Oscars 2007 Part I: The nominees

Yes it's that time of year again. So here are the nominees.

Best Picture:

Babel – Another interconnecting story with interesting characters.
The Departed– This is a remake of a Hong Kong classic Infernal Affairs.
Letters from Iwo Jima – This is the flipside to Flags of Our Fathers.
Little Miss Sunshine - The little indy movie that could. Comedies don’t normally get nominated so I’m kinda pulling for this one.
The Queen – Really spectacular. This is one of the best movies of the year.

Best Director:

Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel – Who is this guy?
Martin Scorsese for The Departed – Oh give it to him already.
Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima – NO EASTWOOD NOT THIS YEAR DAMNIT! Damn you EASTWOOD!
Stephen Frears for The Queen, – He did a really but it's Scorsese’s year.
Paul Greengrass for United 93 – It must’ve been real hard to direct this movie. But I don’t think it’s his year.

Best Actor:

Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond – Sorry I’m not feeling him this time around.
Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson – Hmm Gosling’s playing a recovering drug addict. Ok next.
Peter O’Toole for Venus – He’s playing an old English actor. Damn what a stretch.
Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happiness – This is his second nomination. Maybe he might get it this time around.
Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland – He had to get extra dark to play this role. And I ain't talking about his personality. They did a good make up job on him.

Best Actress:

Penélope Cruz for Volver – Why does she look like a moth?
Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal – I think they do her make up better when she does the Bond movies.
Helen Mirren for The Queen – She just nailed this role so I don’t see her losing to anyone.
Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada – I can’t believe she got nominated for a comedy.
Kate Winslet for Little Children – This role gave me a new respect for Winslet but, didn’t she win for that movie about that boat hitting that iceberg.

Best Supporting Actor:

Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine – Arkin plays a grandfather that shoots H and ODs on a road trip. Yeah he should win.
Jackie Earle Haley for Little Chidren – Wasn’t this guy in the Bad New Bears?
Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond – Did he get to hold a gun at least once in this movie?
Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls - Glad to see him nominated. I really hope he wins.
Mark Wahlberg for The Departed – Wahlberg plays an asshole in this movie. Yep I’m sure it was a stretch.

Best Supporting Actress:

Adriana Barraza for Babel – Never heard of her.
Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal – Wasn’t she nominated last year?
Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine – Too young in my opinion.
Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls – Wasn’t she on American Idol? She didn’t win on that what makes her think she can win here?
Rinko Kikuchi for Babel – I know her as well as I know Adriana Barraza.

Best Original screenplay:

Guillermo Arriaga for Babel – Haven’t seen it.
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis for Letters from Iwo Jima – Ahh it's the The return of Haggis.
Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine – A smart witty and funny movie. It doesn't stand a chance.
Guillermo del Toro for Pan's Labyrinth – I didn’t see it.
Peter Morgan for The Queen - I saw it and liked it.

Best Adapted screenplay:

Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, and Dan Mazer for Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan – You mean to tell me this movie had FOUR writers? I thought most of that sh*t was improve.

Alfonso Cuarón & Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby for Children of Men – One of the most Kubrickian movies I’ve seen in a long time.

William Monahan for The Departed – The guy who adapted this screenplay has also written Kingdom of Heaven and we all know how good that was.

Todd Field & Tom Perrotta for Little Children – You might remember them from a movie called In the Bedroom.

Patrick Marber for Notes on a Scandal – This is his first nomination. From what I found he used to write for Steve Coogan’s old Alan Partridge show. Well I guess he can’t be all bad.