...And the nominees are

Ok folks, place your bets...
In my perfect world, it would go like this:
Best Movie- Little Miss Sunshine (Fantastic movie... dramatic, touching and very funny)
Best Director- Martin Scorsese (He is WAY overdue, I mean really now, give the guy a break!!)
Best Actress- Helen Mirren (always amazing, always overlooked, it's her day now)
Best Actor- Will Smith (he was SO good in "Pursuit")
Best Supporting Actress/Actor- Jennifer Hudson (Beyonce who...Beyotch *with 3 snaps in Z formation*)/Eddie Murphy (finally a role that shows his acting chops)
Best Animated- (toss up) Cars and/or Happy Feet
Best Song- "I need to wake up" Melissa Etheridge (I'm biased though, I am such a fan of hers)
Best Costume- Marie Antoinette (the story wasn't half bad, but the costumes were to die for)
Best CGI- Pirates (Did you SEE that Kracken???)

****On a final note...while I'd LOVE to see Will Smith take it, as he has shown how diverse an actor he is...Peter O'Toole should be given it. He has always been amazing and has never got one...except for that cheezy Lifetime Oscar BS...

The other stuff I haven't yet seen so I can't say yet...
So c'mon and chime in with your picks, and next month when the Oscars airs, we'll see who was closest!

Secondary poll---
Who will wear the best and worst outfits on the Red Carpet???

Will Smith will take it easily for most stylish guy...he could wear a ratty towel and look good!
Penelope Cruz will also look amazing...meanwhile, Meryl Streep will again manage to look dumpy.

Best Movie- The Queen - a real insight without being overly sympathetic to either party

Best Actress- Helen Mirren (agreed on that one)

Best Actor- Forest Whitaker (again, always overlooked but very talented and exceptional in this movie)

Best Supporting Actress/Actor- Alan Arkin & Adriana Barraza

Best Animated- Cars (without question)

Best Song- Randy Newman - he's very crap so please give him an oscar so he will stop rewriting the same song over and over for each subsequent disney flick

Best Costume- Marie Antoinette

Best CGI- Superman (because one half decent octopus done not a good movie make....)

Original Score- Pan's Labyrinth

Art Direction & Cinematography- Pan's Labyrinth

most retarded - anybody watching this garbage on tv

**passes McGuffy a life wrapped up in a new/alternate personality**

Oh hey McLoser is back...guess you haven't managed to find yourself a life yet.

Best actor: The Blue Ninja in 'Thread Killer.'

Jerry, My kissy monkey is gonna whoop your Blue Ninja's butt...now lets see your list...

Can't show ya....already been to the store and tossed it. As usual I bought more than was on the list.

Sheesh I'm sorry...it's way to early for me to kill this thread. Who's running again?

Helen Mirren...definitely for 'The Queen'

Ok that's it....I pick her.

Amazingly… I've watched fewer movies than ever this year, so I'm not quite up on them, but based on reviews and usual oscar drama, here are my picks:

Best Actor - Forest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland"
Best Supporting Actor - Mark Wahlberg for "The Departed"
Best Actress - Helen Mirren for "The Queen" - otherwise Penelope Cruz for "Volver"
Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett for "Notes on a Scandal"
Best Animated Film - "Cars"
Best Art Direction - "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Cinematography - "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Costume Design - "Curse of the Golden Flower"
Best Director - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel" - if not, then Clint Eastwood for "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Best Song - gee… um… I'll go for one of the Dreamgirls songs
Best Score - The Queen
Best Picture - Letters From Iwo Jima
Best Visual Effects - "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Best Screenplay - "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Adapted Screenplay - "Notes on a Scandal"

congrats to Pans Labyrinth for doing pretty well so far, commiserations to sound mixing wizard Kevin O'Connell who got the shaft - again - on his 19th Oscar nomination.

what's with Nicholson?? is he sh-- faced, or what? and thebald head? a character he's playing..or has one finally flew over the cuckoo's nest?

** shrugs ** shame they all went the safe route and gave Monsieur Scorsese the sympathy Oscars but at least they got it right with best actor/actress

sympathy? I saw "the departed"..that had oscar stamped all over it..but i'm on the same page with you on Forrest Whittaker's win

i wanted willy to win...he has shown his acting chops...he can do comedy, action, and drama.
i was bummed that little miss sunshine didn't win--that was a good movie...
but it really was great that melissa won for song--she has always been a fantastic singer/songwriter, good to see she's getting some props (my mom thought dreamgirls would win, so i busted out all my melissa albums and she changed her mind)

i enjoyed ellen as mc, but wished they would've let her do more, she cracks me up and i've always been a huge fan...

and scorcese has done some great films, but haven't seen departed, so i don't know if it was a sympathy vote or not...but speaking of sympathy votes...poor peter o'toole being snubbed again...

well that’s kind of why Scorsese got his - however good it is, the Departed is just a straight remake of a Japanese movie basically and, because all of his film school buddies had been lined up in advance to present the best director award, you got the feeling that it was a foregone conclusion.

i wish the votes had gone a little differently from the "buzz"...but they tend to follow what the pre oscar awards shows do

Best grimaces of the night:

Ennio Morricone who looked like he was stabbing himself in the leg with a fork whilst been serenaded by Celine Dion

Everybody else’s faces while the Ennio/Clint double act unfolded on stage

Randy Newman realising he had got the shaft. Again. Oh to be a lip reader.

Jodie Foster getting lost on stage - presumably after having some of whatever Jack was having backstage.

LOL @ Phil

lmao. phil's summary almost makes me sorry I didn't watch.

Jack Nicholson is doing a movie role on a Terminally Ill patient ... the news just said so ... but I wasn't hanging on every word

that would be The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman.