Well, it was Spielberg who had the rights to it and brought Eastwood in. (I believe he pitched it to him at the Oscars) Both of their companies, Amblin Entertainment (Spielberg) and Malpaso Productions (Eastwood) are producing it, and Dreamworks is involved in the Distribution. With the high profile and Oscar potential, I'd say Spielberg has been pretty involved with this from the get-go, and will continue throughout the season, especially if it's well received.

It would be so cool seeing Spielberg and Eastwood on the stage thanking the academy. They'd be the two onstage receiving the Oscar if it won Best Picture. That would be pretty historic.

An updated version:


Dreamgirls (as much as I don't like seeing it there)
The Departed
One of the two Eastwood flicks
United 93
The Last King of Scotland (this year's Capote potentially)


Dark Horse: Little Miss Sunshine (it has the box-office and the reviews)

The reason why I don't have Babel there? From all I read so far, it is NOT better reviewed than 21 Grams and Amores Perros, on par with them at most (actually worse than Amores Perros). This will go for acting noms and for screenplay, maaayyyybe directir, but Picture? Nah.

Time to rank the contenders...The Last King of Scotland is down and The Queen is really getting more and more support now. The Departed emerges as the BIG contender currently.

1. The Departed
2. Flags of Our Fathers (or the other Eastwood flick)
3. United 93
4. Little Miss Sunshine
5. Dreamgirls
6. The Queen
7. Volver
8. Babel
9. Little Children
10. Bobby/The Good Shepherd

I can't pin down The Good German yet...no clue about it...

Volver is moving up the ranks, Little Children and The Last King of Scotland obviously down

1. The Departed
2. Dreamgirls
3. Babel
4. The Queen
5. Flags of Our Fathers
6. United 93
7. Volver
8. The Good German
9. Little Children
10. Bobby

I don't even think LMS is in the race.

1. The Departed
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Queen
4. Flags of Our Fathers
5. United 93
6. Volver
7. The Last King of Scotland
8. Babel

9. Bobby
10. Little Children
11. The Good German
12. Little Miss Sunshine

As of now, in no particular order...

Little Children
Dreamgirls
The Departed
Children Of Men
The Queen

Volver is Spain's official Foreign LAnguage selection. I'd say it's close to being out of the running for Best Picture

I don't even know why I'm making this lst because it's almost based on nothing

1. The Departed
2. Babel
3. Flags of our Fathers
4. The Queen
5. Dreamgirls
6. Little Children
7. Little Miss Sunshine
8. The Good German
9. United 93
10. Volver, Bobby

1. Babel (I don't think it'll actually win, it's just the most likely nominee at the moment)
2. The Queen
3. The Good Shepard
4. Dreamgirls
5. Volver
6. The Good German
7. The Departed
8. United 93
9. The Last King of Scotland
10. Flags of Our Fathers

You really don't think The Departed has a great chance at a nomination?

And you think Volver will get nominated even though it has the Forien Language category all locked up?

The Departed is a gut feeling. I just can't honestly see The Departed being announced as a Best Picture nominee on the morning of January 23. Just. . .no.

I should probably reconsider Volver, but SPC seems pretty confident in it and doesn't have much else to campaign this year. I MIGHT reconsider.

Lemme redo this a bit...


1. The Departed
2. Flags of Our Fathers (or the other Eastwood flick)
3. The Queen
4. United 93
5. Dreamgirls
6. Little Miss Sunshine
7. Babel
8. Volver
9. Little Children
10. Bobby/The Good Shepherd

The Queen is certainly moving up the charts with this PTA and the reviews. It could score BP/BD/Best Screenplay and Best Actress noms.

Currently I see my Top 5 as the nominees with Dreamgirls missing a Best Director nom in favor of Pedro Almodovar.

1. The Departed
2. The Queen
3. United 93
4. Babel
5. Volver
6. Little Miss Sunshine

These are just the films that have been widely screened. I have excluded ones that havnt really been widely seen yet. So basically ive left out Dreamgirls and Flags/Letters - for now.

Ranked in term of likely nomination, not win:

1. The Queen
2. Dreamgirls
3. Babel
4. The Departed
5. The Good German
6. Flags of Our Fathers
7. United 93
8. Volver

Everything I read about The Queen so far makes me believe it is locked for a nom. It's also going to a bigger hit than expected since many mentioned they are surprised how much they liked the film after thinking the opposite going in.

The first review on FOOF is fine, but not a out-of-this-world rave. He said it's a contender and second best American film of the year behind The Departed for him, but would rank it behind Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, and I think many will end up feeling the same way and give academy a chance to snub Eastwood this time.

No, he said it was 1-1 between them. If it ends up being 1-1 with the Academy, im pretty sure the movie about an important part of the American culture would come out on top.

Also the fact that the one thing some people were kinda skeptical on ( the acting ) he calls one of the best ensemble casts of the year helps it that much more.

I'm very skeptical of Babel after how much 21 Grams was snubbed in Picture, Director, and Screenplay in 2003 in addition to Paramount Vantage being its distributor. It would not make my own top ten contenders list.

1. The Prestige.

I still think Scorsese's movie is going to underperform at the box-office. There's a blizzard of online hype surrounding it right now but it's still a violent R-rated thriller and I'm unconvinced it's going to appeal to a wide enough range of people once word gets out. Has the tracking which suggested woman weren't all that interested in it shown any improvement?

The Departed, The Queen stand out right now. I'll wait for more reviews before I start pinning others. These two should be in.

1. The Queen
2. Dreamgirls
3. Babel
4. LMS
5. The Departed

1. Babel
2. Flags of Our Fathers
3. The Queen
4. The Departed
5. Volver
6. Bobby
7. United 93
8. Little Children

A little updated:

1. The Departed
2. The Queen
3. Dreamgirls
4. Flags of our Fathers
5. United 93
6. Babel
7. Little Children
8. Volver
9. Little Miss Sunshine
10. Bobby

I really don't see anything being nomionated for BP that is not on the list above, unless Zodiac still somehow gets pushed back tp this year again.

1. The Departed
2. Dreamgirls
3. The Queen
4. Babel
5. Little Children
6. United 93
7. The Good German
8. Volver
9. The Good Shepard
10. Flags of Our Fathers/Notes on a Scandal/Bobby

By the way Lecter, you forgot Shepard and German, which still haven't been seen and could surprise.

However, I get the feeling Departed will probably get over 10 nominations and be the front runner but will lose out for Best Pic (but get director) and it will be always be the one that was robbed amongst film fans (like Pulp Fiction, Saving Private Ryan and FOTR).

Having seen it now - it really reminds me of Pulp Fiction (and that too was released in October and ended up just over $100m)

At this point, knowing a little more about a few of the films and having seen one more...

1. The Departed
2. The Queen
3. Flags of our Fathers
4. Dreamgirls
5. Babel (this needs to start churning up great raves and some release buzz, it's out in 2 weeks, no?)

6. Little Children
7. Little Miss Sunshine
8. United 93

I'd say United 93 has more of a chance than I ever thought it did though. I might move it up.

So, along with Volver, Bobby, and possibly Good German/Shepherd... there really aren't any contenders are there? I don't know why, but for some odd reason, it seems a little less impressive than other years.

I didn't forget Shepherd. It has been seen by some already and what I read is not promising enough.

The Good German I left out because I have no clue about it and not gut feeling either.