79th Academy Awards winners

79th Academy Awards winners (asterisks indicate correct predictions):

BEST PICTURE
The Departed*

BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, The Departed*

BEST ACTOR
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland*

BEST ACTRESS
Helen Mirren, The Queen*

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls*

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
predicted: Peter Morgan, The Queen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
William Monahan, The Departed*

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Lives of Others, Germany
predicted: Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Happy Feet
predicted: Cars

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
An Inconvenient Truth*

BEST ART DIRECTION
Pan's Labyrinth*

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth
predicted: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Milena Canonero, Marie Antoinette
predicted: Chung Man Yee, Curse of the Golden Flower

BEST FILM EDITING
Thelma Schoonmaker, The Departed*

BEST MAKEUP
Pan's Labyrinth*

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel
predicted: Alexandre Desplat, The Queen

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up," An Inconvenient Truth
predicted: "Listen," Dreamgirls

BEST SOUND MIXING
Dreamgirls*

BEST SOUND EDITING
Letters from Iwo Jima*

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest*

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Blood of Yingzhou District*

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
The Danish Poet
predicted: The Little Matchgirl

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
West Bank Story*

FINAL SCORE: 15/24, 6/8 in the major categories. Enough surprises to keep the ceremonies interesting, with sweet wins by Martin Scorses and The Departed. Three results I'm not happy with: Alan Arkin for Supporting Actor, Pan's Labyrinth's loss in the Foreign Language Film category (travesty!), and the loss of "Listen" after Beyonce and Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson perform it so amazingly.