both Best Animated Feature and Best Motion Picture of the Year: “Up” and “Toy Story 3.”

The program was produced at Columbia College Chicago. Technical producer was Rebecca Nystedt. An Indie Outlook production.

Catch the Oscars when they air Sunday, February 24th on ABC. Also feel free to tune in when I join Brian Babylon, Alison Cuddy and Reggie Ponder on The Morning AMp’s Oscar panel at 9am CST Friday, February 22nd. The show will be broadcast on Vocalo.

Even if the winners are all undeserving this year, at least we can count on some witty quips from host Seth MacFarlane…