The BCFA ... now it gets interesting!

Until now, we've been working with outright winners, one or maybe two names or movie per category. But the Broadcast Film Critics Association changes that paradigm because its Critics' Choice Awards process with actual nominations from which the winners will be announced next month. Because the Academy Awards also come from nominations (see, you learn something new every day), the Critics' Choice has become an important precursor in terms of determining what the ultimate competition will be. Thus Forest Whitaker and Helen Mirren can't just claim even more hardware just yet; they'll have to wait for a few nervous week to find out what's what.

And for Whitaker especially, a treacherous future may await, for there, in the Best Actor category, has emerged for the first time the name of Peter O'Toole. He's up for his performance in an obscure comedy/drama called Venus, and this is critical because O'Toole, for all of his legendary acting roles (and seven Best Actor nominations from the Academy Awards) has never won a competitive Oscar. You may remember that he received an Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2003, but was extremely reluctant to do so because he felt that he still had a chance to pick up a "real" one in him. Well, here we go. Regardless of how good O'Toole is in Venus, the possibility that the Irish actor, who is 74 and has been in shaky health for the better part of 30 years (he's missing a pancreas and a hunk of stomach), could finally take home an Academy Award on his own merits is strong. But it may be nuts to Whitaker and his own breathtaking work as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland.

Well, that's OK, 'cause Forest will still get to take home the cool Oscar goodie basket - oh, never mind.

Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics' Choice Awards (nominations announced 12-12-06)
Best Picture
Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes on a Scandal
The Queen
United 93

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed
(Two Leos? Which one will have the hotter date?)
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

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

Best Supporting Actor
Ben Affleck, Hollywoodland
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Adam Beach, Flags of Our Fathers
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Jack Nicholson, The Departed

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Catherine O'Hara, For Your Consideration
Emma Thompson, Stranger than Fiction

Best Director
Bill Condon, Dreamgirls
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Acting Ensemble
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
A Prairie Home Companion

Best Writer
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
Guillermo Arriaga, Babel
Todd Field, Tom Perrotta, Little Children
Zach Helm, Stranger Than Fiction
William Monahan, The Departed
Peter Morgan, The Queen

Best Animated Feature
Cars
Flushed Away
Happy Feet
Monster House
Over The Hedge

Best Young Actor
Cameron Bright, Thank You For Smoking
Joseph Cross, Running With Scissors
Paul Dano, Little Miss Sunshine
Freddie Highmore, A Good Year
Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness

Best Young Actress
Ivana Baquero, Pan's Labyrinth
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
Dakota Fanning, Charlotte's Web
Keke Palmer, Akeelah and the Bee

Best Comedy Movie
Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
The Devil Wears Prada
For Your Consideration
Little Miss Sunshine
Thank You For Smoking

Best Family Film (live action)
Akeelah and the Bee
Charlotte's Web
Flicka
Lassie
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Best Picture Made for Television
Elizabeth I
The Librarian
Nightmares and Dreamscapes
The Ron Clark Story
When the Levees Broke

Best Documentary Feature
An Inconvenient Truth
Shut Up and Sing
This Film Is Not Yet Rated
Who Killed the Electric Car
Wordplay

Best Foreign Language Film
Apocalypto
Days of Glory
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pan's Labyrinth
Volver
Water

Best Song
"I Need To Wake Up", Melissa Etheridge, An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen", Beyonce, Dreamgirls
"My Little Girl", Tim McGraw, Flicka
"The Neighbor", Dixie Chicks, Shut Up and Sing
"Never Gonna Break My Faith", Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Bobby
"Ordinary Miracle", Sarah McLachlan, Charlotte's Web

Best Soundtrack
Babel
Cars
Dreamgirls
Happy Feet
Marie Antoinette

Best Composer
Phillip Glass, The Illusionist
Clint Mansell, The Fountain
Thomas Newman, The Good German
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
Howard Shore, The Departed
Hans Zimmer, The Da Vinci Code