SOAP ANNOUNCES!
The Society of Online Awards Prognosticators, established in 2006 and comprised of some of the top Oscar analysts around, has announced its nominees for the first annual SOAP Awards. (There are five nominees in each category, except in cases where there was a tie for the fifth highest vote getter.) The winners will be announced on Wednesday, February 21st.
SOAP President Scott Feinberg (andthewinneris.blog.com) and Vice President Jeffrey Wells (hollywood-elsewhere.com) validated the results; other members include Johnny Alba (theoscarigloo.com), Mark Bakalor (oscarcentral.com), Russ Colombo (home.comcast.net/~atogt), Edward Douglas (comingsoon.net), Carlos Reyes (oscardiary.multiply.com), Nathaniel Rogers (thefilmexperience.net), Andy Scott (everythingoscar.com), Giovanni Tagliaferri (theoscarjam.blogspot.com), and Anne Thompson (reporter.blogs.com/risky).
(The group extends special thanks to Anthony Monelli for developing a program to expedite the calculation of results.)
PRIMARY CATEGORIES
Best Picture
- Children of Men
- The Departed
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Pan's Labyrinth
- The Queen
- United 93
Best Director
- Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men)
- Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Stephen Frears (The Queen)
- Paul Greengrass (United 93)
- Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Best Actor
- Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
- Aaron Eckhart (Thank You for Smoking)
- Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
- Peter O'Toole (Venus)
- Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Best Actress
- Penelope 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)
- Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
- Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
- Michael Sheen (The Queen)
Best Supporting Actress
- Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
- Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)
- Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
- Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
- Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
- Meryl Streep (A Prairie Home Companion)
Best Adapted Screenplay
- Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
- Alfonso Cuaron, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby (Children of Men)
- Todd Field, Tom Perrotta (Little Children)
- Patrick Marber (Notes on a Scandal)
- Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada)
- William Monahan (The Departed)
- Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking)
Best Original Screenplay
- Pedro Almodovar (Volver)
- Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine)
- Guillermo Arriaga (Babel)
- Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Peter Morgan (The Queen)
Best Animated Film
- Cars
- Happy Feet
- Monster House
- Over the Hedge
- A Scanner Darkly
Best Documentary
- An Inconvenient Truth
- Deliver Us from Evil
- Jesus Camp
- Shut Up and Sing!
- The War Tapes
Best Foreign Language Film
- Apocalypto
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- The Lives of Others
- Pan's Labyrinth
- Volver
Best Original Score
- Alexandre Desplat (The Painted Veil)
- Alexandre Desplat (The Queen)
- Philip Glass (Notes on a Scandal)
- Clint Mansell (The Fountain)
- Javier Navarrete (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel)
Best Original Song
- "I Need to Wake Up," Melissa Etheridge (An Inconvenient Truth)
- "Listen," Beyonce Knowles (Dreamgirls)
- "Love You I Do," Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
- "The Song of the Heart," Prince (Happy Feet)
- "Till the End of Time," DeVotchKa (Little Miss Sunshine)
- "You Know My Name," Chris Cornell (Casino Royale)
TECHNICAL CATEGORIES
Best Art Direction
- Apocalypto
- Children of Men
- Dreamgirls
- Marie Antoinette
- Pan's Labyrinth
Best Cinematography
- Apocalypto
- Babel
- Children of Men
- The Departed
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Pan's Labyrinth
Best Costume Design
- Apocalypto
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Dreamgirls
- Marie Antoinette
- The Painted Veil
Best Editing
- Babel
- Children of Men
- The Departed
- Dreamgirls
- United 93
Best Makeup
- Apocalypto
- Marie Antoinette
- Pan's Labyrinth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- The Queen
Best Sound
- Children of Men
- The Departed
- Dreamgirls
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Superman Returns
Best Visual Effects
- Children of Men
- The Fountain
- Pan's Labyrinth
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
- Superman Returns
SPECIAL COMMENDATIONS
Best Ensemble
- Babel
- The Departed
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Queen
- Volver
Best Independent Film
- The Dead Girl
- Half Nelson
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Sherrybaby
- Shortbus
- Thank You for Smoking
Best Pre-August Film
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Inside Man
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Thank You for Smoking
- A Prairie Home Companion
- United 93
Best Debut
- Ivana Baquero (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Jonathan Dayton/Varie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine)
- Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
- Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
- Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
Best Scene or Sequence
- Ivana Baquero and The Pale Man sequence (Pan's Labyrinth)
- Abigail Breslin performs her routine (Little Miss Sunshine)
- Jennifer Hudson performs "And I Am Telling You" (Dreamgirls)
- Clive Owen and friends in the car are ambushed and chased (Children of Men)
- Martin Sheen departs (The Departed)
Best Living Talent Without an Oscar
- Alan Arkin
- Lauren Bacall
- David Lynch
- Helen Mirren
- Martin Scorsese
- Kate Winslet
Best Web Site Related to Film (SOAP members' sites ineligible)
- Cinematical (cinematical.com)
- Internet Movie Database (imdb.com)
- Metacritic (metacritic.com)
- The Reeler (thereeler.com)
- Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com)

It's kind of sad there's little acting recognition for these movies though - for Clive Owen, Hugh Jackman, Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts, Edward Norton ...it sometimes seem like the acting categories just got set in stone. (Nice to see Gosling and Eckhart join the great O'Toole in your choices, though). (Comment this)