2. 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."
wow! I completely thought "Half Nelsom" would go un-noticed. I'm amazed the Academy gave Ryan Gosling a nomination. If you guys haven't seen this film, do try to see it on dvd. It is amazing!! Ryan is amazing in it. One of 2006's standout in my opininon.
As far as Boycotting, I can't say I will, since I was not a fan in the first place. I never watched until last year, and have not much investments in any of the films this year to care about the awards. I do think the nominations does more for films than the winnings, which is good and bad depending on the film. You have to admit, the award nomination got a lot more people to go see Brokeback than otherwise. Even the lose got more people curious about seeing it.
btw, another Oscar trend is to award people for body of work rather for the work that's actually up for nomination, in particular if they haven't won before. Hoffman's Capote is the most recent example. I'm not saying Hoffman's performance wasn't good, it just wasn't the best. Any how, that trend may go in favor of Scorsese over Clint.