This is the conclusion I have come to. Today the Oscar nominations were announced and I’ve barely seen any of the supposed best films of the year. The list of ones I’ve seen is tiny. I’ve highlighted the ones I’ve watched and given that the Departed comes up so often the total of unique films is only five.
Best picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Best director
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Best actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
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
Best supporting actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikucki, Babel
Best supporting actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Best foreign language film
Efter Brylluppet (aka After the Wedding), Denmark
Indigenes (aka Days of Glory), Algeria
El Laberinto del Fauno (aka Pan’s Labyrinth), Mexico
Das Leben der Anderen (aka The Lives of Others), Germany
Water, Canada
Best animated feature film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Best adapted screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
Best original screenplay
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Pan’s Labyrinth
Best music (score)
Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
Best music (song)
I Need to Wake Up – An Inconvenient Truth
Listen – Dreamgirls
Love You I Do – Dreamgirls
Our Town – Cars
Patience – Dreamgirls
Best documentary feature
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq In Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country
Best documentary short subject
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing A Dream
Two Hands
Best visual effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns
Best cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
Best art direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige
Best animated short film
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts
Best short film
Binta and the Great Idea
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story
Best costume design
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen
Best make-up
Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth
Best sound mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Sound editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Letters from Iwo Jima
Flags of our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Best film editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93
Three men have been arrested for allegedly stealing global positioning systems mistaken for mobile phones. Fourteen GPS tracking systems were stolen last week from a warehouse in Babylon, New York. They were to be used to help the city council track lorries. Police remotely activated the systems after the theft which lead them to the home of one of the alleged culprits.