And the nominees are …

At 5:30 am, the Academy announced its nominees. The best surprise was that Dreamgirls was snubbed for Best Picture and received the lionshare of its nomination in the Best Original Song category. The film was not deserving of all its accolades and praise. Borat managed a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, rather than The Painted Veil. And Leonardo DiCapirio got a nod for Best Actor but instead of for The Departed, it was for the Blood Diamond. The nominations offered a few surprises but the majority were as expected. Let the games begin.

Best Picture

Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O’Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress

Penélope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Best Supporting Actor

Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

Best Supporting Actress

Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Best Director

Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Adapted Screenplay

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

Best Original Screenplay

Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen

Best Animated Film

Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Best Art Direction

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

Best Cinematography

The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige

Best Costume Design

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

Best Documentary Feature

Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq In Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

Best Documentary Short

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

Best Film Editing

Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

Best Foreign Language Film

After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory (Indigènes), Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan’s Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

Best Makeup

Apocalypto
Click
Pan’s Labyrinth

Best Original Score

Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen

Best Original Song

”I Need to Wake Up,” from An Inconvenient Truth
”Listen,” from Dreamgirls
”Love You I Do,” from Dreamgirls
”Our Town,” from Cars
”Patience,” from Dreamgirls

Best Short, Animated

The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time for Nuts

Best Short, Live Action

Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea)
Eramos Pocos (One Too Many)
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

Best Sound Editing

Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Best Sound Mixing

Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Best Visual Effects

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns