I have to preface my Oscar 2007 predictions by saying that, all things being equal, I will use the system that has worked for me in the past: if I went to see it, it won.

Seriously, I might see one film in a particular year in a theatre and it would win best picture, or best actor, or both, whichever was in contention. That is why it is curious to me that Dreamgirls was not nominated for best picture. That is a snub. But famously any damn movie that Steven Spielberg is associated with seems to always get left on the cutting room floor. I found out, at the credits, that DreamWorks produced Dreamgirls. This seemed like suppressing news.

My first pick, for the reason stated above (I saw it at the theatre) is Will Smith for best actor in Pursuit of Happyness. Will will get the Oscar because he is not only “long suffering” but because he has made a whole bunch of money for Hollywood and himself. He has been both a bankable (read likeable and non-threatening black man) and dependable star. And to make matters worse: he has a clean image and a cute family. His movie was clean. Don’t you just hate him?

I mean he did not play a pimp, or a rap artist complete with hood, or a deadbeat dad, or a drug addict. I think that his fellow actors will want to give Will the statue. And what’s more Hollywood might just want to make a few reparations for giving Oscar to Halle Berry (back when) as the loose woman, doing it with a white man. That is not to say that Forest Whitaker is an also-ran, but that despite his name “Whitaker” he will not take the Oscar. He was great as The Last King of Scotland, from what I gathered, from the trailers and from the critics. He was a critics’ choice most likely. I don’t know - because we are using Heloise’s system today.

As for supporting actor, you know it’s got to be Eddie Murphy for his fabulous performance as “James Brown” in Dreamgirls. I thought that movie was just twenty minutes shy of perfection - and good enough to be remade into an opera. To top it off, I not only saw the movie, but I saw it in my birthplace Chicago, where Jennifer Hudson was also born. That segues into my best supporting actress prediction: Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls, naturally. I promise you that it won’t go down any other way.