Well, it’s that time of year again. Will Martin Scorsese finally take the statue this year or will a little girl’s quest with her dysfunctional family shut out their categories like we’re seeing at a lot of the other awards? Even the “solid pick” this year (Dreamgirls) missed some of its expected categories. We’ll find out on February 25th. For now, here are the list of nominees for the 29th Acadamy Awards.

The Nominees Are...

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond
Peter O’Toole - Venus
Will Smith - The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Rafe says: I did not expect Gosling to make this list. Whitaker remains the heavy contender in this category, but it could go just about any direction.

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


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Judy Dench - Notes on a Scandal
Penelope Cruz - Volver
Helen Mirren - The Queen
Kate Winslet - Little Children
Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada

Rafe says: No big surprises here. Helen Mirren has this category locked down. Sorry to the rest of the ladies – maybe next year.

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel

Rafe says: I always have trouble figuring out who is going to fit into this category. It’s neat to see Abigail Breslin nominated for her Sunshine efforts and interesting to see Hudson take the nod instead of Beyonce.

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Rafe says: As much as I want to see Pixar take the award (they did make us sympathize with automobiles after all) I expect Happy Feet will dance away with the award this time. Darn penguins seem to be a shoe-in no matter what category they appear in.

DIRECTING
Martin Scorsese - The Departed
Alejandro González Iñárritu - Babel
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima
Paul Greengrass - United 93

Rafe says: Quite a few changes from the Director’s Guild nominations. Typically Best Picture and Best Director overlaps for the most part, with exceptions pretty much being out of the running. Greengrass’s United 93 will have quite a fight to have a chance at winning.

BEST PICTURE
The Departed
Babel
Letters from Iwa Jima
The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine

Rafe says: Dreamgirls was expected to be the major contender in this category. The absence of the film opens a huge void. Might that make room for a Little Miss Sunshine win?

And then there are the categories that are just as important, but I’m not going to comment individually on. In interests of time and space I haven’t listed each individual person, just the film involved, but those people’s families know who they are. Here are the rest of the Oscar Categories...

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labrynth
The Queen

MUSIC (SCORE)
Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labrynth
The Queen

MUSIC (SONG)
"I Need to Wake Up" - An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen" - Dreamgirls
"Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
"Our Town" - Cars
"Patience" - Dreamgirls

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

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

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Binta and the Great Idea
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
After the Wedding
Days of Glory
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labrynth
Water

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

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige

COSTUME DESIGN
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

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

MAKEUP
Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labrynth

SOUND EDITING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

SOUND MIXING
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of our Fathers
Dreamgirls
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

The 79th Academy Awards will be held on Sunday, February 25th on ABC Television at 5pm PST/8pm EST. Don’t forget to join us for Oscar Chat 6 here at Cinema Blend, where we’ll no doubt make fun of the winners, losers, and sum up everything everyone will be talking about at the water cooler the next day.