For those who don’t feel like reading to the end of the “Balloon Dismissals” piece I just put up, my revised Best Picture of 2006 list in order of probable (i.e., perceived) Oscar strength is as follows: (1) Flags of Our Fathers (DreamWorks); (2) Babel (Paramount Vantage); (3) Dreamgirls (DreamWorks/Paramount); (4) The Pursuit of Happyness (Columbia Pictures); (5) World Trade Center (Paramount); (6) Stranger Than Fiction (Columbia); (7) The Good Shepherd (Universal Pictures) and (8) Blood Diamond (Warner Bros.).
Plus (9) The Fountain (Warner Bros.); (10) Little Miss Sunshine (Fox Searchlight); (11) United 93 (Universal); (12) Infamous (Warner Independent); (13) Reign O’er Me (Columbia); (14) Red Sun, Black Sand (DreamWorks); (15) Fur (Picturehouse); (16) The Holiday (Columbia); (15) Little Children (New Line); (17) The Good German (Steven Soderbergh); (18) Notes On a Scandal (Fox Searchlight ) and (19) maybe Stephen Frears’ The Queen (Miramax).