I give it four stars in this category not because I liked it all that much, but because this is the type of movie the Oscar usually goes to -- sad but "uplifting," vaguely religious but not specifically Christian, happy and hopeful via another white man / black man "buddy"-style relationship. For this rather moving picture not to win while crapola like "American Beauty" and "Forrest Gump" are awarded Best Picture is just sad.

This is another one of my favorite movies of all time. It lost to Forest Gump, but this is the superior movie in terms of writing, acting, and directing. The movie gets better each time you watch it.