It’s that time of year again when the academy announces who is up for one of Hollywood’s favourite golden boys. I’m a bit slow off the mark with this post as the nominations were announced on Tuesday, but hey better late than never. I get a kick out of the Oscars even though sometimes I find them completely infuriating, the year Titanic won a shed load of statuettes being a case in point. Every year they suck me in and I hope against hope that they pick the most deserving film/director/actor/actress etc. and not just those films that have campaigned the hardest.

The nominations for best supporting actor (or the more pc title ‘best actor in a supporting role’) are:
• Alan Arkin for Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Jackie Earle Haley for Little Children (2006)
• Djimon Hounsou for Blood Diamond (2006)
• Eddie Murphy for Dreamgirls (2006)
• Mark Wahlberg for The Departed (2006)

The nominations for best supporting actress are:
• Adriana Barraza for Babel (2006)
• Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls (2006)
• Rinko Kikuchi for Babel (2006)

The nominations for best actor are:
• Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond (2006)
• Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson (2006)
• Peter O'Toole for Venus (2006/I)
• Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)
• Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland (2006

The nominations for best actress are:
• Penélope Cruz for Volver (2006/I)
• Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal (2006)
• Helen Mirren for The Queen (2006)
• Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
• Kate Winslet for Little Children (2006)

The nominations for best director are:
• Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
• Stephen Frears for The Queen (2006)
• Paul Greengrass for United 93 (2006)
• Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel (2006)
• Martin Scorsese for The Departed (2006)

The nominations for best film are:
• Babel (2006): Alejandro González Iñárritu, Steve Golin, Jon Kilik
• The Departed (2006): Nominees to be determined
• Letters from Iwo Jima (2006): Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Robert Lorenz
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006): Nominees to be determined
• The Queen (2006): Andy Harries, Christine Langan, Tracey Seaward

Of the best film nominations I’ve seen ‘The Departed’, ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ and ‘The Queen’. These are three very different films but I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. For me it would be a tough choice between The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine. It would be great if Little Miss Sunshine won, but it will probably go to one of the more ‘serious’ films. In terms of the best actress award it would definitely have to be Helen Mirren because she did a superb job in the role of Queen Elizabeth II. The rest of the nominations can be found on the Academy Awards website. May the best men, women and films win on the 25th of February.