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COPYRIGHT 2005 Las Vegas Review-Journal
BYLINE: CAROL CLING , REVIEW-JOURNAL
Most years, the annual Academy Awards chase resembles a thoroughbred horse race.
This year, however, it's a heavyweight championship bout -- between the ultimate Hollywood insider and the eternal outsider.
Yet, curiouser and curiouser, the contenders seem to be fighting from each other's corners.
Martin Scorsese, regarded for decades (and rightly so) as one of America's best filmmakers, generally makes projects of a deeply personal, barely profitable (if that) nature.
Yet here he is at the helm of the nomination leader, "The Aviator," an old-style Hollywood crowd-pleaser if ever there were one.
In the opposite corner, it's insider Clint Eastwood, who has metamorphosed in a remarkable half-century Hollywood career from TV hunk to movie megastar to genre director to artful auteur.
Unlike Scorsese, who has never won an Oscar, Eastwood captured two as director and producer of 1992's instant-classic Western, "Unforgiven." This time he's up with the boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby."
And while this year's Oscar fight night includes a host of intriguing undercards, it's the Eastwood-Scorsese showdown -- in the best picture and director categories -- that promises to be the main event.
So, after consulting my trusty crystal ball, here's a round-by-round tipsheet to the night's top categories, in which I fearlessly predict who will win -- and tearfully confess who I'm rooting for. (And seldom the twain shall meet.)
The envelopes, please ...
Best picture
Prediction: "Million Dollar Baby"
Pick: "Million Dollar Baby" or "Sideways"
If you go by the rules, this is "The Aviator's" Oscar to lose. After all, the nomination leader almost always wins -- and "The Aviator" has 11 versus seven for "Million Dollar Baby." Besides, Oscar...
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