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The L.A. Film Critics Association and AFI just released their lists of best films of 2006, and I have to say, you disappoint me, L.A. Film Critics Ass. and AFI. No 'Departed'? Oh, come on. Martin Scorsese's blockbuster crime drama is the most exciting movie to hit the big screen since ... Martin Scorsese's crime drama 'GoodFellas.'

And AFI, please. 'The Inside Man' made your list of Top 10, but NOT 'The Departed'? Sure, it's well acted, well directed, taut-ly suspenseful. But 'The Departed' is all that and so much more. Career-best performances by Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. Jack Nicholson unglued in a really interesting, crazy-crime-boss kinda way. Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg fully investing themselves in solid, award-worthy supporting roles. Scorsese masterfully bringing out the best in everyone on the screen (and there are a lot of people on that screen).

This early best-of listing is worrying me. When I saw 'The Departed' the first time, I just knew that this was the year Marty was gonna be awarded his long-overdue Oscar, that this movie couldn't lose. And then when I saw it the second time, I thought that maybe Leo would win his first Oscar; the biggest problem I envisioned was how would the Academy decide if it was a lead or supporting role? And then, when the box office kept growing ($116 mil to date), I was reassured that there was no way 'Departed' could lose, since the Academy likes its artistic achievement to be accompanied by a big slice of financial pie.

But now, I have to admit, I'm scared. What if 'Departed' peaked too early, and it loses momemtum before Oscar can show its love? What if Clint Eastwood, with his freakin' TWO big '06 serious, dramatic war movies, wins Best Director AGAIN?!?! Come on, Academy -- isn't Marty slaving away to save old film from disappearing? He's working his butt off for you people. Plus, hasn't he been snubbed enough? This is the year. Don't forget him. And don't make me beg. Because I will, and nobody wants that. It's just demeaning.

Can you feel it in the air? Awards Season officially began with yesterday's announcement of the National Board of Review's 2006 honors, with Best Picture going to Clint Eastwood's World War II epic 'Letters from Iwo Jima' (opening Dec. 20), the companion piece to his other film this fall, 'Flags of Our Fathers.' Eastwood, whose diabolical plot to rule the Academy Awards throughout all of the 21st century is so far an adequate success, employed a fascinating battle strategy: Release two films and it doubles your chances at Oscar glory! (Be on the lookout for Eastwood's 2007 'Three Blind Mice' trilogy).

Top acting awards both went to royalty, with Helen Mirren taking Best Actress for her stunning portrayal of Elizabeth II in 'The Queen' and Forest Whitaker pillaging his way to Best Actor as Idi Amin in 'The Last King of Scotland.' If Mirren's victory reveals anything, it's that National Board of Review members do indeed take our pleas on Hold the Fone seriously. As for Whitaker, no surprise there, he's been accumulating praise since 'King's' September debut in Toronto. But have you ever seen how hot his wife is? That's kinda surprising.


Best Director deservedly went to Martin Scorsese for 'The Departed,' a thriller that's blown all of our heads off -- I mean, blown all of us away -- here at Moviefone. What's most intriguing about the Board of Review's picks are that they set in motion what many pundits believe will be an Oscar rematch between Eastwood and Scorsese (after 'Million Dollar Baby' vs. 'The Aviator' in 2005). Will both earn spots come nomination time? Or will Eastwood's war films cancel each other out? Will Scorsese finally take home the gold? And don't his magnificent eyebrows count for anything? Join the debate here.

Get the complete list of National Board of Review Winners

POST: What do you think of the winners?

POST: Who will get nominated for Academy Awards?

Tags: National Board of Review, Letters from Iwo Jima, Clint Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Ryan Gosling, Forest Whitaker, Martin Scorsese, The Departed, Movie Awards

Hey movie fans, it's Sandie here to bring you the first of many awards-related posts. The nominees for the Spirit Awards -- formerly known as the Independent Spirit Awards -- were announced today, and the dysfunctional-family dramedy 'Little Miss Sunshine' and gritty relationship-drama 'Half Nelson' lead with five nominations a piece. This is particularly amusing to our team, because four of us here at Hold the 'Fone have been debating (OK, arguing really) which movie is better since we saw them both at Sundance in January. Two of us are firmly in the 'Sunshine' camp and two in the 'Nelson,' but we haven't gone so far as designing "Team ______" shirts ... yet. Alas, the Spirit Award nominations have done absolutely nothing to settle the score.

As it stands, the nominees for Best Feature are: 'Half Nelson'; 'Little Miss Sunshine'; 'American Gun'; the tale of three communities touched by gun violence; 'The Dead Girl,' a crime drama about the female victims of a serial killer; and 'Pan's Labyrinth,' which truth be told, all of us agree is one of the best movies of the year, so perhaps we should forget the Sundance-flick rivalry and root for Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language fantasy masterpiece instead.

The Best Male Lead category is, in my mind anyway, Ryan Gosling's to lose for his "flawless performance" (Maggie Gyllenhaal's words, not mine) as a junkie junior-high teacher in 'Half Nelson.' His competitors, however, are nearly as impressive: Aaron Eckhart as a fast-talking tobacco lobbyist in 'Thank You for Smoking'; Edward Norton as an uptight scientist in the period drama 'The Painted Veil'; Ahmad Razvi as a Pakistani immigrant in 'Man Push Cart'; and the always amazing Forest Whitaker as a driven inner-city principal in 'American Gun.'

Not only was Gosling recognized, but so was his young co-star, Shareeka Epps, who is a Best Female Lead nominee for her heart-wrenching portrayal of a middle-schooler who gets emotionally attached to her crack-addicted teacher. Her fellow nominees are Catherine O'Hara as an Oscar-obsessed C-lister in 'For Your Consideration'; Elizabeth Reaser as a 1920s immigrant in 'Sweet Land'; Michelle Williams in the Wim Wenders drama 'Land of Plenty' and Robin Wright Penn for her bitter TV exec in 'Sorry, Haters.' Have to admit that I'm a bit dumbstruck that Maggie didn't score a nod for 'Sherrybaby': a. She's the indie "It Girl" b. The film debuted at Sundance and c. It stars Gyllenhaal as a hedonistic ex-convict mama trying to reconnect with her young daughter. If that doesn't merit a Spirit Award, what is the indie world coming to?

The Spirit Awards did manage to acknowledge two of the breakout performances we're thankful for this year in the Best Supporting Male category: Paul Dano, who we loved as the Nietzche-loving brother Dwayne in 'Sunshine' and Channing Tatum as Shia LaBeouf's hot-headed best friend in 'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.' Both up-and-comers face 72-year-old Alan Arkin for his role as the foul-mouthed grandpa in 'Sunshine'; Daniel Craig for his very non-Bond role as vulnerable killer Perry Smith in the (other) Capote biopic 'Infamous'; and veteran "That Guy" Raymond J. Barry as an exacting military man in 'Steel City.'

Want to see who else was nominated? Get the complete list of Spirit Award nominees.

And if you're now in the mood for a fix of good indie films, check out our Independent Film Guide, where you'll find reviews of nearly all the nominated actors and films.

Tags: Spirit Awards, Little Miss Sunshine, Half Nelson, American Gun, Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano, Channing Tatum, indie movies, movie awards

Apparently the MTV Movie Awards happened last night -- who knew? (I didn't even know MTV showed anything that wasn't a car-wreck-tastic reality show about scary rich girls anymore.) It turns out, shockingly, that MTV viewers are among the 30 zillion Americans who saw and dug Wedding Crashers, so they voted it best movie, named stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (AKA Wilson #2) best on-screen team, and gave Isla Fisher the award for breakthrough performance. Another big winner was Jake Gyllenhaal who, in addition to taking home the best dramatic performance award, shared the best kiss golden popcorn with Heath Ledger. (Has a same-sex kiss ever been up for anything at MTV and not won? Those crazy kids love their gay macking.)

In addition, the ceremony honored Jim Carrey with the MTV Generation Award, whatever that is. Needless to say, he did something annoying when he accepted it (he "took the stage with a cadre of winged angels and performed a spontaneous hip-shaking jig"), though he surely thought it was utterly hilarious. Joining in the crazy fun was poor Spike Lee, who took home the Silver Bucket of Excellence for Do the Right Thing, "a movie from the past that has present-day resonance." While I am fully in favor of lauding Do the Right Thing, the MTV Movie Awards is a rather odd venue for addressing racial tension -- I'm sure Lee's acceptance speech fit in perfectly between Carey's pelvis and Christina Aguilera's half-naked torso.

For those of you who can't get enough of this sort of thing (or who want to look at Jessica Alba -- she's hosting, you know), the show airs Thursday at 830pm eastern time.