Cinematical

Step right up and make your final predictions, folks! Tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn, while most folks in La La Land are still fast asleep -- with images of the next great fantasy novel adaptation dancing through their heads -- nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be announced. And it will be grand -- those folks at Sundance won't know what to talk about over their morning coffee. Will it be Oscar or Waitress, The Departed or The Savages, Robert Altman or Robert Redford? Ah, the suspense is killing me.

Will there be any surprises? If so, in which categories? Will United 93 sneak a best picture nod even though the Hollywood Foreign Press left it out in the cold? Will Sacha Baron Cohen walk away with a best actor nod now that he's won the Golden Globe? And what about Meryl Streep? Will she find her way into a jam-packed best actress category? Scorsese's The Departed will most likely be nominated for best picture and best director -- yet another chance for the man to not win an Oscar for a film that's not even close to being his best.

Or what about Little Miss Sunshine? Is there a chance it will be left off the best picture list, forced to settle for the "Sorry, you didn't make the cut ... but please accept this best original screenplay nod instead?" So much to talk about. So little time. So, I ask you: What are your top choices for the year? And more importantly, will the Academy recognize them?