And the Oscar will not go to...

Arthur and the Invisibles has been kicked off the list of films eligible for the Oscar. It would need to be over 75% animated to qualify and it features some live actors. Too many apparently. It was a formality to kick it off the list, since it didn't have a chance of actually being nominated.

I kind of loathe the animated category of the Oscars anyway. I think that really good animated movies like Cars and The Incredibles should be in regular contention and not relegated to a corner where they compete the latest animals-on-a-quest feature like Barnyard.

So far, this is a hard Oscars to predict for Best Picture.

All the acting awards are pretty obvious: Forest Whitaker, Helen Mirren, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson.

But Best Picture? I thought The Departed had it, but Iwo Jima is coming up with a lot of support. And the idiots who voted for Crash just might vote for Babel this year.

Along with that, Best Director is too close to call. It will be Scorcese or Eastwood.

Little Miss Sunshine won't do much, but look for a Best Original Screenplay. Best Adapted should be Departed.

Or that's how it looks three weeks out!