And the list is...

NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY - 79TH AWARDS

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio - BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole - VENUS
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou - BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy - DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz - VOLVER
Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet - LITTLE CHILDREN

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza - BABEL
Cate Blanchett - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson - DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL

Best animated feature film of the year
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE

Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN'S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in costume design
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN

Achievement in directing
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
THE QUEEN
UNITED 93

Best documentary feature
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY

Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS

Achievement in film editing
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best foreign language film of the year
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN'S LABYRINTH
WATER

Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN'S LABYRINTH

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
"Listen" - DREAMGIRLS
"Love You I Do" - DREAMGIRLS
"Our Town" - CARS
"Patience" - DREAMGIRLS

Best motion picture of the year
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

Best animated short film
THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS

Best live action short film
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
HELMER & SON
THE SAVIOUR
WEST BANK STORY

Achievement in sound editing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in sound mixing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS

Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

Original screenplay
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

He's still alive?

Peter O'Toole is awesome for Lawrence of Arabia alone.

I'm sensing a theme ...

Adapted from what?

My thoughts EXACTLY on that last one! I must admit shamefully that I have not seen very many of the nominated films this year. I just don't have the motivation or extra money for the increasingly irrelevant cinema experience. I wait until things come to DVD and watch them on our home theater with 57" screen and dolby digital surround sound, plus big comfy couch/recliner! And no sticky floors, cell phones, or crying babies.

This is Peter O'Toole's eighth nomination. He is 0 for 7 so far. Another loss makes him the most nominated actor never to win. The Susan Lucci of the Oscars (of course Lucci finally did get that Emmy).

I do the same, Jeff. Well, not in your house. I do it in mine. But you know what I mean.

The theater is great and all, it's the damn cost and the people I don't like. For half the cost of going to the theater with the old lady I can wait four or six months for the DVD and OWN the film, watching whenever I want, how I want, how often I want. No hassle, no lines, no idiot teenagers babbling the whole time, no tall fat dude in front of me, and the ability to put my feet up.

When I hit the theater these days, it's almost invariably for something with SPECTACLE. Something BIG and LOUD and takes advantage of a movie theater's capabilities. Others, for smaller films and dramas and the like? I much, MUCH prefer the home viewing experience.

A fella I know is the opposite. He saw 91 movies in the theater in 2006.

Exactly, Eric. It has to be something huge, like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, that kind of thing. Otherwise, I can wait, and prefer to.

Working in Manhattan and being single, I go to lots of movies in the theaters. I'm sure I saw close to 100 last year, maybe more. Not above taking in an "unauthorized double feature" once in a while (it's easy to sneak into another movie at those big multiplexes.

I also take the Oscars much too seriously. Here are a few comments I just posted downstairs at ICE:

Dreamgirls left out of the Best Pic category? Not easy to pick a winner this year. I'd say Letters from Iwo Jima is the only one that has no chance. I'd vote for The Queen by a hair over Sunshine (saw all 5 already).

They could practically hand out the acting awards today: Mirren, Whitaker, Murphy, and Hudson are near-locks. Although Oscar voters do some whacky things sometimes.

If Happy Feet (overrated) beats Cars (a masterpiece), I'll just spit.

3 new songs from Dreamgirls all up for best song? And An Inconvenient Truth had a theme song? I found the music to be the weakest link in Dreamgirls, I thought only 2 songs at most would've actually been hits during the 60s and 70s. What happened to Prince's contribution to Happy Feet?

20 years ago, who would have ever thought that "Eddie Murphy" and "Oscar" would be mentioned in the same breath with any seriousness?

I dunno........I think he deserved one for his Mr. T impression.

It's always a little depressing to look at the list of nominated films and realize how few things I've seen that made the cut. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself, I do it every year when they announce the nominees.

Once again, the Academy and the Public are nowhere near each other in terms of taste and style. Oh well.

Have they ever been, Rob? Apart from a few rare occasions like Silence of the Lambs, Return of the King? Most of the time Oscar time means highbrow movies that don't score nearly as well with the general public as your average summer popcorn blockbuster. If you went by the public, Fantastic Four would have been an Oscar winner, and Revenge of the Sith was best picture the year it came out.

For me, ROTS was Last year, probably Rocky Balboa was for the a great film

Actually, this year was a weak year all around. But, I'd like to see the Academy broaden their horizons. They tend to be snobs about certain films/genres, and many fine movies each year, some of them high grossing, are overlooked. This year, though, IMO, was a weak year from top to bottom.

How much a movie brings in is irrelevant to evaluating a film's worth, just as the popularity of a music artist is irrelevant to evaluating their music, or the popularity of an author is irrelevant to evaluating their writing, etc., etc., etc.

I agree that the Academy broadening its horizons would be welcome.

Two very good reasons to not go by the public.

In reverse order, the highest grosswing (worldwide) films back to 1980 are as follows:

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Revenge of the Sith
Shrek 2
Return of the King
Spider-Man
Harry Potter (?which one?)
The Grinch
The Phantom Menace
Saving Private Ryan
Titanic
Independence Day
Toy Story
Forrest Gump
Jurassic Park
Aladdin
Terminator 2
Home Alone
Batman
Rain Man
Three Men & A Baby
Top Gun
Back to the Future
Beverly Hills Cop
Return of the Jedi
E.T.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Empire Strikes Back

Not posting that for any other reason that because it might be of interest, and Jeff's comment prompted me to wonder what the highest grossing of the last few years were. No other commentary is intended.

It is ogf interest. But actually, you'd have to adjust it for inflation too to be accurate

I like them all and was entertained by all-except the Grinch was ok, and I never saw Beverly Hills Cop.

(1) It's more fun for the audience if the Oscars are movies they might have seen or are likely to enjoy if seen. It blows when its a bnunch of independent/British movies that 95% will never see or if they do, likely to not care for it.

(2) Soem film fans seem to think the opposite, the less seen bvy the public the better it is.

(3) the Oscars, and other awards, aren't much about evaluating a film's worth. It's rewarding X actor because he should have won last time, and Z actor because they are old and its a shock they never one, and B film because it says all the right PC things this year or because D movie company sent out chocolates with the film or had a nice ad in Variety

In the end, it is all just opinion, and like anyone's or group's opinion, it is influenced by many, many thing.

Since it was inspired by previously existing material it is technically adapted (the bits from Da Ali G Show).

This is one of my lower years in viewing the nominations-honestly think it was a weak year and these seem to be weak nominations. The films I've seen:



Performance by an actor in a leading role
None

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED

Performance by an actress in a leading role
None, but I have Prada at home on DVD to watch

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE


Best animated feature film of the year
CARS


Achievement in art direction
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in cinematography

THE PRESTIGE

Achievement in costume design
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Achievement in directing L
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best documentary feature
None

Best documentary short subject
None

Achievement in film editing
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93

Best foreign language film of the year
None

Achievement in makeup
CLICK


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
None

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Our Town" - CARS

Best motion picture of the year
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Best animated short film
None

Best live action short film
None

Achievement in sound editing
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in sound mixing
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST

Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS

Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
THE DEPARTED


Original screenplay

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

I haven't seen this few in years, probably since 1995

Whats wrong with you? No film goers exist outside of the US ?
If your distributors are too insular to consider the rest of the world's output that's your problem
On the other hand you did get to suffer "Four weddings and a Funeral" so I guess that makes things even.

Dreamgirls was a pretty shocking Best Picture omission, but I'm glad it happened because it really isn't a very good movie. The five nominees are all better.
Chip

-they exist, but we don't care about them Hollywood does, but we don't much.

-It's not my problem since I would almost never see a subtitled movie anyway (and most of the ones I do see are American movies). I've seen some British movies. for some reason, they all have Judi Dench in them and for some reason, several of them could have used subtitles