Babel is not your normal movie, it takes place on multiple continents in multiple languages. Mexican-born director Alejandro Inarritu has created a profound movie where everyone is talking but no one is listening. A biblically inspired movie about pain and suffering and ultimately forgiveness. Babel could win the Oscar for Best Picture, it's that good and did win a Golden Globe. But this year, Babel, and its fine director would be my second choice.

The Queen is so soft spoken, so far under the radar, it might have gone unnoticed, if not for the powerhouse performance by Helen Mirren. Director Stephen Frears knows a thing or two about subtlety, he was nominated in 1990 for directing The Grifters. I love his direction in The Queen because it gives us a rare glimpse into the aloof royal family during the death of Princess Diana. But a Best director and Best Picture win would be a major upset.

Little Miss Sunshine is good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like it enough to pull off an upset and actually win this years Oscar for Best Picture. The story of a dysfunctional family on a road trip so little Olive can compete in a beauty pageant is more than just charming - it's a significant infusion of great writing and ensemble acting. The more I think about Little Miss Sunshine, the better it gets but I doubt it's strong enough to win.

I would be thrilled to see Clint Eastwood win the Oscar for directing the magnificent WWII epic, Letters From Iwo Jima, after all, in the same year and at the same time he directed, Flags Of Our Fathers . Both are ambitious, introspective, smartened-up war films with the Japanese language Letters, being by far the best of the two. But Eastwood recently won for Million Dollar Baby, and, he's starring down the barrel of the great Martin Scorsese.

The first time I saw The Departed, I thought it was exhilarating fun but not a winner. The second time I started changing my mind thinking this is a rather amazing film, and now, after a third viewing, I'm convinced, Scorsese's hyper-active Soprano's-on-steroids-gangster-dazzler is brilliant. It should have been nominated for at least two more Academy Awards. This is Scorsese's year to win the Oscar for Best Director and his film to win for Best Picture. Not because Scorsese has anything profound to say about mobsters and loyalty, but because his body of work is as good as anyone's on the planet.

Meryl Streep received her record-setting 14th Oscar nomination for laying down the law and the hand bag in The Devil Wears Prada . She is easily the greatest living actress and even though she won't win in this tough, competitive category, it's a well-deserved nomination.

In Little Children Kate Winslet is so good she makes a miserable adulterous mom seem almost likeable. This is the fifth nomination for the versatile British actress, her first coming back in 1995 for Sense and Sensibility. In another year, and another film, she just might win.

Penelope Cruz has struggled in American films but with Spain's Pedro Almodovar she flourishes and is flat out luminescent in Volver , playing a husband killing wife who communicates daily with her dead mother. The genius of Almodovar is evident but it translates into magic when Penelope Cruz flashes her smile.

Judi Dench is so desperate, so scheming in Notes On A Scandal , it often resembles a domestic horror film with world-class talent. Judi Dench is the only actress in this impressive group qualified to pull off an upset. The five time nominee and winner for Shakespeare In Love is simply at the top of her game.

But this year, the Best Actress Oscar goes to Helen Mirren in The Queen. A subtle, under the radar performance of immense aloofness and control during the time of Princess Diana's death. A master-class in acting where a glimpse and a gesture is all that is needed to not only rule over a nation but win an Oscar.

Will Smith has always been a movie star, and now with Ali and The Pursuit Of Happyness, he's become an Oscar- nominated actor. Smith not only stars in this gut wrencher playing a determined homeless father, but he also produced the film, and yes, that's his real life son, Jaden, playing along.

At the age of 26, Ryan Gosling appears to have come from nowhere to land in such rarified air with a Best Actor nomination. In Half Nelson he plays a high school teacher on drugs. Before that, he made the girls cry in The Notebook, and was a fellow cast member of The Mickey Mouse Club with Brittany Spears.

Don't let the accent and the good looks fool you because Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood and every nuance is on display as a diamond smuggler in Blood Diamond. The 32-year-old-actor should be taken seriously, this is his third nomination, and his work speaks for itself.

Venus provides legendary actor Peter O'Toole with his 8th nomination, playing a dirty old man and an aging actor facing his own death. It's a multi layered part made richer and deeper and more compassionate by the gifted one who burst on to the scene back in 1962 as Lawrence Of Arabia.

But this year, the Oscar goes to, Texas actor, Forest Whitaker, for playing the seductive vicious dictator Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland. Whitaker is one of the most loved and respected actors in Hollywood and this year the Academy gives a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar to the kid from Longview, Texas.

Australian actress Cate Blanchett stands and delivers toe-to-toe with Oscar-winner Judi Dench in Notes On A Scandal, playing a confused, insecure woman resulting in her third Oscar nomination. She won in 2004 for playing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator. This time her chances of winning are slim but her acting ability has never been better.

In the cross-cultural Babel, Rinko Kikuchi is fueled with anger and promiscuous rage as the deaf daughter without a mother trying desperately to communicate with her father. It's a profound, compassionate part for the Tokyo resident and her first nomination. Look for Kikuchi to start appearing in numerous American films.

Screaming her way to a beauty pageant and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination is 10-year-old Abigail Breslin, the centerpiece of Little Miss Sunshine. Her eyes light up the screen, and little Olive's love of life is captivating. Abigail Breslin is simply a fresh breath of cinematic air.

Adriana Barraza is so compelling, so real as the Mexican immigrant maid in Babel, you forget she is a glamorous Spanish-language television star. She is the only one capable of pulling off an upset in this category, but despite her brilliance in Babel, it's a slim chance at best.

That's because the obvious winner this year for Best Supporting Actress has got to be powerhouse nominee, Jennifer Hudson, who sings with a voice like a cannon and acts up a storm in Dreamgirls . A dream of a part for the first-time nominee, rejected by American Idol but embraced by Oscar.

Alan Arkin does have an upset chance of winning this years Oscar for Best Supporting Actor with his funny, even endearing work as the outspoken grandfather in Little Miss Sunshine. It's the third nomination for the 72-year-old veteran and a well-written part with enough sweet and sour to actually pull off a win.

Djimon Honsou gives another Oscar-worthy performance as the tragic West African father searching for his kidnapped son in Blood Diamond. An emotional part opposite Leonardo DiCaprio and the second nomination for the 43-year-old former model turned actor. In real life Hounsou was actually born in West Africa.

Little Children marks the dramatic return of Texas actor Jackie Earle Haley to the big screen after years of not working and the result is a well-deserved Oscar nomination. He plays a convicted sex offender living with his mother and frightening just about everyone he comes in contact with. It's a difficult part in a difficult film for the San Antonio resident.

Mark Whalberg received his first nomination over the likes of co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon, for playing one of the many decadent foul mouthed cops in The Departed. He's terrific in Scorsese's big time Oscar contender, and probably still in shock he was even nominated.

And finally, the one to beat has to be Eddie Murphy who lights up the screen as R&B singer James Thunder Early in Dreamgirls. It's a great part for the 45-year-old veteran of dozens of mediocre films and by far the finest moment in his career. Murphy has won every major award leading up to the Oscars, including the SAG, Golden Globe, and Broadcast Film Critics award. This year Eddie Murphy wins the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

E-mail gcogill@wfaa.com