Written by Mitch Cyrus

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It's Oscar night ... and you knew we'd be all over it here on The Blurbs. Our resident film critic Mitch Cyrus took some time out for us to put together his predictions for tonights major awards, laying out who he thinks will win, and also who he personally feels SHOULD win. Couple reminders on on Oscar night: stop by our movies board in our message forum, where we have some great chatter going on. And wear something nice tonight Scarlett!!!!

It’s that time again! Time for someone to tell you all about who is going to win amongst a ton of movies that almost none of you have seen!

Not much chance that I’ll beat my record from last year, when I went five for six...but you never know. Just to change things a bit, I’m adding two more categories to my list.

Best Supporting Actor:

The nominees: Alan Arkin for “Little Miss Sunshine”, Jackie Earle Haley for “Little Children”, Djimon Hounsou for “Blood Diamond”, Eddie Murphy for “Dreamgirls”, Mark Wahlberg for “The Departed.

My Preference: Djimon Hounsou

My Guess for Winning: Eddie Murphy

Details: Very tough field in this group. Haley has to be somewhat a sentimental favorite as no one has seen him since he played the punk in “Bad News Bears”. Arkin stole every scene he was in as the drug using, foul mouthed Grandpa in “Little Miss Sunshine”. But Hounsou was the moral center of “Blood Diamond”, and he gave what I thought was the best performance as the father seeking desperately for his son. But look for Murphy’s over-the-top James Brown channeling to prevail.

My five nominees: Arkin, Hounsou, Jack Nicholson for “The Departed”, Michael Sheen for “The Queen”, and Ben Affleck for “Hollywoodland”. (you could also make a point for Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen for “The Departed”, along with Wahlberg).

Best Supporting Actress:

The nominees: Adriana Barraza for “Babel”, Cate Blanchett for “Notes on a Scandal”, Abigail Breslin for “Little Miss Sunshine”, Jennifer Hudson for “Dreamgirls”, and Rinko Kikuchi for “Babel”

My Preference: Rinko Kikuchi

My Guess for Winning: Jennifer Hudson

Details: Quite frankly, Barraza and young Miss Breslin should not be on this list. Kikuchi was the only worthwhile thing to watch in an otherwise retched “Babel”. But look for Jennifer Hudson to easily walk away for her role as the more talented, but less photogenic member of “Dreamgirls”.

My five nominees: Blanchett, Hudson, Kikuchi, Mario Bello for “World Trade Center”, and Emma Thompson for “Stranger than Fiction”.

Best Actress:

The nominees: Penelope Cruz for ‘Volver”, Judi Dench for "Notes on a Scandal", Helen Mirren for “The Queen, Meryl Streep for “The Devil Wears Prada”, and Kate Winslet for “Little Children”.

My Preference: Helen Mirren

My Guess for Winning: Helen Mirren

Details: What a difference a year makes. Last year’s nominees (won by Reese Witherspoon) were unbelievably poor. Mostly due to the fact that there were so few decent movies with good leading roles for women. Quite the opposite this year, as the Actress category is undoubtedly stronger than the list for Best Actor. Bottom line; Helen Mirren gave one of the best performances I’ve seen from an actress in years, and is the safest bet on this board.

My five nominees: Dench, Mirren, Streep, Winslet, and Natalie Portman for “V for Vendetta”.

Best Actor:

The nominees: Leonardo DiCaprio for “Blood Diamond”, Ryan Gosling for “Half Nelson”, Peter O’Toole for “Venus”, Will Smith for “The Pursuit of Happyness, and Forest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland”.

My Preference: Leonardo DiCaprio

My Guess for Winning: Forest Whitaker

Details: Just the opposite from the Best Actress situation, this group can’t hold a candle to last year’s nominees. Whitaker is the heavy favorite. I saw “The Last King of Scotland” and he did a fantastic job as lunatic Idi Amin. But if you stack him up against the nominees from last year, he’s no better than fourth following Phillip Seymour Hoffman in “Capote”, Joaquin Phoenix in “Walk the Line” or David Strathairn in “Good Night and Good Luck”.

My five nominees: Whitaker, Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Departed”, Clive Owen for “Children of Men”, Nicolas Cage for “World Trade Center, and Sacha Baron Cohen for “Borat”.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

The nominees: “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorius Nation of Kazakhstan”, “Children of Men”, “The Departed”, “Little Children”, “Notes on a Scandal”

My Preference: “The Departed”

My Guess for Winning: “The Departed”

Details: This category they got right. Five excellent films, and not one of them doesn’t deserve to be here.

My five nominees: Same as above.

Best Original Screenplay:

The nominees: “Babel”, “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The Queen”.

My Preference: “Letters from Iwo Jima”

My Guess for Winning: “Babel”

Details: As if you haven’t noticed, I don’t have a great deal of respect for “Babel” or “Little Miss Sunshine”.

My five nominees: “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, “The Queen”, “Inside Man”, and “Stranger than Fiction”.

Best Director:

The nominees: Clint Eastwood for “Letters from Iwo Jima”, Stephen Frears for “The Queen”, Paul Greengrass for “United 93”, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for “Babel”, and Martin Scorsese for “The Departed”

My Preference: Martin Scorsese

My Guess for Winning: Martin Scorsese.

Details: This just simply has to be Scorsese’s year. He was screwed out of it for “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas”, but now should be his time. I know everyone is wanting to play up the Clint Factor, but that’s just to stir up some conversations. Clint did a better job two years ago with “Million Dollar Baby” than Marty did with “The Aviator”. The opposite is true this time.

My five nominees: Eastwood, Scorsese, Oliver Stone for “World Trade Center”, Alfonso Cuaron for “Children of Men”, and Spike Lee for “Inside Man”.

Best Picture:

The nominees: "Babel”, “The Departed”, “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, and “The Queen”.

My Preference: “The Departed”

My Guess for Winning: “The Departed”

Details: I think that the anti-Departed crowd is going to split their votes between the over-rated “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Crash-Lite” borefest “Babel”. That clears the way for the Best Damn Movie of the Year to win the Oscar.

My five nominees (Top to bottom), “The Departed”, “World Trade Center”, “Children of Men”, “Letters from Iwo Jima”, “The Queen”.

Those are my guesses, and I’m sticking to them just like I stuck to taking the Browns and the points last year against...pretty much everyone. Good thing that I leave the gambling to Swerb.