So apologies for the lack of material.

Met with Guillermo Arriaga at the Four Seasons over the weekend for another brief chat, this time for the "Babel" Best Picture piece. But talk turned more and more toward his literature, which made for some fascinating discussion.

Coffee with Peter Morgan this morning at the Beverly Wilshire - a delight. Look for "The Queen"'s Best Picture piece tomorrow, as well as Gerard's latest "Tech Support" column: interviews with costume designer Consolata Boyle and composer Philip Glass, both Oscar nominees for their work this year. And given the material I have on both Ariaga and Morgan, perhaps I'll hammer out a profile or two.

Bill Condon had some classy things to say in this NY Times piece on a story that has already been hammered into the ground far too much: "Dreamgirls Banked on Best Picture, and Lost."

Here's hoping he doesn't have to deal with the brutality of an Oscar season any time soon. It's an exhausting, uncalled for experience to be placed on that gigantic pedstal of awards expectations. Whatever his next flick, I'll be there.

Forgot about that. I guess I can watch the SAGs live after all.

Given the tape delay, I think I'm going to zone out tomorrow evening. No internet, no television, no SAGs. I'll TiVo the ceremony and watch them late at night when I get in and see if the anxiety hasn't made me a nervous wreck.

So don't expect an immediate reaction to the awards. But here's a place for you to comment on the results if you so desire.

Anyone tallied this up yet? For my own sake:

Warner Bros. - 18
Disney - 11
Fox Searchlight - 10
Paramount - 10
Paramount Vantage - 9
Miramax - 7
Universal - 7
Picturehouse - 6
Sony - 4
Fox - 3
New Line - 3
Sony Pictures Classics - 3
HBO - 1
IFC - 1
Lionsgate - 1
Magnolia - 1
ThinkFilm - 1
Weinstein Co. - 1
Yari Film Group - 1
Zeitgeist - 1

Catching up with the one or two Oscar nominated titles I missed this year, I watched "Click" tonight, and damned if I wasn't somewhat shocked at how good it...could have been.

Actually for what it is, "Click" takes things a number of steps further for the writing team of Steven Koren and Mark O'Keefe. These guys are working in a delicate vein that could eventually fall into the right territory, such as the heights Andrew Niccol nailed with "The Truman Show." As it is now, their scripts are perfect examples of great ideas that need molding and re-writes, and better yet, directors willing to avoid the temptation of going for the cheap laugh first. Maybe the secret there lies in casting, as surely Adam Sandler had his say on the material. Steve Carrell in this role a year ago would have been a step in the right direction. But then, maybe $137 million would have been out of range. Who knows?

In any case, while there's some dreadful stuff at play in "Click," I think it is, altogether, a great concept that works and made for a better-than-expected comedy viewing experience.

Weird.

I can't believe poor Ron Yerxa and Albert Berger were left off the credited producers for "Little Miss Sunshine." Sure, they get the "Bona Fide Productions" moniker mixed in there, but jesus, what an unclassy move by the Academy. All five of these cats were instrumental and deserved some love.

Horseshit.

This is the first year since 1998 that four of the five Best Picture nominees come from original screenplays, and I believe it's the first time no literary adaptation was in the Best Picture mix.

Good year for original creations.

Looks like the Latino Review website is reporting on a character in the "Batman Begins" sequel: a female cop, latin.

This is clearly Detective Montoya from the comic book series, written as a lesbian in later years and one badass bitch! Hopefully the script has some room for Detective Harvey Bullock too, because honestly, there are a lot of interesting story dynamics within the Gotham PD if the screenwriters look in the right places.

Of course...there is still that pesky Jamie Foxx rumor I bitched about last month bouncing around.

Ugh...

Wow, that'll discourage me from dealing with all this 2007 research.

In the top 8 categories, I only guessed three - count 'em - three of the nominees. Oy.

In only nabbed 14 of the technical categories.

Ooph.

This stuff can be found over at the old site, by the way.

All these pieces, especially today's LA Times story, about how "Dreamgirls" was slated by the Oscar prognosticators as "the one to beat" from day one are humorous. It makes me sad that fellow journalists in this fraternity - pretty much all of them - fell into that trap from day one, some even stepping too far over the line in their "sureness." It's all the more infuriating to be the only guy on the record since seeing the film to say "Dreamgirls" would not win Best Picture, and now, the poor thing didn't even get the nomination.

I've stayed under the radar with comments like this the last two days, and certainly, there won't be any "I told you so"'s coming. I just hope a lot of people finally learned the hard lesson this year. Now, let's sit back and watch this race unfold.

...that Paul Newman handed the Best Picture tropy to "Little Miss Sunshine."

I'm losing my mind, but if that happens...I'll freak right the hell out.

Subjective, of course. I say:

Best Picture: "The Departed"
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"
Best Actress: Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal"
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"
Best Supporting Actress: Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "The Departed"
Best Original Screenplay: "Babel"
Best Animated Feature: "Cars" (but all of these movies SUCK)
Best Art Direction: "The Prestige"
Best Cinematography: "Children of Men"
Best Costume Design: "Dreamgirls"
Best Film Editing: "The Departed"
Best Makeup: "Pan's Labyrinth"
Best Music - Original Score: "The Good German"
Best Music - Original Song "An Inconvenient Truth"
Best Sound Mixing: "Dreamgirls"
Best Sound Editing: "Flags of Our Fathers"
Best Visual Effects: "Superman Returns"

By my tally, our very own Gerard Kennedy scored the best showing amongst Oscar analysts with his predictions, landing 71 nominees of the top 21 categories. He beat me by two, the punk.

Big congrats there, Gerry. You are king of the internet prognosticators for a day.

This poor studio can't catch a break. "Casino Royale," "Running with Scissors" and "Stranger than Fiction," all shut out completely. I think I'm one of the few that predicted the Bond flick would be met with a goose egg. Sad but true. This after they had a massive nomination tally for the critically reviled "Memoirs of a Geisha" last year, missing out on a Best Picture nod at the end of the day.

They can't catch a break. Ever. And Sony Classics...one nod for "The Lives of Others" and nothing but lonely Penelope showing up for "Volver."

Things can't be happy in Culver City this morning.

Here's hoping the Oscar announcement tomorrow is at least modestly tolerable for you all.

And to bblasingame, who will surely be eyeing that Best Original Score category to see if his beloved "Pan's Labyrinth" score gets a nomination. We won't hear the end of it if it does...

...on "30 Rock." I don't know why I've watched for so long, honestly. Just out of habit, the TiVo keeps recording it, might as well. The HFPA gave Alec Baldwin, the show's saving grace, their Best Actor in a Comedy award because they love to appear ahead of the curve. But jeez, it's just awful. Tina Fey humor just...sucks. "Mean Girls" excepted, of course.

But that's just me.

Off the TiVo schedule it goes, along with "The Nine" (what a snooze it became) and likely "Heroes," the most overrated show on television. On that front, I'll give the new episodes a shot, but if it doesn't look up soon, it's gone. Ditto "Studio 60," which needs to spice itself up...and this coming from one of the show's few supporters.

Sigh, oh well. At least there's Jack Bauer on Mondays, Midland, TX high school football on Wednesday nights, along with a hilarious season of "The Office."

What's got you biting your nails tomorrow?

I, for one, have the aweful feeling "Letters from Iwo Jima" is going to be snubbed across the board. How often is it that a film lands a goose egg with the guilds and still finds room at the Oscars? I just think no one saw this film in time. Maybe they have seen it now and re kicking themselves, I don't know. But if Clint and company get any notices for this double bill, I'm beginning to think those citations will come for "Flags of Our Fathers," including the potential lone director spot.

The Weinstein Company? Some speckled nominations last year, this year, nothing looks likely. That's two bum years for the game's greatest wizard. I don't think "Bobby" is too destined to wind up with absolutely nothing, because it has shown signs of life in the precursor season. But it'll be tricky. "Breaking and Entering" (did this get a bump to 2007?) and "Factory Girl," however, have come up limp.

Focus Features. Dd we ever expect to see a day when this studio wound up with nothing? Next year won't be a repeat, what with everything from "Atonement" to "Reservation Road" in the mix.

"Children of Men?" I'm predicting a shut out save for the obvious cinematography nomination, including a surprise snub in Best Art Direction. But this is a film that deserves regonition in Best Picture, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Art Direction, and Sound to boot. Will the year's best film show up anywhere else?

"Blood Diamond." I feel like this thing is gonna be all over the place tomorrow. Long live Alan Horn?

"The Prestige." Christopher Nolan, his generation's most promising filmmaker. Still a master of structure, still a wonderful visionary. Despite not enjoying his latest film as much as past efforts, I find myself hoping it receives multiple Oscar nominations tomorrow morning. This is a guy making movies for all the right reasons.

Be sure to check out my full thoughts and final predictions on this year's race.

As happens every year, last minute doubts are racing through my mind. I have a sneaking hunch “Casino Royale” is actually going to sneak the Editing nod and I’m sort of kicking myself for not predicting it.

I’m also feeling a nagging suspicion that “Little Miss Sunshine” is going to be bigger than I was thinking late last week. I’m beginning to feel Dayton & Faris and I’m doubtful my ‘Collette over Breslin’ hunch is going to pay off though I still believe we aren’t looking at the Supporting Actress lineup matching perfectly with SAG.

Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Cinematography and especially Original Score could all still go many many different ways. Plausible lineups are numerous.

All things considered, I’m anxiously awaiting 16½ hours from now; the race needs to end…and then restart in earnest.

...that "Pan's Labyrinth," playing in barely 600 theatres, managed to come in 7th at the box office this weekend? How often does stuff like this happen?

Michael Arndt was his usual modest self this afternoon during a Q&A I moderated at the WGA. Suffice it to say, people just love "Little Miss Sunshine," and when they hear its back story, they want to know more.

If you can believe it, Michael cranked this screenplay out in three days. 11 pages one day, 30 some the next day, 54 pages the third day. 54 PAGES! I don't have 54 pages in my printer, let alone in my head, but Michael was ready to write. After working as an assistant for Matthew Broderick for some time, he finally saved up enough money to take a year off and dedicate himself to writing. He came out with seven finished scripts at the end of that year, and "Little Miss Sunshine" was one of them.

It's one hell of a story, and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Fresh off an airplane from San Francisco, Michael weathered the barage of questions and scooted into the green room of the WGA lobby to put on a tux for the PGA awards tonight, where his little film that could may just win the top prize.

This has officially become the most difficult category for me to predict this year.

What say you? Feed me.

And it still gives me chills:

Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" was the first film in the Japanese language to win the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 46 years.

He was an eyesore in "Superman Returns" and so far he's the worst part of th new season of "24." Stop hiring this guy and asking me to take him seriously. Put him in "Harold and Kumar 2," and I'm game. Ah well, at least he's gone now.

But jeez...best...season...opener...ever.

It's 1:30. I should still be partying. What's wrong with this town?

The Paramount Pictures/Robinsons May bash was obviously the place to be tonight, as "Dreamgirls" and "Babel" took the Best Picture wins in their respective categories at the Golden Globes ceremony earlier in the evening.

Speaking to Bill Condon afterward (and no matter what you see printed elsewhere, no matter my personal opinion of his film, in my view, Condon remains a classy, stand-up, modest man deserving of all the praise he gets), the aura was a refreshingly casual one. "This stuff doesn't mean anything, does it?" Condon said, clearly happy to have won the big prize, but all the same, pretty aware that the down-and-dirty tactics of an awards season can be taxing. I overheard someone mentioning that the director hopes to release his next flick in the summer - to hell with the Oscar season.

The "Babel" team was ecstatic, of course, with Paramount Vantage chief John Lesher high-fiving pretty much everyone in sight. Brangelina hit a jetplane for - well - somewhere else early in the night and never made it to the party, but the same couldn't be said for a host of others: Jamie Foxx, Keith Robinson, Beyonce Knowles (with Jay Z in tow), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Guillermo Arriaga, Rinko Kikuchi, the splendid and cloud-nine-floating Adriana Barraza, Steven Spielberg, catching Mr. Condon's ear for a significant amount of time, Warren Beatty, the lovely Annette Bening on his arm, Gabriele Muccino, Ludacris....on and on and on.

Lots of celebs, lots of love...but what an early night. Jeez, I know it's Monday, but come on! Things were wrapping up all over the place at eleven-ish. Sadly I missed the Fox, InStyle, Universal and Weinstein shindigs for various reasons. But the Paramount crew was always there, still raging, still doing their thing. I guess it pays to be a winner.

Single best part of the night: holding Warren Beatty's Cecil B. Demille award. It's true what they say. That thing is HEAVY. A truly deserving kudos for one of Hollywood's greatest, though. Can't wait to check out his speech on TiVo.

I'm too exhausted to get into the specifics of analyzing what this means for the Oscar race, but both wins are giant feathers in the caps of the Paramount films. The race has burst wide open, with three films taking the big Best Picture tropies within the span of three days. And should the Screen Actors Guild go for "Little Miss Sunshine" with their Best Enesemble award as the BFCA did - watch out.

More tomorrow. I gotta see what happens to Jack Bauer in the second part of the season opener!

...and hopefully having a good time at the after parties, allow me to indulge with some personal reflections on yet another Golden Globe ceremony.

It was at times tacky and at times dull and the winners can never totally satisfy. But I ultimately feel there was a nice blend of deserved winners and a handful of surprises (LA traffic unfortunately preventing us from getting the full experience of the first one).

Meryl and Sasha were predictably on the top of their games. Forest Whitaker's win was also quite deserved, and he also seemed quite affected by it. Though I'm not sure if that was the result of Jack Nicholson standing up or Jack Daniels settling down.

Another deserving winner, Peter Morgan, was quite ungracious towards his film's subject though his star fortunately corrected him. And isn't it great to see a speech from a guy like Martin Scorsese, who so clearly bleeds cinema?

As for the final win, it certainly made the race more interesting. It's also the first time since "Bugsy" that the Globe-Drama winner has been confined to that one category. One winner of three awards, one winner of two awards, and nine winners of one award. Haven't seen a tally like that since...the year of "Bugsy," "The Prince of Tides," "Beauty and the Beast" and, the ultimate Oscar winner, "The Silence of the Lambs."

All things considered, I was satisfied. And my favourite win of the night? Easily Alexandre Desplat, for not only the best score of the year but also for hopefully cementing his status on the a-list of Hollywood composers (kudos to Kris for predicting the win).

Alright. Now that's a solid season premiere. I wasn't high on last season much at all, and I still feel like season four - well - the first half - is the high mark for the series. But this time it looks like the writers are digging...deep. A very promising start.

Also saw one of those TV spots for Billy Ray's "Shattered Glass" follow-up, "Breach," which I saw six or seven months ago. I had forgotten all about it, actually, though I did speak to Ray about the film last February for the NY Times. The film is a tight, interesting cat-and-mouse drama with Chris Cooper tackling a deeply conflicted and daunting character. Lots of great religious overtones permeate the script, and though it isn't the most penetrating follow-up to what was a solid and righteous debut for the writer/director, it is a decent enough thriller. Things certainly may have been tweaked and nuanced for the better since the cut I screened. Regardless, Ray has a great head on his shoulders (he points to the films of the 70s as what inspired his desire to be a writer) and I think he's got a long, versatile career ahead of him.

Catching SNL from last night on TiVo. And yeah, that Gyllenhaal/Dreamgirls bit was pretty damn funny.

And that "Law & Order" skit: priceless.

Director Paul Greengrass finally hit the town this week, including a modest but lively gathering at Luques in West Hollywood yesterday evening. The usual crowd of talent and journos milled about: Kim Masters, Anne Thompson, Sasha Stone (yes, she makes it out from time to time), Jeff Wells, Pete Hammond, the Peters, Bart and Guber, actor/director Peter Berg (excited for "The Kingdom," he is), the "United 93" on-screen team of Ben Sliney, Christian Clemenson and Trish Gates - so on and so forth.

Oh! And "The Bagger" himself, David Carr landed on the left coast for a week-long stint, and boy does he get "quote of the night" honors left and right. If you're gonna be at a party, there are worse places to be than in the vicinity of Mr. Carr.

The man himself, Mr. Greengrass, couldn't weather enough compliments aimed at his soft-hearted nature. It really is true. He's a physically imposing guy on one hand, but past those large, round eye-glasses you almost see a kid looking back at you.

I spoke at length to Mr. Clemenson at one point about the casting process of the film. I haven't read about this much elsewhere, but he said the audition consisted of improving a variety of flight scenarios: checking in, boarding and realizing the flight had been hijacked. A very interesting process, and really, the only process if you think about it.

Mr. Greengrass will be accepting the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Best Director prize later this evening.

The only time the BFCA has correctly predicted the Academy's acting line-up was in 2003, a year in which all eventual winners were largely seen as the frontrunners (save for Best Actor, in which Bill Murray had a clear outside shot).

Every other year, save for 1996, the group has missed at least two of the eventual winners. In '96, they only missed one.

This year, it's fair to say Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren and Jennifer Hudson are the clear favorites to win in their categories, but is Eddie Murphy really so far out fron tthat it's a foregone conclusion? A lot of things could happen there. The likely Best Picture winner has a duo of participants chomping at the bit: Group love for Jack Nicholson could play in, while last minute support for Mark Wahlberg could expand (and believe me - it's still one of the favorite performances from the film in the minds of many). In addition, Alan Arkin is hovering for a lifetime achievement scenario, much more so than Murphy's comeback story.

The safe play right now is likely a four-square agreement scenario from BFCA to Oscar, but it's worth taking the history into account.

Starts any minute now. Not being televised but I thought I'd throw some thoughts out there (not speaking for Kris at all)...

PICTURE: "The Departed"
Their rating (only ranking eighth of their nominees) gives me hesitation but they almost always go for the Oscar frontrunner.

ACTOR: Forest Whitaker
I don't think this is as assured as many seem to think (not a BFCA-ish choice, exactly) but I don't think they'll be enough support for anyone else to trump him.

ACTRESS: Helen Mirren
A mortal lock.

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Eddie Murphy
Has the most precursor attention so they'll probably go for him. Jack wouldn't surprise me though.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Hudson
A near-certainty.

ACTING ENSEMBLE: "Little Miss Sunshine"
This could legimately go anywhere except maybe "Bobby" and "A Prairie Home Companion" but I think it's probably between this and "The Departed." That said, "Babel" could easily happen as well.

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
I'll be very surprised if he doesn't win.

WRITER: Peter Morgan - "The Queen"
This a tough one. I feel strong cases could be made for Monahan, Arndt and Arriaga as well. But they clearly liked "The Queen" given their rating for it.

ANIMATED FEATURE: "Happy Feet"
"Cars" has the higher rating but the more buzzed film almost always wins.

YOUNG ACTOR: Jaden Smith
Wouldn't that be cute?

YOUNG ACTRESS: Abigail Breslin
A lock.

COMEDY MOVIE: "Little Miss Sunshine"
Their only crossover to the Picture category.

FAMILY FILM (LIVE ACTION): "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
By far the biggest hit.

PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISiON: "Elizabeth I"
Helen is all the rage.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: "An Inconvenient Truth"
Extremely extremely likely.

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: "Letters from Iwo Jima"
Their only crossover with the Best Picture category.

SONG: "Listen"
As if they don't want to award Ms. Knowles?

SOUNDTRACK: "Dreamgirls"
99% assured.

COMPOSER: Gusatvo Santaoalla
The film they liked the best with the arguable exception of "The Departed" (which I can't see winning)

You know, I never was much for Peter Berg's film "Friday Night Lights" two years ago, but I've got to say what he's done with the material on the small screen is an achievement indeed. I finally caught up with it over the holidays via TiVo, and I love this show. The characters, the arcs, the filmmaking, the acting, all of it, top quality. I realize I'm kind of alone on that - not a lot of people seem to love it. But I found a new drug.

Tough one to write, and almost out of date with the recent nose dive of "Letters," but in today's Eye on the Oscars: Nominations Wrap issue, here's "Late Arrivals Crash the Party."

Also, Sasha Stone's finally getting her stuff in the trades! Hers was an even toughter story: "Favorites Fail to Find Finish Line." Way to tackle the beast, girl.

Apparently Jamie Foxx's name has popped up a few times regarding rumored Harvey Dent/Two-Face casting in "The Dark Knight." Now, I'm not giving it too much credence, because I expect Chris Nolan to pull his wild card out of nowhere like he did with Heath Ledger, but if Foxx gets this role, it would be a dreadful casting decision. I'm not just speaking in terms of MIScasting - which is undeniably true - but in terms of Foxx's rep as a...well...prick. And I don't want this guy to come in with his posse and his Oscar and his star demands and fuck up this film like he reportedly fucked up "Miami Vice."

I'd much prefer other circulating names like Ethan Hawke, Edward Norton, Eion Bailey or, the gold standard for this role - LIEV SCHREIBER.

Just sayin'...

Disgusting, desperate, dreadful, depressing.

Three of these films are terrible, but Nat is singular if nothing else (and boy do I get the same description sometimes). Check out The Film Experience's Best of the Year article here.

"For someone to pick 'Last Days' and 'Inland Empire' as their #1 movies for the past two years, there's something wrong with you."

-Pete Hammond

I'm paraphrasing, but it cracked me up to no end.

I don't have the energy to discuss tonight's wonderful, gallant, easy-going party, but to see Emilio Estevez surrounded by admirers, his proud father in the corner chatting with the likes of Martin Landau, the old guard of Hollywood really showing some allegiance - lots of warm moments. And there was something - I don't know - wicked about saying goodbye one last time to Emilio on the way out and shaking hands with Judd Nelson, who popped in at the last minute, in one fell swoop.

"Answer the question, Claire!"

Alright. I'm tired.

Every year certain films are killed by poor release strategies. "Little Children," for one, was admittedly always a tough sell, but it should have expanded far earlier than it did if it wanted to gain more substantial awards and box office traction. "The Painted Veil," on the other hand, was simply released far too late to garner traction, getting lost in the Christmas overkill.

What other 2006 efforts do you feel were mishandled?

I thought this as soon as I saw it a few months ago, but as bad as this film is, it's incredibly watchable. I'm checking it out on the small screen again now, just for background while doing this and that - and to hear the James Newton Howard score since all the music in my initial screening was temp.

But, yeah - crappy movie, strangely tolerable.

Since Scott bowles was nice enough to call me up and ask my thoughts on a few of the contenders in USA Today's "Hey Oscar, don't forget..." piece, I might as well link to it. I know Scott was trying to get Clive Owen on that Best Actor consideration list. Sad to see he lost the fight.

Anyway, take a look.

I've been kicking around that "Our leaders. Ourselves" promo line from "The Queen" marketing strategy for a while now. It's always felt so...right. And today, Nathaniel over at The Film Experience has taken those three words, dissected them and painted the 2006 film portrait with them as he kicks off his year in review. Take a look.

"The Devil Wears Prada?" Seriously? "The Illusionist?" What? Isn't that based on a short story? As much as I didn't like the adaptation, "Little Children" deserved to be on here because it's such a great book, and the Scripter recognizes both adaptation and source. And as much as I love "Children of Men," I wouldn't say the adaptation is that worthy, though I guess P.D. James deserves some props. Good on "Notes on a Scandal" and ESPECIALLY "The Last King of Scotland."

Is it? I think it just might be. I'm neck deep in research for 2007. I've hit my wall for 2006. But hey, it least it came a month later than it did last year.

(Regarding the below item, I guess it's "Bobby" that ultimately grabbed the ensemble slot sans individual category recognition.)

Every once in a while a cast gets nominated for the ensemble award at the Screen Actors Guild without any member of said cast being singled out in the categories. I seem to recall a nice little "Discussion with the actors of 'United 93'" a few weeks bag, I believe it was a SAG event. I don't think I'd be shocked if the film popped up here tomorrow and surprised everyone.

Just sayin'...

The following films received PGA nominations in their respective years, but failed to go on to Best Picture nominations from the Academy:

"Walk the Line"
"The Incredibles"
"Cold Mountain"
"The Last Samurai"
"Adaptation"
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding"
"Road to Perdition"
"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"
"Shrek"
"Almost Famous"
"Billy Elliot"
"Being John Malkovich"
"The Hurricane"
"Gods and Monsters"
"Waking Ned Divine"
"Amistad"
"Hamlet" (1996)
"The People Vs. Larry Flynt"
"The American President"
"The Bridges of Madison County"
"Dead Man Walking"

Now, which of today's line-up most fits the bill of those above (if there is a bill)? Keeping in mind, of course, the guild is a very different body than it was two years ago.

Gonna take it easy this week as the first wave of guilds comes our way. Back with another Oscar column Monday.

New rules in the song category, stating only three nominees can share a nomination, have resulted in Beyoncé being disqualified from contention for "Listen." According to Tom O'Neil, anyway.

I am going to lose no sleep over Beyoncé failing to garner the moniker "Oscar nominee" (and, in all probability, "Oscar winner") yet if she had a substantial role in writing the song...shouldn't she be able to share in the nomination? I realize that the seven nominees for "Accidentally in Love" seemed excessive but there still seems something unfair about this.

Regardless, Ms. Knowles is not headed to the Kodak as a nominee this year so expect Gil Cates to find a way to incite her to come.

It seems Paul Greengrass will finally make it to LA next week. The cocktail reception invite just hit the inbox, and I guess if any time was right for "United 93" to make its play, now is it. New print strategies will help the cause as well. This one isn't out of the fight by any means.

When will this industry realize that David Koepp is a terrible screenwriter? WHEN?!

I realize I've hardly been posting around here of late. But is it just me or has there been little news this side of the Globe nominees?

But 2007 is upon us and the guilds will shortly be announcing their nominees. So you'll be seeing more of me around here.

I hope you've all had a great Christmas season and have a happy 2007 ahead of you.

I opted out of participating in the Society of Awards Prognosticators, an awards-dishing brainchild of Scott Feinberg who's been hitting the pavement with other amateur (still hate that word) awards analysists like Andy Scott and Mark Bakalor for a couple of years now. But it's an ambitious little gathering, and if you're interested in their calendar and kudos process, check out the info over at Feinberg's website.