The Oscars

It's that time of year when Martin Scorsese gets overlooked. Again. Could this be sixth time lucky for him? Will The Departed finally win him the best director Oscar and confirm what we all know anyway? Or will the Academy keep cruelly dangling that golden carrot in front of him?

Another longheld ambition could finally happen next month. Twenty five years ago British director Colin Welland claimed that 'the British are coming' when his film, Chariots of Fire, cleaned up at the Oscars. Now he could have just known that Hugh Grant would indeed be coming in Hollywood thanks to the nimble lipwork of a hooker. Whatever psychic abilities he had, he's finally been proved right. British talent is being recognised this year, with Helen Mirren, Judi Dench and Kate Winslet all in the best actress category. But given the British tendency to overshoot the mark (just ask Hugh) maybe Penelope Cruz will go home clutching an Oscar. She certainly deserves one for her performance in Tom Cruise: The Movie.

Best picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

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 actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best supporting actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best directing
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

Best foreign language film
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory (Indigenes), Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Best adapted screenplay
Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham, Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
William Monahan, The Departed
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

Best original screenplay
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Best animated feature film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Best art direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Best cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

Best sound mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best sound editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best original score
Babel, Gustavo Santaolalla
The Good German, Thomas Newman
Notes on a Scandal, Philip Glass
Pan's Labyrinth, Javier Navarrete
The Queen, Alexandre Desplat

Best original song
I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth, by Melissa Etheridge
Listen from Dreamgirls, by Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler and Anne Preven
Love You I Do from Dreamgirls, by Henry Krieger and Siedah Garrett
Our Town from Cars, by Randy Newman
Patience from Dreamgirls, by Henry Krieger and Willie Reale

Best costume
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

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 film editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

Best makeup
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth

Best animated short film
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Best live action short film
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

Best visual effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns