The Best Films of 2006?

Nominations for the 79th Annual Acedemy Awards were announced last week. Here are the main categories, with links to Ionarts and DCist reviews, and corresponding honors at the Golden Globes (GG) or Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards noted:

1. Best Picture

• Babel [GG]
  
• The Departed
  
• Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Little Miss Sunshine [SAG]
  
• The Queen

2. 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 (Kevin Macdonald) [GG] [SAG]

3. Actress

• Penélope Cruz, Volver
  
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
  
• Helen Mirren, The Queen [GG] [SAG]
  
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
  
• Kate Winslet, Little Children

4. Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
  
• Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
  
• Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
  
• Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls [GG] [SAG]
  
• Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

5. Supporting Actress

• Adriana Barraza, Babel
  
• Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
  
• Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine [SAG]
  
• Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls [GG]
  
• Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Continue reading this article.
6. Directing

• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Babel
  
• Martin Scorsese, The Departed [GG]
  
• Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Stephen Frears, The Queen
  
• Paul Greengrass, United 93

7. Foreign Language Film

• After the Wedding (Denmark)
  
• Days of Glory (Indigènes, Algeria)
  
• The Lives of Others (Germany)
  
• Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
  
• Water (Canada)

8. Adapted Screenplay

• Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
  
• Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
  
• William Monahan, The Departed
  
• Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, Little Children
  
• Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal

9. Original Screenplay

• Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
  
• Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
  
• Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
  
• Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
  
• Peter Morgan, The Queen [GG]

10. Original Score

• Babel (Gustavo Santaolalla)
  
• The Good German (Thomas Newman)
  
• Notes on a Scandal (Philip Glass)
  
• Pan's Labyrinth (Javier Navarrete)
  
• The Queen (Alexandre Desplat)

Other Films from 2006 [with nominations, if any]:

• Factotum (Bent Hamer)
  
• Fauteuils d'Orchestre (Danièle Thompson)
  
• The Good Shepherd (Robert De Niro) [Art Direction]
  
• Marie-Antoinette (Sofia Coppola) [Costumes]
  
• Renaissance (Christian Volckman)
  
• The Science of Sleep (Michel Gondry)
  
• Superman Returns (Bryan Singer)
  
• Thank You for Smoking (Jason Reitman)
  
• Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story (Michael Winterbottom)
  
• Trust the Man (Bart Freundlich)
  
• Unknown (Simon Brand)
  
• Wordplay (Patrick Creadon)

We will keep updating this list as we review the other nominated films, in advance of the Academy Awards ceremony on February 25.