If I was a member of the Academy...

... I'd vote for the following to win the Oscar.

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Peformance by an actor in a leading role
Forest Whitaker deserves this award for his portrayal of Idi Amin in The Last Kind of Scotland. He was nothing short of amazing in this role and I will be extremely disappointed if he doesn't pull out the win.

The only other performance that I even think deserved a nomination was Leonardo DiCarprio in Blood Diamond. Will Smith and Ryan Gosling are not even in the same league. To be fair, I was not able to see Venus, so I can't really say anything about Peter O'Toole's performance. Although, I highly doubt it would live up to what Forest Whitaker did this year.

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Dijmon Hounsou absolutely deserves this award for Blood Diamond. He was totally amazing in this film. I felt so connected to him, he made his character so, very real. However, I don't think he has much of a shot. I think that Eddie Murphy will probably win for Dreamgirls and I don't agree with that at all. I don't think he was even all that good.

Mark Wahlberg gave a good performance in The Departed and Alan Arkin was good in Little Miss Sunshine as well. I wasn't able to see Little Children, although I really wanted to, so I can't say much about Jackie Earle Haley.

Performance by an actress in a leading role
I'm going to have to go with Helen Mirren on this one for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen. She was perfect. She completely nailed that role. Every detail, down to the way she walked was right on. I am bummed that I didn't get to see Little Children, I think Kate Winslet was probably very good in it. However, I still think this one is Helen Mirren's to lose.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
I actually think all of actresses in this category did a great job in their respective movies. I think it's one of the strongest categories. I think the Oscar should go to Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls. She was fantastic! It's hard to believe that it's her first movie ever.

Best animated feature film of the year
I actually only saw one movie in this category. I really had no desire to see Happy Feet or Monster House. Plus, Cars was such a great movie, that it should definitely win :)

Achievement in directing
This is a tough call for me. I think I'm going to have to go with Martin Scorsese for The Departed. Although it's not really my kind of movie, I really enjoyed it. The acting was fabulous and you have to attribute a lot of that to the director. I also think the vision of Scorsese was clear and he really deserves to take home the statuette this year.

Best motion picture of the year
This is always the fun one, eh? I'm torn because what I'd like to see win, what I think deserves to win, really doesn't have that much hope of actually winning. Of the five movies, I have a clear favorite. I loved Little Miss Sunshine. It is easily one of my favorite movies of the year. I was impressed that the Academy even recognized it with the nomination since comedies usually get the shaft. So here's hoping it's the spoiler of the night!

Adapted screenplay
I kind of feel like I should be familiar with the original material before I judge this category, but I don't. So I will have to go with Children of Men on this one. It's a very good and very nicely written.

Original screeplay
To me, this one is pretty clear. Pan's Labyrinth is easily the most creative and original movie I have seen in a long time. The script was fantastic! I actually really enjoyed all of the films that were nominated in this category, but Pan's Labyrinth deserves to win this one.

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In all of those big categories, I saw 16 of the 22 movies that were nominated. I am more prepared for this Oscar night than ever before. Yay for Beth wanting to do this. I'm really excited to watch on Sunday night. I have a few more opinions to share in some other categories, although I probably only saw a few of the movies nominated.

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Best foreign language film of the year
Pan's Labyrinth should win here too. It's the only foreign film I saw this year, but it was incredible! It's one that I plan to buy when it comes out on DVD. It's a little dark, and I did have to grab on to Beth a few times. But it was a great movie.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures
(Original song)
I'm sort of disappointed that three songs from Dreamgirls were nominated in this category. I mean, come on, give another movie a chance! I think that the song "Listen" is the best song nominated. It's got great lyrics and is a very powerful song. Personally, I really like "Love You I Do" as well, but it's just more of a fun song. Plus, Jennifer Hudson sings the heck out of it.

Achievement in sound mixing
I actually hardly care about this award, but I'd like to see Kevin O'Connell win for Apocalypto. This is his 19th nomination and he's never won before. This is going to be his year, I hope :)

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Today's Tidbit: Beth and I both submitted Oscar ballots. If we win, we will get 104 free movie tickets! Woot woot :)