Let’s call this a very short Oscar update, shall we? Less of an editorial and more of a briefing. In all honesty, it is just an excuse for me to put my opinions to rest for a moment - or maybe not. On to the news at hand, as previously expected, both the Producers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced nominees for their year end awards. The Producers of America, those men and women who sit in front of the studio executives of the world and pitch the rubbish that eventually turns into straight-to-DVD pseudo porn such as National Lampoon’s Pledge This! are first on our docket, with their nominees for Best Picture:

Babel
Dreamgirls
The Departed
The Queen
Little Miss Sunshine

[Source: The Movie Blog]

Yippee for Little Miss Sunshine, the little engine that could… win awards (I know… Lame). The producers did fall right into line with just about all of the critic associations, nominating Babel; but it is yet to be seen whether they will follow suit and not give it an award. Can you say, “overrated”? I can. Also swinging into the mix, interestingly enough, is Dreamgirls - the movie that everyone says is good, yet very few groups are placing it at the top of their lists. Could this be another case of “Oscar Bait” due to the film’s pint sized release in the last week of the year? It’s too early for me to call but you can draw your own conclusions.

Not to be outdone by any means, the Screen Actors Guild (not the Film Actors Guild, you jokers…) announced nominations for the best performances of the year:

Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond ; Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson ; Peter O’Toole, Venus ; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness ; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland.

Actress: Penelope Cruz, Volver ; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal ; Helen Mirren, The Queen ; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada ; Kate Winslet, Little Children.

Supporting actor: Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine ; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed ; Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children ; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond ; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls.

Supporting actress: Adriana Barraza, Babel ; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal ; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine ; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls ; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel.

Cast: Babel,Bobby,The Departed,Dreamgirls,Little Miss Sunshine.

SAG loved up on Leo and gave noms to some of the usual suspects. Forrest Whitaker, still the front runner in the Best Actor category, was nominated alongside Will Smith, Peter O’Toole and severe underdog Ryan Gosling. Meryl Streep is my personal favorite female performer of the year, but Helen Mirren is once again right there with her. Don’t expect the Screen Actors to sway the Oscar field too much, but it will be interesting to see who takes the nods from this bunch - the same brand of interesting as when you were in high school, voting for class president… It is just another irrelevant popularity contest. But isn’t that what this is all about?

That’s the Oscar Beat! Peace!