Road to the Oscars

BEST PICTURE
The Departed
The Queen

Little Miss Sunshine
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
Martin Scorsese The Departed
Stephen Frears The Queen
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu Babel
Paul Greengrass United 93
Clint Eastwood Letters From Iwo Jima

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker The Last King of Scotland
Peter O'Toole Venus
Will Smith The Pursuit of Happyness
Leonardo DiCaprio Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling Half Nelson

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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Eddie Murphy Dreamgirls
Jackie Earle Haley Little Children
Alan Arkin Little Miss Sunshine
Mark Wahlberg The Departed
Djimon Hounsou Blood Diamond

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Hudson Dreamgirls
Cate Blanchett Notes on a Scandal

Abigail Breslin Little Miss Sunshine
Adriana Barraza Babel
Rinko Kikuchi Babel

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

BEST FILM EDITING
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Letters From Iwo Jima

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
'Water' - Canada
'The Lives of Others' - Germany
'After the Wedding' - Denmark
'Days of Glory (Indigenes)' - Algeria
'Pan's Labyrinth' - Mexico

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
'I Need to Wake Up' - Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge An Inconvenient Truth
'Love You I Do' - Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Siedah Garrett Dreamgirls
'Our Town' - Music and Lyric by Randy Newman Cars
'Patience' - Music by Henry Krieger; Lyric by Willie Reale Dreamgirls
'Listen' - Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler Dreamgirls

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Dreamgirls

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

BEST ART DIRECTION
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth

BEST ACHIVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
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)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns
Source: Oscars.movies.yahoo.com

The main HIGHLIGHTS, are in my opinion, the nod for

Best Picture for "Little Miss Sunshine" and Best Supporting Actress for Abigail Breslin as Olive. Read Cinephilia's "LMS" Review,
and the nomination of Ryan Gosling as Dan Dunne

(in the Best Actor category for "Half Nelson").

Read the "Half Nelson" Review.

The FAILURES include the absence of a nomination

for Maggie Gyllenhaal's excellent performance for "Sherrybaby".

Read "Sherrybaby" Review,
a more than deserving nomination for "Brick"

in categories Best Original Screenplay, Cinematography or Best Actor: Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "Brick" Review.
"A Scanner Darkly" also snubbed i.e. for a Animated Feature Film nomination. "A Scanner Darkly" review.