Predictions: December 2006 Archives

If you believe the stats, the Dallas/Ft. Worth film critics are the best at forecasting each year's Best Picture winner. (OK, they missed "Crash" last year, but who didn't — except the Sun-Times' Roger Ebert ...?) In this article, you might be surprised by their pick this year: "United 93."

The Oscars are almost as much about momentum as the films themselves. Here’s a list of what honors the top movies are winning so far this awards season:

By DAVID GERMAIN

LOS ANGELES — If the victory of best-picture champ ‘‘Crash’’ over front-runner ‘‘Brokeback Mountain’’ last winter proved one thing, it’s that nothing is ever certain at the Academy Awards. Yet with two and a half months to go before the Oscars on Feb. 25, three seemingly sure picks and a wildly eclectic lineup of potential and long-shot contenders have emerged for Hollywood’s top prize. ...

By STEPHEN GALLOWAY

And the clock just keeps ticking. With nominations for the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s 64th annual Golden Globe Awards just days away — announcements are set for the early morning hours of Dec. 14 — a clear front-runner has yet to emerge for one of the ceremony’s top two prizes, namely the best drama of the year. Unlike the musical/comedy race, which will surely fete Paramount/DreamWorks’ big-screen adaptation of the award-winning Broadway production ‘‘Dreamgirls,’’ the dramatic categories remain decidely murky, and almost no one is willing to go on record supporting any particular movie as a lock for a best picture trophy. That said, a handful of films — specifically Miramax’s ‘‘The Queen,’’ Paramount/DreamWorks’ ‘‘Flags of Our Fathers’’ and Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘‘The Departed’’ — finally seem to be emerging as likely favorites for a nomination.