And the Oscar goes to?

The nominations for the Oscars (or the 79th annual Academy Awards if you're bing picky) have been announced:

Best Picture: The Departed Babel Letters From Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen

Best Actor:
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)

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

Best Supporting Actor:
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

Best Director:
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Paul Greengrass (United 93)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel)

The Queen for best picture? Is that the same film we saw? The one with the bit with the stag that made us laugh out loud? The one that seemed to be all about the unrequited love that Blair felt for Liz? Best picture? The Academy really is senile isn't it?

We'll kick off our Oscar preview coverage tomorrow with a review of Blood Diamond followed by Venus on Thursday and then give The Queen a good kicking on Friday.