Oscar best picture SPOILER ALERT! (Then again, never mind....)

Not to go all William Safire on you, but I've been thinking about the words in the titles of the films that were nominated for best picture last year versus the films that are hoping to be nominated for it this year, and I think I've picked up a trend. It may be a coincidence, it may mean absolutely nothing, but it's interesting to me so I thought I'd share it with you.

First, let's look at last year's selected five, which had two names of fictional people, two vague proclamations and a rarely used noun:

• "Juno" Wha-? Oh, I think I get it! Are we talking about the city in Alaska, in a "Pursuit of Happyness" kinda way? Cuz I dig that.

• "Michael Clayton" Riiight ... don't know the guy.

• "There Will Be Blood" There will? For real? Where? Why??

• "No Country for Old Men" There's not? Well, at least there's no shortage of nursing homes for them....

• "Atonement" Understanding. (Not.)

Do the titles of this year's hopefuls convey what they're about at least a little better than last year's? I mean, I'm not asking for "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" or "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," but would it be so much to ask for them to just meet me in the middle? He who asks receives....

• "Slumdog Millionaire" We know it's about a 'slumdog.' Since it's Oscar season, chances are this is not literal -- as in a lower-class "Old Yeller" -- but rather a derogatory term for a lower-class person. It's safe to saw this guy is not starting out or staying in that economic division... in fact, I'm guessing he's probably not going to stop making money until he is -- dare I say it -- a millionaire?!

• "Rachel Getting Married" You may not know who Rachel is, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that this movie is about the run-up to her nuptials!

• "Milk" Even if you weren't previously unaware that they were making a bio-pic about Harvey Milk, chances are you'd figure out that's what this one is, since hell will probably freeze over before Hollywood greenlights a feature about the beverage. (And in case you didn't know that Mr. Milk was assassinated, they don't make you wait two hours to find out.... They tell you in the first few seconds!)

• "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that something unusual -- dare I say, something curious -- happens to a man by the name of Benjamin Button. (Once you're informed what it is -- he's aging backward while everyone else is aging forwards, but shhh.... -- it doesn't take a whole lot of forward projection to figure out the sort of problems that might cause for friendships and relationships!)
  

• "Doubt" I don't think it would be outrageous to conclude from the title that this movie is about someone who is questioning something, and that you will probably leave questioning that something too!

• "Frost/Nixon" If you were born in, say, 1960 or earlier, you get it immediately -- you know who these guys were, when and why they crossed paths and how things ended. If you weren't, you don't.

• "Happy-Go-Lucky" I'm guessing it's probably not about a manic-depressive....

• "The Wrestler" Oh, this is the one about Gandhi, right?

Sure, there were still plenty of contenders this year with titles that don't really give away anything -- "Defiance," "Revolutionary Road," "The Visitor," "WALL-E" -- but you can't deny the increased number this year that do. What's remarkable to me about those is that even though we have a fairly good sense of where we're going with them before they start, we've still very much enjoyed getting there after they finish. And you can read into that as much as you please!

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Gee, I wonder how much this slumdog is going to win?! Photo: "Slumdog Millionaire." Credit: Fox Searchlight