And the winner is....

Actually it's way too early for that but the first awards of the awards season have been announced and both - National Board of Review and Washington Critics Circle - have gone to Slumdog Millionaire. Having seen it at the weekend, I can understand why - this is a terrific piece of film making.

The dramatic device is deceptively simple, on the brink of winning the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire the contestant, a young man from the slums, looks back on the life that has brought him to this point. It's a clever device because Celador, which created Millionaire and produced the film, controls the game to the point where every international version is identical. That means the film is accessible to audiences all over the world.

It is powerful, harrowing, entrancing and ultimately uplifting and Danny Boyle does a terrific job technically. This film will doubtless win many more awards between now and Oscar night.

One of its main contenders will be Frost/Nixon which is equally riveting. Far and away Ron Howard's best work it presents the epic interview between David Frost and disgraced US president Richard Nixon as an interlocutorial (look it up!) version of Rocky. I remember seeing the interviews when I was a younger man but had no idea of the drama involved in setting them up; as it turns out these conversations would be the defining moment in the career of each man.

Michael Sheen is excellent as Frost but Frank Langella's Nixon steals the film. Wisely deciding against pure impersonation he gives a performance that manages to extract some sympathy for this particular devil.

This week I'm hoping to catch up with Benjamin Button, W, Hunger and a couple of others.

Unfortunately this week sees the final episodes of two excellent TV offerings - Spooks and The Devil's Whore. I miss them both already, however Spooks at least will be back.