The 79th Annual Academy Awards have come and gone, and while many believed that the show would be a pretty lackluster affair, it was filled with its share of welcome surprises and disappointing upsets just like any year. Award hogs Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker completed their sweeps with gold statues for their performances in “The Queen” and “The Last King of Scotland,” respectively, while Jennifer Hudson beat out the most deserving Rinko Kikuchi for her Best Supporting Actress performance in “Dreamgirls.” The more I think about that race, the more unfair it seems that Hudson won simply for singing, but I digress. The last of the four acting races, Best Supporting Actor, chalked up the first surprise of the night when Alan Arkin stole the award away from frontrunner Eddie Murphy. Again, this is one that Murphy should have had in the bag, but most likely lost in the end because he has no friends in Hollywood.

The rest of the night was pretty lame. “Children’s of Men” was shut out of every category it was nominated in, “Pan’s Labyrinth” managed to win three awards against much bigger films but failed in taking home the one that mattered (Best Foreign Language Film), and “The Departed” kicked the competition’s ass by winning in four of the five categories it was nominated in (sorry, Marky Mark).

Still, it was nice to see Marty finally get his Oscar, as well as a film like “The Departed” win for Best Picture. And while we’re on the topic: what the hell is going on with Jack Nicholson’s bald head? He looks horrendous.

The list of nominees are below, with the winners in bold.

Best Picture
“Babel”
“The Departed”
“Letters from Iwo Jima”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“The Queen”

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, “Blood Diamond”
Ryan Gosling, “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole, “Venus”
Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”
Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, “Volver”
Judi Dench, “Notes on a Scandal”
Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet, “Little Children”

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jackie Earle Haley, “Little Children”
Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”
Mark Walhberg, “The Departed”

Best Supporting Actress
Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”
Cate Blanchett, “Notes on a Scandal”
Adriana Barraza, “Babel”
Rinko Kikuchi, “Babel”

Best Director
“Babel” (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
“The Departed” (Martin Scorsese)
“Letters from Iwo Jima” (Clint Eastwood)
“The Queen” (Stephen Frears)
“United 93” (Paul Greengrass)

Best Animated Film
“Happy Feet”
“Cars”
“Monster House”

Best Screenplay (Original)
“Babel”
“Letters from Iwo Jima”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“The Queen”

Best Screenplay (Adapted)
“Borat”
“Children of Men”
“The Departed”
“Little Children”
“Notes on a Scandal”

Best Documentary
“Deliver Us from Evil”
“An Inconvenient Truth”
“Iraq in Fragments”
“Jesus Camp”
“My Country, My Country”

Best Foreign Film
“After the Wedding” (Denmark)
“Days of Glory” (Algeria)
“The Lives of Others” (Germany)
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (Mexico)
“Water” (Canada)

Achievement in Art Direction
“Dreamgirls”
“The Good Shepherd”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
“The Prestige”

Best Cinematography
“The Black Dahlia”
“Children of Men”
“The Illusionist”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“The Prestige”

Best Costume Design
“Curse of the Golden Flower”
“The Devil Wears Prada”
“Dreamgirls”
“Marie Antoinette”
“The Queen”

Best Documentary Short Subject
“The Blood of Yingzhou District”
“Recycled Live”
“Rehearsing a Dream”
“Two Hands”

Best Editing
“Babel”
“Blood Diamond”
“Children of Men”
“The Departed”
“United 93”

Achievement in Makeup
“Apocalypto”
“Click”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”

Original Score
“Babel”
“The Good German”
“Notes on a Scandal”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“The Queen”

Original Song
“I Need To Wake Up” (“An Inconvienent Truth”)
“Listen” (“Dreamgirls”)
“Love You I Do” (“Dreamgirls”)
“Patience” (“Dreamgirls”)
“Our Town” (“Cars”)