All this week, Peter Travers will be discussing this year's biggest Oscar races, making his picks and probably starting some arguments along the way. First up is the contest for Best Supporting Actor. Who will walk away with the little gold man? Click above to check out Travers' thoughts, and be sure to check back tomorrow for his pick for Best Supporting Actress.

Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

[Video: Jennifer Hsu]

Today's DVD releases feature three major Academy Award contenders. Don't make any bets or stupid guesses about who'll win this Sunday before checking them out:

PICK OF THE WEEK: AMERICAN GANGSTER

The scene in which Ruby Dee (see photo) gives holy hell to her murdering, Machiavellian, drug-smuggling movie son (Denzel Washington) may just win the eighty-three-year-old actress her first Oscar. Who wants to argue with that, even if Dee—the widow of her longtime acting partner Ossie Davis—is in the movie for less than ten minutes? She hits sonny boy with a slap —director Ridley Scott did three takes and Dee hauled off and whooped him every time—that invests the movie with genuine moral force. Except for Dee and a nomination for Art Direction, American Gangster got the Oscar shaft (the mighty box-office gross of $130 million eased the pain). No nods for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography (Harris Savides is a master of lighting) and most egregiously, Denzel Washington as Best Actor. Washington is at his best as notorious drug lord Frank Lucas, and in the still, watchful center of his volcanic performance you'll find a conscience eating away at this hardened hood. And Russell Crowe channels Serpico as Richie Roberts, the honest New Jersey cop who takes Frank down. Crowe is still paying for throwing that phone, ignored by Oscar here and for his kickass work as a charming devil of a cowboy in 3:10 to Yuma. Did American Gangster veer too far from the truth or fall too short of crime classics from The Godfather to The Departed to win much Oscar love. Watch the film again or for first time on DVD, either in its Two-Disc Collector's Edition or its Three-Disc Deluxe Edition (both with nearly twenty minutes of deleted scenes) and make your own call. I think AG got an unfair rap, and this DVD proves it.

ALSO OSCAR HOT: MICHAEL CLAYTON

Oscar tossed seven nominations, including the Best Picture biggie, at this engrossing legal thriller with Best Actor nominee George Clooney at the top of his dramatic game as the morally compromised title character. But compared with American Gangster, the DVD is stingy with bonus features. The three deleted scenes don't add up to much, and the commentary by Tony Gilroy—nominated for Best Director (can't beat the Coen brothers) and Best Original Screenplay (probably can't beat Juno's Diablo Cody)—is a surprisingly weak brew. The box office gross isn't so hot either: $48 million. Still, the movie is a sleek throwback to the 1970's cinema of Sidney Lumet. It won't offend older Academy voters and may just be a surprise winner if No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood split the violence vote.

OSCAR FIND OF THE WEEK: IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH

Don't pretend you hit the multiplex to see this thoughtful examination of Iraq-war fallout from Crash director Paul Haggis. The shockingly weak $6 million box-office take proves otherwise. But in one of those rare instances of Academy insight, Oscar voted a nomination for Tommy Lee Jones as Best Actor. Amen to that brother. As a retired Vietnam vet, Jones takes on the whole Army to find out why his soldier son is dead, not in Iraq but at home, near his base in New Mexico.The spare, ingrained purity of Jones' work, here and in No Country for Old Men, is astonishing. Haggis' script, loosely based on the true story of murdered U.S. soldier Richard Davis, isn't about the war. It's about the humanity being sucked out of the soldiers we send there, and how that process reflects on us as a nation. The DVD is short on extras, but the "making of" feature involving interviews with cast and craw, plus the parents of Davis, is incisive. Better yet, it lets you see Jones at the peak of his powers and catch up with a movie you shouldn't have missed in the first place.

Before Daniel Day Lewis wins his Oscar on Sunday for There Will Be Blood—he's as close to a lock as anyone in the race—he'll have to drink up a sour milkshake: Of the five films nominated for Best Picture, Blood has amassed the lowest box-office take so far: around $31 million since it debuted in December. That's $3 million less than the jumbled Jumper just finished taking in on its opening weekend. Since Blood is brilliant and Jumper is, well, junk—you get my point.

Since it's Oscar week, I don't want to concentrate on the parade of puke that made a killing between Valentine's and President's Day. Just look at the stuff following Jumper into box-office pig heaven: Step Up 2 the Streets, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and our old friend Fool's Gold.

Instead, let's look at the five Oscar nominated movies still in play. Juno continues to lead the pack, bringing its total to a killer $125 million this weekend with no sign of slowing down. We've got a phenom here, my friends—an Oscar contender audiences are actually paying to see instead of waiting for the DVD. To show you the difference, just look at Number 2 among the Big Five. That would be my favorite to win—No Country for Old Men. It's total take so far is around $60 million, less than half of Juno. But, hey, at least its decent money. Huffing and puffing to stay in the middle are Michael Clayton and Atonement, with around $48 million each. And, in the rear, is There Will Be Blood.

Is there a lesson to be drawn here? Yes siree. If you're tempted this week to see, say, Jumper, resist it. By now your friends must have told you it sucks. Instead, see one of the Oscar nominated films you missed. It's like voting for change—think Obama—and oh brother do we need change now.

Is Eddie Murphy, decked out in drag and a fatsuit (see photo), the year's worst actor in Norbit?

Is Lindsay Lohan, playing the dual roles of amnesiac and skeevy stripper (see photo), a lock for Worst Actress in I Know Who Killed Me?

Welcome to the Razzies, an organization founded in 1980 by John Wilson to mete out punishment to the movies that punished us. On Feb. 23rd, the day before the Oscars, the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation will once again stick it big time to Hollywood’s most egregious suckfests. The Razzie trophy aptly features a cluster of balls. As you know, the wussy Oscar statuette has no balls. Razzie winners rarely show up to accept their trophy, except for Tom Green who admirably appeared in 2002—with five feet of his own red carpet—to accept his due for Freddy Got Fingered.

What I admire most about the Razzies—I’m a long time voting member—is that the award only goes to the gloriously godawful. A movie is only Razzie worthy when its intrinsic worthlessness sinks to levels so low that the pain of watching it turns to pleasure.

You know what I’m saying. Webster’s defines the slang for raspberry as “a sound of derision or contempt, made by expelling air forcibly so as to vibrate the tongue between the lips.” So put your lips together and blow as we eyeball a few of this year’s nominees. By all means, feel free to add some of your own if you think a genuine baddie got away.

WORST PICTURE

Bratz

Daddy Day Camp

I Know Who Killed Me

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry

Norbit

Norbit easily takes the racist, sexist cake for comedy. But I'd like to see a few of Hollywood's pompous Iraq war movies take a hit, especially Rendition.

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This week's video review takes a look at the sci-fi action thriller Jumper and George Romero's latest socially-conscious zombie flick Diary of the Dead. Click above for the Rolling Stone film critic's take on this week's new options at the multiplex. Plus: Read Travers' reviews of Diary of the Dead here and Jumper here.

Watch every episode of our weekly Peter Travers video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Friday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

[Video: Jennifer Hsu]

Down with Valentine’s Day. Actually, I don’t mean that. What I do mean is down with Valentine’s Day films. Whenever someone asks me what movie they should watch on V-Day, I always feel I’m expected to come up with titles that, in the words of Oscar Wilde, reek of “more than usually revolting sentimentality.”

Come on, a date movie doesn’t have to be Beaches or The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood. And guys, a double feature of Hostel movies won’t cut it either.

If you’re looking to go out to a new movie , take a chance on the at least bearable Definitely, Maybe, and not the wretched Fool’s Gold, which only a fool would suffer gladly. With Maybe you get the definite pleasure of watching Ryan Reynolds hit on three gorgeous and intelligent women—Elizabeth Banks, Isla Fisher and—my fave— Rachel Weisz (see photo).

As a lead in to next week’s Oscars, you might want to catch up with one of the five nominees for Best Picture. You’ll get the sweet in Juno and the hot in Atonement. From No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton and There Will Be Blood you’ll gets bubkas in terms of romance.

If you’re looking for a DVD, you could go with Blockbuster’s list of the most popular choices:

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Roy Scheider died on Feb. 10th, at a hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he'd been battling a form of blood cancer. He was seventy-five. The obits were respectful, befiting an actor with two Oscar nominations and a reputation as a pro. For days now, I've been thinking that we might have taken Scheider for granted as an actor. It's not that he never screwed up. He and Meryl Streep had zip chemistry in Still of the Night. And the special effects ate him up in Blue Thunder and 2010. But Scheider with his game on was hard to beat. His face and voice radiated authority. Close your eyes and think of what Scheider role comes to your mind first. I have three.

JAWS 1975

There he was as Martin Brody (see photo), the police chief who was scared shitless of the ocean, never mind a great white shark. That quirk put just the right human chink in the sheriff's armor and gave the role a warmth you never felt in the novel. Thanks to Scheider, we empathized. His acting was solid not showy. Who can forget his face when he first sees the shark emerge from the water? And his line,"You're gonna need a bigger boat." Scheider knew something then: "That role will be on my tombstone," he said. Damn near.

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Wth Jumper, Definitely, Maybe and The Spiderwick Chronicles opening this weekend, you are in dire movie straits, my friends. So get busy stockpiling today's DVD releases.

PICK OF THE WEEK: GONE BABY GONE

— Amy Ryan (see photo) is up for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar on Feb. 24th. She plays the crack whore mother from hell, and she's dynamite. But I'm a little tired of hearing that she's the whole show. About five people saw this Baby at the multiplex and you were the only smart ones. Rookie director Ben Affleck caught the juicy essence of Dennis Lehane's Boston kidnapping novel and got his kid brother Casey Affleck to give at least as good a performance as the one he delivered in The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford, for which he's nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. There's more. Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman show why they're legends in this tale of cocaine, kidnapping, pedophilia and murder. Do you get my point? Gone Baby Gone is a terrific movie. So pick up the damn DVD and you'll see why.

WRONGLY UNDERRATED: WE OWN THE NIGHT

— A lot of critics were blindfolded or just lazy when they dissed James Gray's 1980s-era Brooklyn crime drama as warmed-over Scorsese.

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First, the Good News:

— America deserves props for soundly rejecting Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie. The bombola made a shockingly low-rent $234 per screen. So much for Hilton family loyalty. Just to keep Paris out of pout mode, the family could have bought out the 111 locations where Hottie was a definite nottie.

— In Bruges, the only literate movie to open this week, took in $16,829 per screen. Pinch me, I must be dreaming.

Now, the Bad:

— Just as I feared, America voted the horrendous and horrendously reviewed Fool's Gold the top box-office winner. That means ticketbuyers thought it was worth $22 million to watch Kate Hudson eyeballing Matthew McConaughey with his shirt off.

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I've already trashed Oscar for not throwing a Best Song nomination to Eddie Vedder's "Guaranteed" from Into the Wild while finding room for 1-2-3 songs from Enchanted and a sappy ballad from the saptacular August Rush. Worse, it ignored Jonny Greenwood's landmark score from There Will Be Blood because the Radiohead innovator referenced other music. Apparently sampling is not a term the Academy of Motion Pictures Farts & Biases has ever heard.

With the Grammy awards this Sunday, it's time to see how music people do with judging movie music. Here are the Grammy nominees for BEST MOVIE SONG:

"Falling Slowly" (from Once)/Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, songwriters "Guaranteed" (from Into the Wild)/Eddie Vedder, songwriter "Love You I Do" (from Dreamgirls)/Siedah Garrett & Henry Krieger, songwriters "The Song of the Heart" (from Happy Feet)/Prince Rogers Nelson, songwriter "You Know My Name" (from Casino Royale)/David Arnold & Chris Cornell, songwriters

Jeez, talk about time warps! Dreamgirls, Happy Feet and Casino Royale came out two years ago.

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