Oscar Nominations: My reactions

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

How I did: 4/5 (Dreamgirls instead of Letters)

I can't believe they snubbed Dreamgirls. Not because I think it's one of the year's five best, but because that's the Academy's bread and butter. Dreamgirls got 8 nominations, the most for any film this year, but was shut out of Picture, Director, and Screenplay. I'll have to sift through my Oscar books to see if that is indeed the most nominations a film has ever received without a Best Picture nod. And Letters From Iwo Jima in its place? Come on, Academy -- why don't you just line up in an orderly fashion for your chance to make out with Clint Eastwood and get it over with.

Best Director
Babel, The Departed, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Queen, United 93

How I did: 4/5 (Dreamgirls instead of United)

Again, what a kick in the gut for Bill Condon. Happy to see Paul Greengrass sneak in. Yeah, yeah, Eastwood. Go Marty!

Best Original Screenplay
Babel, Letters From Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan's Labyrinth, The Queen

How I Did: 3/5 (United and Volver instead of Letters and Pan.)

Again, why is Letters an original screenplay if it was based on a book? The Academy nominated not just Iris Yamashita, but Paul Haggis, who co-wrote the story. This is Haggis's third consecutive writing nomination. Enough.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat, Children of Men, The Departed, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal

How I Did: 2/5 (Devil, Dreamgirls, and Thank instead of Borat, Children, and Notes.)

I'm pissed that I only got two right. First of all, Borat is such a crock, and second of all, Children of Men has five nominated screenwriters. That's a crowd.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan Gosling, Peter O'Toole, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker

How I Did: 4/5 (DiCaprio for Departed instead of Blood Diamond)

DiCaprio got it for Blood Diamond? Weird.

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet

How I Did: 5/5

I'd be proud of myself, except that every Oscar prognosticator in the country had these same five women. Too easy.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Jackie Earle Haley, Djimon Hounsou, Eddie Murphy, Mark Wahlberg

How I Did: 3/5 (Nicholson and Pitt instead of Haley and Wahlberg)

Good for Mark Wahlberg! Nicholson doesn't need another damn nomination, while Wahlberg's career could use such a shot in the arm. (It's official: You can't call him Marky Mark anymore.)

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Cate Blanchett, Abigail Breslin, Jennifer Hudson, Rinko Kikuchi

How I Did: 5/5

No surprises here. Abigail Breslin, born in 1996, is the youngest acting nominee ever, from a chronological standpoint. She is actually the second nominee born in the 1990's, after Keisha Castle-Hughes.

Miscellaneous
Dreamgirls picked up three Best Song nominations. This poses the horrifying question, could this be the second time in three years that Beyonce sings three times at the Oscars? Hopefully, Beyonce will only sing her character's song "Listen", and the Academy will ask Jennifer Hudson to sing her song, "Love You I Do" and ask Anika Noni Rose and Eddie Murphy to sing "Patience." Only twice has a film nabbed this many song nominations: the others were Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.

The Academy has gotten some flack over the years for lack of racial diversity in the acting nominations. This year breaks a new record for African and African-American nominees, with Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, and Forest Whitaker. Add Mexican actress Adriana Barraza and Japanese actress Rinko Kikuchi, and you have the most non-white crop of actors in Oscar history.

Martin Scorsese has directed the most Oscar nominated performances of any living director. William Wyler has 35, Elia Kazan has 24, George Cukor has 21, and now Scorsese is tied with Fred Zinneman with 20 performances each. The nominated Scorsese alumni are Ellen Burstyn, Diane Ladd, Robert DeNiro (thrice), Jodie Foster, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci (twice), Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Paul Newman, Lorraine Bracco, Juliette Lewis, Winona Ryder, Sharon Stone, Daniel Day-Lewis, Alan Alda, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, and now Mark Wahlberg.

Alan Arkin is now part of an unusual bit of Oscar trivia. His last nomination was 38 years ago, for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. 38 years is the longest stretch on record between acting nominations; this was also achieved by Helen Hayes (with The Sin of Madelon Claudet in 1932 followed by Airport in 1970) and Jack Palance (with Shane in 1953 followed by City Slickers in 1991.)

Well, it's about time I went to work.