Well this turned out to be one very eventful year with more than a handful of surprises. I say, bring them on -- boring years are good for predictions but not much else (and my predictions this year, as you'll see below, fared about average).

There's a lot to talk about and a lot to think about, but this year I'm splitting this usually massive article up into two parts. Tomorrow you'll get my extended commentary, a few rants, a few raves, the lowdown on the big snubs and the big surprises, and my first inkling of who the winners will be. Tonight, you get the fun part: lists and charts! Lots of lists and charts. Well, I think it's fun, so you should too.

The Nominations! (vs. My Predictions)

Real Nominations	Predicted Nominations
BEST PICTURE
The Departed	The Departed
Babel	Babel
Little Miss Sunshine	Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen	The Queen
Letters from Iwo Jima	Dreamgirls
BEST DIRECTOR
Alejandro Gonzalez-Innaritu, Babel	Alejandro Gonzalez-Innaritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed	Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima	Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen	Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93	Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
BEST ACTOR
Peter O'Toole,Venus	PeterO'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness	Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland	Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond	Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson	Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat
BEST ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Volver	Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal	Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen	Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada	Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children	Kate Winslet, Little Children
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children	Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond	Djimon Honsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls	Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed	Jack Nicholson, The Departed
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine	Michael Sheen, The Queen
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza, Babel	Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal	Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine	Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls	Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel	Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Little Miss Sunshine	Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen	The Queen
Pan's Labyrinth	Pan's Labyrinth
Babel	Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima	United 93
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Children of Men	Children of Men
The Departed	The Departed
Little Children	Little Children
Notes on a Scandal	Notes on a Scandal
Borat	Thank You for Smoking

And the rest of the nominations...

Animated Feature:
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Art Direction:
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Cinematography:
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

Costume Design:
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

Documentary Feature:
Deliver us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Documentary Short:
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing a Dream
Two Hands

Film Editing:
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

Foreign Language Film:
After the Wedding
Days of Glory (Indigenes)
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Water

Makeup:
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score:
Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Original Song:
"I Need to Wake Up," An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen," Dreamgirls
"Love You I Do," Dreamgirls
"Our Town," Cars
"Patience," Dreamgirls

Animated Short:
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Live-Action Short:
Binta and the Great Idea (Binta y la Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

Sound Editing:
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Sound Mixing:
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Visual Effects:
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Tallies for Each Film

8 Nominations:

• Dreamgirls (Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Art Direction, Costume Design, Sound Mixing, Original Song x3)

7 Nominations:

• Babel (Picture, Directior, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actress x2, Film Editing, Original Score)

6 Nominations:

• The Queen (Picture, Director, Actress, Original Screenplay, Original Score, Costume Design)
• Pan's Labyrinth (Foreign-Language Film, Original Screenplay, Art Direction, Cinematography, Makeup, Original Score)

5 Nominations:

• The Departed (Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Film Editing)
• Blood Diamond (Actor, Supporting Actor, Film Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing)

4 Nominations:

• Letters from Iwo Jima (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Sound Editing)
• Little Miss Sunshine (Picture, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress)
• Notes on a Scandal (Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress, Original Score)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Visual Effects, Art Direction, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing)

3 Nominations:

• Little Children (Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay)
• Children of Men (Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing, Cinematography)
• Apocalypto (Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Makeup)

2 Nominations:

• United 93 (Director, Film Editing)
• The Devil Wears Prada (Actress, Costume Design)
• An Inconvenient Truth (Documentary Feature, Original Song)
• Cars (Animated Feature, Original Song)
• The Prestige (Art Direction, Cinematography)
• Flags of our Fathers (Sound Editing, Sound Mixing)

1 Nomination:

• Half Nelson (Actor)
• The Last King of Scotland (Actor)
• Venus (Actor)
• The Pursuit of Happyness (Actor)
• Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (Adapted Screenplay)
• Volver (Actress)
• Deliver us from Evil (Documentary Feature)
• Iraq in Fragments (Documentary Feature)
• Jesus Camp (Documentary Feature)
• My Country, My Country (Documentary Feature)
• After the Wedding (Foreign Language Film)
• Days of Glory (Indigenes) (Foreign Language Film)
• The Lives of Others (Foreign Language Film)
• Water (Foreign Language Film)
• Happy Feet (Animated Feature)
• Monster House (Animated Feature)
• The Good Shepherd (Art Direction)
• The Good German (Original Score)
• The Black Dahlia (Cinematography)
  
• The Illusionist (Cinematography)
• Curse of the Golden Flower (Costume Design)
• Marie Antoinette (Costume Design)
• Click (Makeup)
• Poseidon (Visual Effects)
• Superman Returns (Visual Effects)
• ...and the 14 films of the three short-film categories
  

So How Did I Do?

My own predictions fared on a perfectly average level compared to the past. I got all the Actresses in both categories correct, offset by 2 wrong in each of the Actor categories. And since for Picture, Director, and the two Screenplay categories I got one wrong each, I averaged 4/5 and I was 80% correct.

That's it for tonight! Stay tuned for my extended commentary tomorrow!