If there is one thing that all critics have in common, it is that we are generally bitter. If there is a second thing that all critics have in common, it is that we all love to analyze things and think that we can predict an outcome. And around this time of year, predicting who will win which awards in which ceremonies seems to be the taster’s choice for many critics, myself included.

But before I can make any predictions, I must ensure the readiness of my readers. I must feed you long lists of possibilities and throngs of gossip in order to ready you for my predictions. Then, and only then can I unleash upon you my picks for this years Oscars. The staff of Film School Rejects may also be tapped to help me with said predictions, as well as make their own, but that will come later. For now, let us dish some dirt on Hollywood’s most sought after little golden man.

We start this year with the most fun category, Best Animated Film. One of the greatest gauges for how the Animated Feature award will go in February is the Annie Awards, which just announced their nominations this week. Some of the films garnering top honors were Cars, Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Monster House and Open Season. Cars and Flushed Away tied with the most nominations with 9. Now I do have some thoughts on Animated films, as it is one of my absolute favorite genre - the only film listed that I did not see this year was Open Season, and for good reason. The thought of Ashton Kutcher doing voice acting is treacherous, so I stuck with dancing penguins and houses that eat kids instead.

My forerunner thus far is Happy Feet, which was the most recent release, keeping it front of mind with Academy voters. At this point, no one really even remembers the success that Cars had, especially due to the fact that it was bounced from the limelight by some Pirate movie. Happy Feet was also very well received with critics, attaining a 77 average on MetaCritic and being rated very highly be me (review to come, hint: it will get more than 4 stars!)

Moving onto something I love dearly - the ladies. There is already tons of talk about which leading lady will be the front-runner to catch a date with Oscar. Meryl Streep started off the year extremely well with her cold and forceful performance in The Devil Wears Prada (review), but she may get trumped because her film was released so early (as you can tell, I am a strong proponent of the fact that films released later have an advantage. Why do you think there are films that will be released in 3 theaters in LA on 12/31 that will get nominations?)

Another strong bid is for Helen Mirren, who was equally as forceful as Queen Elizabeth in The Queen. I have a review coming here in the next few days, and let me just say this about Mirren’s performance - it was good, but not great. But even with the strong cases put forth by the elder ladies, Maggie Gyllenhaal may steal the show with her Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich-esque role in Sherrybaby. I have yet to see it, but I have heard good things.

So we’ve talked animated wonders and lovely leading ladies, but what would a Oscar Beat column be this week without talking about Mel Gibson. He seems to be the word on the tip of everyone’s tongue this week with the release of Apacolypto. Early reviews are saying that the film is fantastic and very deserving, but politics may come into play - and lets just imagine that Mel hasn’t had such a good year publicly… Lets just say. Sharon Waxman of the New York Times (via OscarWatch) has been talking about it, and while it is gathering some acclaim, the elitist group of voters will ultimately decide Mel’s fate.

Enough elitist movie snobs, dancing penguins and British royalty for this week. I am spent. Stay tuned in every week (and possibly twice a week) for more Oscar Beat ‘06.