Is it really possible to predict the Oscars a full year in advance? The answer…you bet! Last year, numerous Oscar sites, us included, had “The Departed” in the top five. But ultimately, the fact that it seemed to be a violent and commercial gangster film convinced most experts to pass it by. We should have anticipated the temptation to honor a legendary director like Martin Scorsese and the sheer power of a cast featuring the likes of Nicholson, DiCaprio, and Damon.

Also, if you examine years past, it has often been more than feasible to predict several of the…
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Best Picture: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress: Helen Mirren, The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Best Foreign Language Film: Pan’s Labyrinth
Best Animated Feature Film: Cars
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Best Documentary Short Subject: Two Hands
Best Animated Short Film: The Little Matchgirl
Best Live Action Short Film: West Bank Story
Best Cinematography: Children of Men
Best Editing: Babel
Best Makeup: Pan’s Labyrinth
Best Art…
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Here are two of the trickiest categories you’ll encounter, especially this year. In some years, one grand film will sweep these two awards, along with Visual Effects. “King Kong” did exactly that last year and other blockbusters like “The Matrix” and “Titanic” also pulled the hat trick. This year, one film is nominated across the board: “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.” Though “Pirates” scored major box office booty and featured very good effects, we’re not quite so sure it’s on the same level as “King Kong.” That said, let’s check out the nominees for Best Sound.

“Apocalypto”…
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Providing an informed prediction for best animated short film is difficult because the films generally only show at festivals and are not officially available online. Although some industrious fans have put two of this year’s nominees – “Maestro” and “The Little Matchgirl” – on video-sharing sites, the other three films – “Lifted”, “No Time for Nuts,” and “The Danish Poet” – are harder to come by. The best resource for seeing clips of the five nominees is the Animation World Network. Out of the five shorts, “The Little Matchgirl” has the most sentimental and uplifting story. It tells the…
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“Little Miss Sunshine” and “The Departed” solidified their strong standings for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay with wins at last night’s Writers Guild Awards. Here is the list of winners:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Little Miss Sunshine, Written by Michael Arndt, Fox Searchlight Pictures

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Departed, Screenplay by William Monahan, Based on the Motion Picture Infernal Affairs, Written by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, Warner Bros. Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Deliver Us from Evil, Written by Amy Berg, Lionsgate EntertainmentGothika buyCoraline psp

Well, here we go, trying to deconstruct the most challenging and potentially unpredictable Oscar race in years. When is the last time mid-December rolled around without a clear frontrunner? “Dreamgirls” seemed poised to trump the competition and roll through the Oscar season Chicago-style, but its opening last week was met with solid, yet unspectacular reviews. Now it’s just another likely nominee. Of course, being the early favorite hasn’t always been a good thing. Just look at “The Aviator” and “Brokeback Mountain” from the last two years. So when it comes to this year, the big question is, has this year’s…
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The Hollywood Foreign Press announce their nominations early Thursday morning. As most of you know, there are two categories for Best Picture, drama and musical/comedy. Getting nominated usually provides a healthy boost for a film and increases its chances dramatically at landing an Oscar nomination. Here are our predictions.

Best Picture (Drama)

Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Flags of Our Fathers
The Queen

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)

Borat
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
A Prairie Home Companion

Analysis: Many people are predicting “World Trade Center” for drama, but we think the overall poor…
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The Broadcast Film Critics Awards announce their nominations Tuesday. In recent years, the BFCA has carved for itself a more prominent role in the Oscar race. In 2001, the BFCA’s launched “A Beautiful Mind” into the frontrunner’s spot by awarding it Best Picture. “A Beautiful Mind” went on to win the Oscar. BFCA releases an annual top ten list of Best Picture nominees. Unlike the AFI’s top ten, which often awards crowd-pleasers (Borat, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Spiderman 2), the BFCAs recognize critically acclaimed, Oscar caliber films. In the past few years, every single Best Picture nominee has cracked…
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The last of the big three announce their awards tomorrow night. First on Wednesday, the National Board of Review shocked everyone by naming “Letters From Iwo Jima” their best film. The LA Film Critics Association followed suit today, confirming “Letters” as an Academy Award Best Picture frontrunner. Now the New Yorkers finally have their say. Can Eastwood pull off the trifecta, or will the NY Film Critics Circle shake up the race even more? In the past two years, one film has dominated the critics’ awards (Brokeback Mountain in 2005, Sideways in 2004). We could be looking at the same…
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