The Results

I did poorly in my picks this year compared to the last couple of years, I only got 31 correct out of 40, and only 36/40 with my alternates.

BEST PICTURE
Yeah! No "Dreamgirls!" I never had faith in this nomination, I was going along with everyone else. But I had reservasions from the beginning. I thought "Letters" was such a dark horse, I did not even list it as such. I never should have doubted how much the Academy loves Clint. Having recently seen "The Queen," I think this is the weakest pick and should not be here. It's a glorified TV movie, more on that later. Look for split between "The Departed," the heavy favoirte, I think and a possible upset win for "Little Miss Sunshine," but the shocker could be "Letters," or "Babel." Right now its a toss up.

BEST DIRECTOR
Yeah! No "Dreamgirls!" Both my alternate and my dark horse made the list. Again here I would love to take "The Queen" off and replace it with Guillermo del Toro for "Pan's Labyrinth"

BEST ACTOR
Come on gimme a break Leo DeCrapio for "Blood Diamond?" I haven't wanted to see this movie BECAUSE of him! Frankly I think Matt Damon got robbed, his role in "The Good Shepherd was and will be the performance that was over looked years from now as the best performance of the year and his career.

BEST ACTRESS
This is a no brainer. Helen Mirren will win and she deserves to win. This was another film that everyone (I mean the critics) got on the SAME bandwagon about how great it was. I am dying to watch HBO's "Elizabeth I" to compare the two. What if this film was theatrically released? What if Stephen Frears didn't direct "The Queen" would it have shown on TV or theatrically? I think there really is not difference between the two and both should be on television where they belong.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR/ACTRESS
I am so happy for Jackie Earle Haley, I was a child fan of the child actor. Although it imagine it will be some time before I actually get to see his performance.

ADAPTED/ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYS
"Borat" replaces "Thank You for Smoking?" How is that possible? I guess they had to give it something. This time I was glad I was wrong about "Dreamgirls," I'm still dying to see "Notes on a Scandal" maybe with four nominations it might show up in the next couple of weeks. I am shocked about the omission of "Stranger than Fiction" and "Volver."