Facts About the Nominations

• Dreamgirls managed 8 noms, yet was snubbed for Best Picture. While this has occoured in the past to films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, both those films recieved Best Director nominations and neither was the nomination leader of their respective years. Dreamgirls is the most nominated film this year, making this first time in history that a non-best picture nominee led the nomination count.
• In terms of total nominations, this is the weakest Best Picture line-up since 1932 when there were only 9 categories. This also the first time since 1952 that no Best Picture nominee recieved more than 7 nods.
  
• This is the first time since 1927 (!!), the first year of the Academy Awards, that not one single Best Actor nominee is from a Best Picture nominee. Also, with the exception of Blood Diamond, the other 4 films nominated for Best Actor recieved their only nomination in that category.
  
• With his eighth acting nom Peter O'Toole, if he were to lose, will beat his tie with Richard Burton and become the most nominated actor to never win a competitive Oscar (he recieved an honourary award in 2002)
• With her nomination for Little Children, Kate Winslet becomes the youngest actor ever to recieve 5 nominations. She is 31 years old, 2 years younger than previous record holder, Olivia De Havilland, who was 33. Winslet has only made 19 films, Havilland had made 33 by that time. This also means Winslet has been nominated for 25% of her filmography.

• With her 14th nomination Meryl Streep continues her reign as the most nominated actor in Oscar history.
• Judi Dench recieved her 6th nomination in only 10 years. Since 1997 only 1999, 2002, 2003 and 2004 have been Dench-less years.
• Alan Arkin recieved his first nomination since 1968, 38 years ago.
• If you add up the grosses for all of the film's nominated for Best Picture: Babel ($24), The Departed ($122), Letters from Iwo Jima ($2), Little Miss Sunshine ($60), The Queen ($36) they all total $244 million -- the same number as Cars ($244) did in the US alone. Letters is also one of the lowest grossing, if not the lowest grossing Best Picture nominee (at the time of recieving nominations) in the last 20 odd years.
• Penelope Cruz is the first Spanish actress to be nominated. Rinko Kikuchi is the first Asian actress to be nominated since Miyoshi Umeki won for Sayanora in 1957.

• Dreamgirls is the first live action film to recieve 3 Best Original Song nominations. Two animated films can lay claim to the same record: The Lion King in 1994 and Beauty and the Beast in 1991.
• Kevin O'Connell, nommed for sound mixing in Apocalypto, scores his 19th nom. He furthers his status as the Academy's most nominated individual who, so far, hasn't won. Distant runners-up are composer Alex North and art director Roland Anderson, at 15 each.
  

Final Oscar Predictions

The nominees come out tomorrow evening, so here's my final stab. Sorry about the lack of commentary but I'm tired.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Director
Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson, The Departed

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barazza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
Thank You For Smoking

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
United 93
Volver

Best Animated Feature
Cars
Happy Feet
Over the Hedge

Best Cinematography
Apocalypto, Dean Semler
Babel, Rodrigo Prieto
Children of Men, Emmanuel Lubezki
The Good Shepherd, Robert Richardson
The Illusionist, Dick Pope

Best Costume Design
The Black Dahlia, Jenny Beavan
The Curse of the Golden Flower, Chung Mang Yee
Dreamgirls, Sharon Davies
Marie-Antoinette, Milena Canonero
The Painted Veil, Ruth Myres

Best Art Direction
The Curse of the Golden Flower
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pan's Labyrinth

Best Film Editing
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
The Queen
United 93

Best Makeup
Apocalypto
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Original Score
Apocalypto, James Newton Howard
Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla
The DaVinci Code, Hans Zimmer
The Illusionist, Philip Glass
The Painted Veil, Alexandre Desplat

Best Original Song
Bobby for 'Never Gonna Break My Faith'
Borat for 'O Kazakhstan'
Dreamgirls for 'Listen'
Happy Feet for 'Song of the Heart'
An Inconvenient Truth for 'I Need to Wake Up'

Best Sound Design
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
alternate: Babel

Best Sound Editing
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Cars
Flags of Our Fathers
Superman Returns
Poseidon

Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Superman Returns
X3: The Last Stand

Globes Rundown

Well, it seems as if it were a night of NO surprises. I scored 8/13 in my predictions which is not bad and 4 of my alternate picks made it in (the only category I completely missed was Best Picture-Drama). Dreamgirls picked up some steam, coming in with the most wins, 3, for Best Picture-Comedy/Musical, Best Supporting Actor (Eddie Murphy and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson). The Queen won two for Helen Mirren and Peter Morgan's screenplay. Everything else won one. Including Best Picture-Drama winner Babel, a win that came off looking more like a consolation prize for receiving the most nominations, rather than anything else. While the TV winners came out with some surprises (Yaay Ugly Betty and America Ferrera! Boo Grey's Anatomy!) including a wonderful makeup win for Emily Blunt (which I will of course pretend was really for The Devil Wears Prada), there weren't any shockers for the films. However, the lack of anything even near a sweep means that this year's Best Picture race is still wide open with The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, Babel and even The Queen all looking like contenders for the big prize. And that never happens.

Best Win of the Night: It was a foregone conclusion but nothing makes me quite as happy as hearing Marty Scorsese's name read out at these things. I literally shouted out loud.

Best Speech of the Night: Without a doubt, Meryl Streep. America Ferrera and Sacha Baron Cohen put in some good tries. Peter Morgan's speech was wonderful but it was ALL Meryl. What a woman. I loved the 'Oh shut up, its not that long!'.

Best Dressed: Cameron Diaz was the only person who looked awful, with everyone else looking pretty hot. It amazes me how sexy Helen Mirren is at 61 but the cake has to go to Rachel Weisz. Why couldn't she look this hot last year when she was winning everything? Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Evangeline Lilly and Kate Winslet were also in various stages of hotness.

Most Drunk: An award that can only be given at the globes. This is year was a disappointment here. No one was OFF their face like, say, Sharon Stone or Jonathan Rhys-Meyers has been in the past and during the cut aways a lot of people looked pissed off. Particularly Diddy when in conversation with Jay-Z.

Table that Looked like the Most Fun?: Well, if you'd asked me before I'd have said the Fox table were Sacha Baron Cohen and Meryl Streep were seated would've been the best, but there simply weren't enough shenanigans to compete. I'd say its close between the Ugly Betty table, where everyone seemed to have a good time and genuinely like each other and the Warren Beatty/Annette Bening/Jack Nicholson table that was the centre of attention the whole night through.

The winners you ask?

Best Picture, Drama: Babel

Best Actor, Drama: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Picture Musical/Comedy: Dreamgirls

Best Actor Musical/Comedy: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Score: The Painted Veil

Foreign Film: Letters From Iwo Jima

Best Screenplay: The Queen

Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls

Best Actress, Musical/Comedy - Meryl Streep, Devil Wears Prada

Best Animated Film: Cars

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Original Song: Prince for 'Song From the Heart', Happy Feet

TV:

Best Actress, Comedy: America Ferrera, Ugly Betty

Best Comedy Series, TV: Ugly Betty

Best Actor, Comedy: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Best Actress, Mini Series: Helen Mirren, Elizabeth I

Best Actor, Mini Series: Bill Nighy, Gideon's Daughter

Best Mini Series: Elizabeth I

Best Actor, Drama: Hugh Laurie, House

Best Supporting Actress - Mini Series: Emily Blunt, Gideon's Daughter

Best Actress, TV, Drama: Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Jeremy Irons, Elizabeth I

Golden Globe Predictions

The Globes are on tomorrow morning, so I felt the need...

Best Picture-Drama: The Departed
Alternate: The Queen

Best Picture-Comedy/Musical: Little Miss Sunshine
Alternate: Dreamgirls

Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Actor-Drama: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Alternate: Peter O'Toole, Venus

Best Actress-Drama: Helen Mirren, The Queen

Best Actor-Comedy/Musical: Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat

Best Actress-Comedy/Musical: Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada

Best Supporting Actor: Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Alternate: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Best Animated Feature: Happy Feet
Alternate: Cars

Best Foreign Language Film: Letters From Iwo Jima
Alternate: Pan's Labyrinth/Volver

Best Screenplay: The Queen
Alternate: Babel

Best Original Score: Babel
Alternate: The Painted Veil

Best Original Song: Happy Feet

2006: Year in Music - Country

and so it begins...one genre a day. winners in bold.

Best Country Album

American V: A Hundred Highways, Johnny Cash
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Neko Case
Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
Taking the Long Way, Dixie Chicks
You Don't Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker, Willie Nelson

Best Country Song (songwriting category)
8th of November, Big Kenny and John Rich (Big and Rich)
Goodbye to My Mama, Garrison Keillor (Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin)
A Love That Will Never Grow Old, Gustavo Santaolalla and Bernie Taupin (Emmylou Harris)
Not Ready to Make Nice, Martie Maguire, Natalie Maines, Emily Robinson and Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks) watch
Travelin' Thru, Dolly Parton (Dolly Parton)

Best Country Male Vocal Performance
Better Life, Keith Urban watch
He Was a Friend of Mine, Willie Nelson watch
Give It Away, Geogre Strait watch
God's Gonna Cut You Down, Johnny Cash watch
Settle for a Slowdown, Dierks Bentley watch

Best Country Female Vocal Performance
Before He Cheats, Carrie Underwood watch
Kerosene, Miranda Lambert watch
John Saw That Number, Neko Case
A Love That Will Never Grow Old, Emmylou Harris watch
Travelin' Thru, Dolly Parton watch

Best Country Group or Duo Vocal Performance
8th of November, Big and Rich watch
Boondocks, Little Big Town watch
Leave the Pieces, The Wreckers watch
Not Ready to Make Nice, Dixie Chicks watch
What Hurts the Most, Rascal Flatts watch

Best Country Vocal Collaboration
Jackson, Jaoquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon watch
Love Will Always Win, Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks watch
My Minnesota Home (The Old Folks at Home), Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin watch
The Reason Why, Vince Gill featuring Allison Krauss watch
When I Get Where I'm Going, Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton watch

Tomorrow: R&B

Awards Update

Helen Mirren is nominated thrice for this year's Golden Globes for The Queen and, for the television films, Prime Suspect 6 and Elizabeth I

Much has happened since my last update, with the big critics groups having announced their winners and the announcement of the Golden Globe nominations last night. Critics group wise, all you need to know is that everyone is split on the Best Picture race: the NY critics went for United 93 (which gives director Paul Greengrass a large push to get the lone director slot), LA critics repeated the Clint love for Letters but gave Greengrass their Best Director award. Scorsese took Best Director in New York. The Boston critics went crazy for The Departed and, surprisingly, gave their Best Supporting Actor award, not to Nicholson but, to co-star Mark Wahlberg (who's looking better and better for an Oscar nom). The Queen also recieved a major boost from the LA critics coming runner-up for Best Picture and winning awards for Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score. Speaking of The Queen, Helen Mirren has now won every single Best Actress award bestowed so far. Forest Whitaker's no slouch either, his performance as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland has won all but one prize. That was a minor critics group but the winner also tied with Whitaker for the LA Best Actor prize: Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat, who could turn out to be a major spoiler.

Now that's done, let's move onto the Golden Globe nominees:

Best Picture-Drama
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children
The Queen

The Departed and The Queen lead the race here with Bobby and Little Children being the major surprises. Could Bobby suddenly gather up steam and overcome tepid reviews. It's doubtful and we should all be thankful for that. Babel also did well gaining the most nominations (7), but it seems like it's more of an HFPA film rather than one the Academy will eventually go for.

Best Picture-Comedy/Musical
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You For Smoking

Pretty good category. No surprises but it is a strong lineup, nevertheless. Dreamgirls should bag this one easily seeing as it's this year's big Oscar dog but the shocking Best Director snub tells me either Borat or LMS could upset.

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Flags of Our Fathers
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! FUCK FUCK FUCK on Eastwood double nom. So. Fucking. Unnecessary. Marty will probably win and the Frears nom just adds more steam to The Queen's rather formidable engine.

Best Actor-Drama
Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
Peter O'Toole in Venus
Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland

It's nice to see Leo get double nominations here but it worries me. All this indecision between his two films means that his chances of getting an Oscar nomination are deteriorating. And damnit, HFPA, is it too much to fucking ask for you to nominate Ryan Gosling? assholes. At least, his Oscar hopes aren't too damaged.

Best Actor-Comedy/Musical
Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat
Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Aaron Eckhart in Thank You For Smoking
Chiwitel Ejiofor in Kinky Boots
Will Ferrell in Stranger Than Fiction

Boring category: Depp and Ferrell's noms are dull and unimaginative. Good for Eckhart-he's a brilliant actor. Cohen takes this in a cakewalk.

Best Actress-Drama
Penolope Cruz in Volver
Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
Maggie Gyllenhaal in Sherrybaby
Helen Mirren in The Queen
Kate Winslet in Little Children

Replace either Gyllenhaal or Winslet with Streep and you've got a good idea of who the final Best Actress lineup will be. This award already has Dame Mirren's name on it (the three nominations she recieved only helps her case). Unless the other Dame can get some last minute traction for, what is supposed to be, the best performance of her career.

Best Actress-Comedy/Musical
Annette Bening in Running with Scissors
Toni Collete in Little Miss Sunshine
Beyonce Knowles in Dreamgirls
Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
Renee Zellweger in Miss Potter

Golden Globe, meet your new owner, Meryl Streep. This is hers, and deservingly so. Unless, he HFPA give into their usual starfucking and give it to Beyonce, eh. Love that Toni Collete got in but the Breslin snub is puzzling.

Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland
Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson in The Departed
Brad Pitt in Babel
Mark Wahberg in The Departed

Wierdly star-packed lineup. THRILLED that Wahlberg got in, he stole every fucking scene he was in. The Michael Sheen snub means nothing since Miramax submitted him in lead here and the LAFCA win has pretty much solidified his nom.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barazza in Babel
Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
EMILY FUCKING BLUNT IN THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA!!!!!!!!!!
Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi in Babel

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!!!!!!!!! Cannot believe they actually went for Blunt's wonderful work. Streep wasn't the only one working her ass off and it's good to see Blunt get the recognition after critics pretty much ignored her. The rest of the category is a snorefest and I wouldn't worry about the snub for Catherine O'Hara for For Your Consideration. After all both Amy Adams and Catherine Keener were ignored here last year and O'Hara's pretty much in the same position.

Screenplay
Babel
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen

Again, the Little Children love is surprising. All in all, this is a good category.

Best Foreign Language Film
Apocalypto
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver

The fact that Gibson and Eastwood were allowed to pass of their films in this category simply because their in a dead and foreign language, respectively, is utter bullshit. Letters will win unless the HFPA is feeling adventurous. Volver is divine and the other two films are said to be two of the best, if not the best, films of the year.

That's all for now, folks. Music year-end picks comes tomorrow.

Best Lead Actress of Every Year: 2005 - 1927

05: Joan Allen, The Upside of Anger

04: Julie Delpy, Before Sunset

03: Uma Thurman, Kill Bill, Volume 1

02: Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven

01: Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive

00: Björk, Dancer in the Dark

99: Kate Winslet, Holy Smoke!

98: Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth

97: Pam Grier, Jackie Brown

96: Frances McDormand, Fargo

95: Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas

94: Isabelle Adjani, Queen Margot

93: Holly Hunter, The Piano

92: Michelle Pfeiffer, Batman Returns

91: TIE: Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, Thelma & Louise

90: Anjelica Huston, The Grifters

89: Michelle Pfeiffer, The Fabulous Baker Boys

88: Carmen Maura, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

87: Glenn Close, Fatal Attraction

86: Sandrine Bonnaire, Vagabond

85: Whoopi Goldberg, The Color Purple

84: Kathleen Turner, Crimes of Passion/Romancing the Stone

83: Meryl Streep, Silkwood

82: Meryl Streep, Sophie’s Choice

81: Susan Sarandon, Atlantic City

80: Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner’s Daughter

79: Sally Field, Norma Rae

78: Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata

77: Diane Keaton, Annie Hall

76: Faye Dunaway, Network

75: Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

74: Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence

73: Liv Ullman, Cries and Whispers

72: Cicely Tyson, Sounder

71: Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs. Miller

70: Glenda Jackson, Women in Love

69: Jane Fonda, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?

68: Catherine Denueve, Belle de Jour

67: (tie) Bibi Andersson/Liv Ullman, Persona

66: Elizabeth Taylor, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

65: Anna Karina, Pierrot le Fou

64: Anne Bancroft, The Pumpkin Eater

63: Shirley MacLaine, Irma la Douce

62: Jeanne Moreau, Jules and Jim

61: Sophia Loren, Two Women

60: Emmanuelle Riva, Hiroshima Mon Amour

59: Marilyn Monroe, Some Like it Hot

58: Elizabeth Taylor, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

57: Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria

56: Maria Schell, White Nights

55: Grace Kelly, To Catch a Thief

54: Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones

53: Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday

52: Jennifer Jones, Ruby Gentry

51: Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire

50: Bette Davis, All About Eve

49: Katharine Hepburn, Adam’s Rib

48: Rita Hayworth, The Lady From Shanghai

47: Deborah Kerr, Black Narcissus

46: Ingrid Bergman, Notorious

45: Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce

44: Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity

43: Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver

42: Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca

41: Bette Davis, The Little Foxes

40: Joan Fontaine, Rebecca

39: Vivien Leigh, Gone With the Wind

38: Katharine Hepburn, Bringing Up Baby

37: Greta Garbo, Camille

36: Louise Rainer, The Good Earth

35: Ginger Rogers, Top Hat

34: Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night

33: Mae West, She Done Him Wrong

32: Marlene Dietrich, Shanghai Express

31: Norma Shearer, A Free Soul

30: Marie Dressler, Min and Bill

29: Luise Brooks, Pandora’s Box

28: Renee Maria Falconetti, The Passion of Joan of Arc

27: Janet Gaynor, Sunrise