Everyone's a Winner ...

The nominations for the Oscars have been out for weeks. Sorry, I'm slack. Here's the full list, with my picks for winner ...

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Should win: Babel (the best of an imperfect bunch) Really, Pan's Labyrinth (above) should have won, but for some unfathomable reason it was excluded (don't tell me it was because it was in a foreign language; so is Letters From Iwo Jima)
Will win: The Departed.

Best Supporting Actress
Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
Cate Blanchett – Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson – Dreamgirls
Adriana Barraza - Babel
Should win: Lil' Rinko, but the Babel double-bill will split the vote.
Will win: Breslin will get points for being cute and fluffy, and Cate is flawless in everything she does, but Jennifer Hudson will get the populist vote.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children
Djimon Hounsou – Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy – Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg – The Departed
Should win: Djimon Hounsou.
Will win: Eddie Murphy, despite his inherent shite-ness. The academy loves a good musical.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz – Volver
Judi Dench – Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren – The Queen
Meryl Streep – The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet – Little Children
Should win: Penelope Cruz. She's all woman. (And also a mighty fine actor)
Will win: Well, it'll be a dame. Probably Mirren.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling – Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole – Venus
Will Smith – The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker – Last King of Scotland
Should win: It's Leo's year, what with The Departed and Blood Diamond.
Will win: I hope it's not Will Smith; he's chasing awards with Pursuit and he was out-shone by the seven-year-old. It'll come down to sympathy votes for Peter O'Toole (it's his eighth nomination and he's never won) and Whitaker, with the Last King taking home the gold.

Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu – Babel
Martin Scorsese – The Departed
Clint Eastwood – Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears - The Queen
Paul Greengrass – United 93
Should win: Scorcese and Iñárritu should both have won years ago. Now they're both nominated again, for inferior films.
Will win: Scorcese, for his determination and consistency.

Best Animated Film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Should win: Happy Feet. Dancing penguins! Aussie cast! A message! (Is the Academy ever going to get sick of penguins?
Will win: Happy Feet - in a year where decent animation was thin on the ground.