AND THEY'RE OFF! - OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Tis the season to be a film nerd and make Oscar prediction lists - my favorite sport of all!

Take these predictions with a grain of salt, as much is yet to be seen on the Oscar horizon. Precursor awards get going this week starting with the announcement of the National Board of Review winners, which will give better clues as to how this year will round out.

Until then, here I blindly go.

BEST PICTURE
-Little Miss Sunshine
-Dreamgirls
-The Departed
-The Queen
-Babel

BEST ACTOR
-Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed
-Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland
-Peter O'Toole - Venus
-Ryan Gosling - Half Nelson
-Sacha Baron Cohen - Borat (I know, it's a stretch)

BEST ACTRESS
-Helen Mirren - The Queen
-Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada
-Penelope Cruz - Volver
-Kate Winslet - Little Children
-Judi Dench - Notes On A Scandal

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
-Jack Nicholson - The Departed
-Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls
-Brad Pitt - Babel
-Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
-Michael Sheen - The Queen

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
-Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls
-Abigail Breslin - Little Miss Sunshine
-Rinko Kikuchi - Babel
-Cate Blanchett - Notes On A Scandal
-Shareeka Epps - Half Nelson

BEST DIRECTOR
-Martin Scorsese - The Departed
-Bill Condon - Dreamgirls
-Stephen Frears - The Queen
-Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Babel
-Clint Eastwood - Letters From Iwo Jima