The Oscars: Picks for 2007

The 79th annual Academy Awards will be airing this Sunday, having seen many of the nominated movies, I think there are some strong contenders and it will be a great show.

I have selected six of the more interesting categories and given my personal pick, select your favorites and tell us why! *To consult full list, click on link above.* ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Leonardo DiCaprio for Blood Diamond Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson Peter O'Toole for Venus Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happiness Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland BO's PICK: Forest Whitaker for The Last King Of Scotland Whitaker has been a solid actor for years, this role really offered him the opportunity to show just how good he can be, 2007 will be his year. ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Penélope Cruz for Volver Judi Dench for Notes on a Scandal Helen Mirren for The Queen Meryl Streep for The Devil Wears Prada Kate Winslet for Little Children BO's PICK: Penélope Cruz for 'Volver' With this role, she showed she has come a long way from Vanilla Sky and can really act. Although it's a toss up with Helen Mirren, I'm leaning towards her because of a strong performance. ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE 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 (2006) BO's PICK: Djimon Hounsou for 'Blood Diamond' He did a great job with his performance and and will beat out Eddie Murphy and go on to get many good roles in Hollywood as a result. ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Adriana Barraza for Babel Cate Blanchett for Notes on a Scandal Abigail Breslin for Little Miss Sunshine Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls Rinko Kikuchi for Babel BO's PICK: Split: Abigail Breslin for 'Little Miss Sunshine'/Jennifer Hudson for 'Dreamgirls' Tough call, both were great in their respective movies, I'm leaning towards Hudson but the academy loves to award children and Breslin was the heart and soul of a really good picture. MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR Babel The Departed Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen BO's PICK: Little Miss Sunshine Always a tough call with so many solid films. I think Little Miss Sunshine will take it because it was a great movie that was liked equally by critics as by the public. ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING Clint Eastwood for Letters from Iwo Jima Stephen Frears for The Queen Paul Greengrass for United 93 Alejandro González Iñárritu Martin Scorsese for The Departed BO's PICK: Martin Scorsese The academy loves Clint Eastwood but he has already won recently, I think It will be Martin Martin Scorsese's year and he will take it.