The Academy may disagree, but here's who we'd like to see bring home a golden boy on Feb. 25 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET)
They say always bet with your head, not your heart. Well, these Academy Awards picks are strictly from the heart—the nominated performances and films I wish would come out on top. This year, many of my faves–Jennifer Hudson to name just one–are actually front-runners, but a few are real long shots. Still, no matter who wins, I won't be crying in front of my TV set. After all, the Oscars are just Hollywood's take on a high school popularity contest–with designer gowns and pricier makeup to cover up those pesky zits.
BEST PICTURE
There's not a clunker among this year's nominated films, but director Clint Eastwood's masterful Letters from Iwo Jima is especially timely. By depicting a famed WWII battle through the eyes of doomed Japanese soldiers and commanders–we see them preparing for a fight they cannot win and glimpse the lives they left behind in peacetime–the film makes their plight universal. And its pointed message about the futility of war, no matter one's cause or country, resonates strongly in a world where a new generation of young soldiers are dying daily far from home.
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
BEST ACTRESS
Let's hear it for the ladies: This year, all five nominees rock. But top honors should go to Helen Mirren, whose bewitching performance as Queen Elizabeth II after the death of Princess Diana turned a seemingly frosty public figure into a woman of depth and–dare I say it–vulnerability.
Volver
Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren
The Queen
The Devil Wears Prada
Little Children
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
By using acting muscles he hasn't bothered flexing in years, Eddie Murphy delivered in Dreamgirls. His complex portrait of an ill-fated R&B singer showed he still has the stuff.
Little Miss Sunshine
Little Children
Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy
Dreamgirls
The Departed
BEST ACTOR
In his dazzling turn as Ugandan ruler Idi Amin, Whitaker managed to portray the dictator as paranoid, sadistic and charming. By capturing Amin's terrifyingly quicksilver shifts in mood, Whitaker revealed a psychopath.
Blood Diamond
Half Nelson
Venus
The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker
The Last King of Scotland
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Working alongside far more experienced movie vets, newcomer Jennifer Hudson up and stole Dreamgirls right out from under them. Her poignant portrayal of singer Effie White, who knows she belongs out front in the spotlight, gave the musical a jolting injection of heart and soul. It was always clear that this onetime American Idol dumpee could sing. Now it's gloriously obvious she can act too.
Babel
Notes on a Scandal
Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson
Dreamgirls
Babel
Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, Brad Garrett, Kristen Johnston
COMEDY
On-camera and off, cheerful self-deprecation is the key to Hugh Grant's formidable charm. This breezy romantic comedy takes advantage of that trait, casting Grant as Alex Fletcher, an '80s teen pop sensation turned happy has-been. Alex is content to coast on past glory, shaking his booty at oldies shows for lustful female fans who long ago traded miniskirts for mom jeans. That is, until he teams with Sophie Fisher (Barrymore), a neophyte lyricist who challenges him to stretch himself.
Director-writer Marc Lawrence (Two Weeks Notice) keeps this lightweight affair grounded by nailing details about how the music industry really works. Grant and Barrymore make for a sunny match, with his suave drollness balancing her klutzy emotionalism. And a dead-on parody of an echt-'80s music video–think really pouffy hair–alone is worth the ticket price. (PG-13)
>Best Animated Feature Pixar Studios deserves to win for Cars, which had moviegoers laughing and crying. In fact, shouldn't this award just automatically go to Pixar every year it puts a film out?
Best Director C'mon already, give it to Martin Scorsese (six nominations and counting) for The Departed. Maybe it's not his best movie ever, but he sure made it snap, crackle and pop.
Best Adapted Screenplay Just so that prankster Sacha Baron Cohen can make a speech, here's hoping Borat wins. Then again, who knew the seemingly improvised film even had a screenplay?
>Gabrielle Union
She plays a career-obsessed lawyer who falls for a father of three in Tyler Perry's new comedy Daddy's Little Girls. But Union, 34, tells PEOPLE's Jenny Sundel she loves the single life.
HOW'S DATING? TiVo's my boyfriend. I'm just taking my time, enjoying my friends, eating lots of fun dinners and not dating many people. But the guys I have dated have all been cute and gainfully employed!
ANY CRUSHES? [Indianapolis Colts coach] Tony Dungy really had my heart aflutter at the Super Bowl. I'm going to talk to his wife and see if we can work out a schedule. Maybe just Tuesdays me and Tony can hang out.
YOUR DREAM GUY IS ... Funny, not ego-driven. And I really like it when a man can order a great bottle of wine. I don't care if it's at Chili's! Surprise me!
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
