It's similar to other lists we've been seeing which is totally fine. Several of these are good films. In a mediocre year top ten lists are going to be more similar than usual. But the inclusion of Blood Diamond raises the eyebrow. Why? Because they just saw it?

And although I'm no fan of Flags of Our Fathers, its omission is another sign of the BFCAs strange inability to take themselves seriously enough to warrant us taking them seriously. As a collective they're always willing to throw integrity out the window if the Oscar tide turns against something they loved.

Or maybe it's just their inability to perform simple math. They rate films as they arrive during the year. Flags was among the six highest rated of the year with a 92 point score. It also beat both Babel and The Departed as their winning film for the month of October and now it's not on their list? What's more it is omitted in favor of a film like Blood Diamond which scored only an 82, a full 10 point drop. Huh? In fact all of the following pictures: Borat, Volver, Cars, Superman Returns, Casino Royale, The Last King of Scotland, and World Trade Center received higher scores with this group than Blood Diamond. What gives?

It's OK to change your mindbut to do it in such an obvious agenda filled manner? Blech. It leaves a nasty aftertaste. I realize I don't make friends by saying all this but Broadcast guys: GET SOME INTEGRITY. So what if your favorite films aren't the hot Oscar properties?

Six wide wouldn't be such an atrocity if you didn't then hear the BFCA go and cite their predictive statistics in correlation with Oscar. Since they do that, and they do it often to promote themselves and even during their ceremony, this always feels suspect. If you compare these lists to my Oscar prediction pages you'll see how close they are to what Oscar might look like. Wihich is, of course, the BFCA's raison d'etre. In some ways I think it would be better if all awards bodies had to vote on the same day after the Oscar nominations --Just to see what people really felt, free of their burden of a) predicting and b) trying to influence.

In theory I think the Best Young Actors category is a good idea... but doesn't it always feel like they just name the whole list of kids who had roles in the major films? Same goes for Best Ensemble. That prize at SAG and here usually seems like just a list of the movies with the biggest casts. Though I love the idea of honoring them and sometimes big casts do have the best esnemble work. I mean, it's difficult to find fault with The Departed in this area for sure. But it's a pity that smaller casts that do a lot more interacting with each other often get the short end of this stick.

Since they have a top ten Best Picture what is the point of a "best comedy movie" category? Oh yeah. To predict the Globes too. And is it just me or is this a disappointing development when American films start taking over foreign language categories --one of the only ways in which Americans ever notice that other countries make movies. Not that Apocalypto and Letters From Iwo Jima aren't technically foreign lanuge films but you catch my drift.

Since they have a top ten Best Picture what is the point of a "best comedy movie" category? Oh yeah. To predict the Globes too. And is it just me or is this a disappointing development when American films start taking over foreign language categories --one of the only ways in which Americans ever notice that other countries make movies. Not that Apocalypto and Letters From Iwo Jima aren't technically foreign lanuge films but you catch my drift.

The composer category is interesting. I love the Fountain's inclusion but I dare not hope that Mansell can transfer this to an Oscar nomination. It's probably just too good for actual prizes. I don't remember The Departed score. Seemed very song heavy.