My Oscar favorite: 'Argo'

Three reasons I'll be rooting for "Argo" when Academy Awards are handed out Feb. 24:

1. "Argo" is one of only three Best Picture nominees I've seen, and of those three -- "Lincoln" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" are the other two -- it has the happiest ending.
(Shallow cinephile? Why, yes, I am.)
2. "Argo" has a deep connection to one of the giants of the comic book world — and that's not a reference to the girth of Affleck's friend and inspiration, self-described "sedentary processed-foods eater" Kevin Smith.
No, it's the central role in the movie for comic book art that, in real life, was created by Marvel and DC Comics legend Jack Kirby ...
3. ... Whom I interviewed on a panel at a Chicago comic book convention in the 1980s, when my hair and beard resembled Affleck's in "Argo."
A win for "Argo" is a win for anyone who used to look like that.
Second choice: "Beasts of the Southern Wild."
Lincoln would have enjoyed that ending more than the ending of his movie.