If there’s a Roger Ebert of the Toronto Raptors it’s Patrick Patterson.

The day he was traded by the Sacramento Kings, he was at the movies. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, if you’re wondering.

When he was in town for TIFF last September, the 25-year-old power forward raved about Chris Rock’s Top Five (It’s the “funniest movie I’ve seen in awhile,” he tweeted), and lamented about not getting a chance to meet Al Pacino.

Since coming over to Toronto, when he’s not practicing, he’s a staple at local theatres (Scotiabank and the Yonge-Dundas Cineplex are his favourites). The TIFF Kubrick exhibit was also something he couldn’t miss.

With the Oscars just a day away, we asked him to pick the winners in the major categories and got his thoughts on Spider-Man joining the Marvel universe.

Here’s what he had to say.

Best Picture will be...

“The Imitation Game. There were a lot of movies to cause me to think last year, but this was a true story that had a meaningful, impactful message. For me to be involved and focused on the movie afterwards is big. The drama and suspense in the movie also had my attention the whole time. There are a lot of great movies that are on that list, but I’m going with Imitation Game because it’s based on a true story and because of how impactful it was on history.”

Best Actor will be...

“Bradley Cooper, American Sniper. There’s no doubt about this one. He showed a real ability to portray Chris Kyle. For him to transform himself body-wise and do the voice and put on that Texas accent, it sucked me in. It drew me into the character. He was so believable as the real sniper. It gave me a chance to think about what Kyle was going through with his own family and how war affects soldiers when they come back from battle. It didn’t just make me think about how one soldier might be affected, but all soldiers that are over there fighting. There was a grand spectrum of things that he was able to do in that movie. I thought he was amazing.”

Best Actress will be...

“Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl. I saw that movie three times... If you have a girlfriend, if you have a wife, if you have a fiancee, it truly shows what a woman is capable of if a man is doing them wrong and not doing what he’s supposed to ... I couldn’t help but fall in love with that character. Even though she was doing some crazy stuff, it just shows you what your wife is capable of. It’ll cause some men to think twice before misbehaving.”

Best Supporting Actor will be...

“Robert Duvall in The Judge. I feel like The Judge will win this because I’ve heard so many good things about that movie. But going off movies that I have seen, I’d say, Mark Ruffalo in Foxcatcher. He did a good job and played that part well.”

Best Supporting Actress will be...

“Emma Stone in Birdman. Emma Stone is a phenomenal actress. She’s done so many different types of roles. She’s done drama, comedy, she’s even dabbled in suspense and horror. But in this movie, I thought she did a remarkable job. I liked Birdman a lot; I hope she gets it.”

The one film he’s most happy got nominated...

“Selma. Of course, because of Martin Luther King Jr. and what he did not only for African-Americans, but for all people in general, with the stand that he took, the battles that he endured and the outcome of his efforts, which we can see today. I thought the movie deserved some recognition and some of the performances deserved to be up for some Oscars. So I was definitely happy when I saw it on the list because it’s such a great movie. Selma is a great movie and has a lot of history behind it, but the movie itself is not on the same level as (last year’s Best Picture winner) 12 Years a Slave. But I’m happy it’s getting some recognition.”

What he thinks about Spider-Man joining the Marvel cinematic universe...

“I’m not too big on Spider-Man; to me, Iron Man is obviously a human being. But Spider-Man, the whole thing with the web ... he swings through the city, what happens to the web? Always in the cartoons, he shoots his web straight into the sky. In the movies, he shoots them into buildings. But after it’s over, is there a bunch of spider webs hanging off the buildings? I don’t get that. But, hopefully, it’s going to make the series better and attract more fans to those movies.”

Twitter: @markhdaniell

mark.daniell@sunmedia.ca