Who Won An Academy Award?

If you’re like most people, you are asking this question. And the reason is because you, like most people, did not watch the 79th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday night. There seemed to be a distinct lack of interest, as well as a lack of big movie nominations, which of course dissuaded many viewers from tuning in to catch the show. So now that it’s over and such a large portion of the audience stayed away, here’s your chance to catch up on some of this year’s winners.

The 2007 Oscars were all about "The Departed" as it landed four of its nods; Best Film Editing, Best Writing for an Adapted Screenplay, Martin Scorcese for Best Director, and certainly not least of all, Best Picture. The biggest surprise of the night was Alan Arkin stealing Best Supporting Actor for "Little Miss Sunshine" when Eddie Murphy had been sweeping through Awards season with a Golden Globe and SAG statuette for his performance in "Dreamgirls."

Other wins included Helen Mirren for "The Queen" for Best Actress, and Best Actor went to Forrest Whitaker for "The Last King of Scotland." Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth" won seriously deserved Oscar gold for Best Documentary Feature and Best Song ("I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge). Also, Guillermo Del Toro’s horrific fairytale "Pan’s Labyrinth" won Best Makeup and Best Cinematography.

The Academy is still not ready to acknowledge talent shown time and time again by popular actors Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. Pitt’s performance in "12 Monkeys" got him nominated back in 1996, and many say he’s been passed over unfairly receiving no nods for roles like "Fight Club" and "Se7en," while DiCaprio has been passed over even after being nominated in the past for "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?" and "The Aviator," and then there’s being the only one who wasn’t nominated for an Oscar for "Titanic." Apparently, their popularity is still working against them, as it did for actors like Paul Newman, whom the Academy waited decades to honor with an actual win.