Other Immediate Reactions

Biggest Surprises:

• Brokeback Mountain shut out of Best Editing.
• Only three nominees for Best Song? Is this a reaction to last year's truly awful collection of songs (quite possibly the worst in Academy history)? It's unfortunate timing, because I actually had trouble narrowing my selections down to five this year.
• The Academy actually went for a song called "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp!"
  
• Memoirs of a Geisha? Best Sound Editing?
• Revenge of the Sith shut out of Sound and Visual Effects categories. The first Star Wars film to go unrecognized for its visual effects.

And that's about it for the shockers. I wasn't betting on William Hurt to pull through, but enough people had talked about him for it to be less-than-shocking. I also thought the classification screw-up would keep Syriana from picking up a screenplay nomination, but nope.

At first glance, this seems like a rehash of 1999 when American Beauty also led with a relatively paltry 8 nominations.

This is the first time since 1981 (and only the fourth time in history) that all five Best Picture nominees were nominated for Best Director.

First time since the Best Animated Feature category was introduced that not a single CGI movie was nominated. Corpse Bride and Wallace & Gromit are the first two stop-motion features nominated.

Munich still has an uphill battle ahead if it hopes to win the big one. Only ten films in history have won Best Picture without a single acting nomination.

Roadblock on the Mountain?

As I pointed out last year, no movie has won Best Picture without an Editing nomination since Ordinary People in 1980. What does that mean for Brokeback Mountain's frontrunner status?

Last Minute Nomination Predictions

My fearless predictions (ranked in order of likelihood):

Best Picture
1. Brokeback Mountain
2. Crash
3. Good Night, and Good Luck
4. Munich
5. Capote

Best Director
1. Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
2. George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck
3. Steven Spielberg, Munich
4. Bennett Miller, Capote
5. Fernando Meirelies, The Constant Gardener

Best Actor
1. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
2. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
3. Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
4. David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck
5. Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow

Best Actress
1. Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line
2. Felicity Huffman, Transamerica
3. Charlize Theron, North Country
4. Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents
5. Joan Allen, The Upside of Anger

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain
2. Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man
3. George Clooney, Syriana
4. Matt Dillon, Crash
5. Bob Hoskins, Mrs. Henderson Presents

Best Supporting Actress
1. Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain
2. Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
3. Amy Adams, Junebug
4. Catherine Keener, Capote
5. Frances McDormand, North Country

Best Original Screenplay
1. Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, Crash
2. George Clooney and Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck
3. Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale
4. Woody Allen, Match Point
5. Steve Carell and Judd Apatow, The 40 Year Old Virgin

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain
2. Dan Futterman, Capote
3. Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, Munich
4. Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener
5. Josh Olsen, A History of Violence

Best Animated Feature
1. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
2. Madagascar
3. Corpse Bride

Best Foreign Language Film
1. Paradise Now
2. Tsotsi
3. Sophie Scholl - The Final Days
4. Joyeux Noël
5. Sorstalanság

Best Documentary Feature
1. March of the Penguins
2. Murderball
3. Street Fight
4. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
5. Mad Hot Ballroom

Best Art Direction
1. John Myhre, Memoirs of a Geisha
2. Grant Major, King Kong
3. Alex McDowell, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4. Arthur Max, Kingdom of Heaven
5. Nick Gottschalk and Mark Swain, Pride & Prejudice

Best Visual Effects
1. King Kong
2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
3. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Best Costume Design
1. Colleen Atwood, Memoirs of a Geisha
2. Terry Ryan, King Kong
3. Jacqueline Durran, Pride & Prejudice
4. Gabriella Pescucci, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
5. Janty Yates, Kingdom of Heaven

Best Makeup
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
3. A History of Violence

Best Editing
1. Geraldine Peroni & Dylan Tichenor, Brokeback Mountain
2. Hughes Winborne, Crash
3. Claire Simpson, The Constant Gardener
4. Michael Kahn, Munich
5. Tim Squyres, Syriana

Best Cinematography
1. Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mountain
2. Robert Elswit, Good Night, and Good Luck
3. Dion Beebe, Memoirs of a Geisha
4. Emmanuel Lubezki, The New World
5. Janusz Kaminski, Munich

Best Sound
1. King Kong
2. Walk the Line
3. War of the Worlds
4. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
5. Munich

Best Sound Editing
1. King Kong
2. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
3. War of the Worlds

Best Original Score
1. Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain
2. John Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha
3. Harry Gregson-Williams, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
4. James Newton Howard, King Kong
5. Thomas Newton, Cinderella Man

Best Original Song
1. “A Love That Will Never Grow Old,” Brokeback Mountain
2. “Travelin' Thru," Transamerica
3. “Wunderkind," The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
4. “Hustle & Flow,” Hustle & Flow
5. “In the Deep," Crash