And the award for Best Actress in What Should Have Been Classified as a Leading Role goes to...

No one was kidding about Dreamgirls. It has pizazz, an in-freaking-credible soundtrack, and an amazing ensemble cast. You would think that a show like this would be hard to steal, but Jennifer Hudson did so with the ease and confidence of an experienced screen star. There are no flaws to be found in her work, and very few in the movie at all. I really am not sure why she is classified as a Best Supporting Actress instead of Best Actress. Her screen time was definitely equivalent (if not greater, which would not surprise me) to Beyonce's, and the quality of her work and vocals was indisputably higher. Don't get me wrong, Beyonce was very, very good, but the only thing keeping her in the potential Best Actress in a Leading Role category is her previously existing star power. Jennifer Hudson's performance was on par with any group of Leading Role hopefuls ever to grace the red carpet.

Also, I would like to point out that there is nothing at all besides her lack of previous work (a crappy reason) that is keeping Jennifer Hudson out of the nominations category she belongs in. From Rules 6.3 and 6.4 of the official Academy Awards rules:

3. A performance by an actor or actress in any role shall be eligible for nomination either for the leading role or supporting role categories. If, however, all the dialogue has been dubbed by another actor, the performance shall not be eligible for award consideration. Singing that is dubbed will not affect the performer’s eligibility unless it constitutes the entire performance. The determination as to whether a role is a leading or supporting role shall be made individually by members of the branch at the time of balloting.

4. The leading role and supporting role categories will be tabulated simultaneously. If any performance should receive votes in both categories, the achievement shall only be placed on the ballot in that category in which, during the tabulation process, it first receives the required number of votes to be nominated. In the event that the performance receives the numbers of votes required to be nominated in both categories simultaneously, the achievement shall only be placed on the ballot in that category in which it receives the greater percentage of the total votes.

Read: It could happen. Salma Hayek, please tell me tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. that Jennifer Hudson is in the Leading Role category. Much obliged.

Dreamgirls could give The Departed a run for its money for Best Picture. Musicals haven't done well in the past two years with Ray and Walk the Line, but neither of those were on par with Dreamgirls (Chicago was, and look what happened, Richie :D ). I don't know if I want it to win, though. The Departed was amazing. It won me back over to Scorsese after the painful ordeal that is Goodfellas (yeah, I said it.) and back over to Leo after losing faith in The Film to See During My Middle School Life, Titanic.

On a not-s0-Oscar-related-note, the Dreamgirls soundtrack is incredible. I definitely iTunes-ed the disco version of "One Night Only" about 12 hours after seeing the movie.
Also, Karen (the beloved roomie) returned from Texas and Europe over break with the Chicago soundtrack. It was immediately uploaded and has been the sole occupant of my headphones since, with the exception of an occasional playing of my current love, Weezer's "Island in the Sun." All of that listening got me to thinking that if I were ever to make a "10 Best" list of top scenes in movies ever, I'm pretty sure that the "They Both Reached For The Gun" scene from Chicago would be it. Richard Gere and the press as puppets is just plain hard to beat. I love that movie's sense of humor.