a prelude

Seeing as how we are now merely days away from discovering how well I did on Theric's reindeer games, I thought it would be good to post one final Oscar guessing. You know, because the Oscars matter.

Primarily I wish to post EW's predictions. Films I've already seen are listed in red.

Best Picture

• Babel
  
• The Departed
  
• Dreamgirls
  
• Little Miss Sunshine
  
• The Queen

Best Actor

• Leonardo DiCaprio in The Departed
  
• Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson
  
• Peter O'Toole in Venus
  
• Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness
  
• Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress

• Penelope Cruz in Volver
  
• Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal
  
• Helen Mirren in The Queen
  
• Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada
  
• Kate Winslet in Little Children

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
  
• Jackie Earle Haley in Little Children
  
• Djimon Hounsou in Blood Diamon
  
• Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls
  
• Jack Nicholson in The Departed

Best Supporting Actress

• Adriana Barraza in Babel
  
• Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
  
• Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine
  
• Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls
  
• Rinko Kikuchi in Babel

Best Director

• Bill Condon for Dreamgirls
  
• Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima
  
• Stephen Frears for The Queen
  
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Babel
  
• Martin Scorsese for The Departed

Best Original Screenplay

• Babel
  
• Letters from Iwo Jima
  
• Little Miss Sunshine
  
• Pan's Labrynth
  
• The Queen

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Children of Men
  
• The Departed
  
• Little Children
  
• Notes on a Scandal
  
• Thank You for Smoking

In addition to their predictions, they also list the 25 must-see movies before Oscar night.

1. The Departed
   
2. Dreamgirls
   
3. Babel
   
4. The Queen
   
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
   
6. Little Miss Sunshine
   
7. United 93
   
8. Little Children
   
9. Notes on a Scandal
   
10. Flags of Our Fathers
    
11. The Last King of Scotland
    
12. The Devil Wears Prada
    
13. Borat
    
14. Blood Diamond
    
15. Volver
    
16. The Pursuit of Happyness
    
17. Venus
    
18. Children of Men
    
19. Pan's Labrynth
    
20. Half Nelson
    
21. Thank You for Smoking
    
22. The Painted Veil
    
23. Stranger Than Fiction
    
24. Hollywoodland
    
25. For Your Consideration

As you can tell from the lack of red in this post, I have some serious movie viewing to get in.