For the first time in a long while, all five Best Picture nominees received corresponding Best Director nods -- not that that will have any effect on the outcome, which we've seen coming from miles away. Brokeback Mountain's Ang Lee already nabbed the DGA Award and the Golden Globe, and he also has that "career reward" thing going for him as well, seeing as he's already directed two other Best Picture nominees, Sense & Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. His competition consists of three newbies who were all acclaimed but not worshipped this year, and one old vet (who's a two-time winner, no less) who hasn't stepped out to do much publicity for his movie, so you do the math. Of course, it must be noted that Lee won the DGA back in 2000 for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and didn't go on to win the Oscar (Steven Soderbergh did that year, for Traffic), but we don't think the Academy will pull a trick like that this year.

To suss out the other contenders, George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck) has a long shot, but most likely he'll get recognized (if he does) for Syriana. Paul Haggis (Crash) will get his reward via the Original Screenplay Oscar, and the nomination for Bennett Miller (Capote) is more of a welcome-to-the-party greeting card as opposed to a you're-the-guest-of-honor invitation. As for poor Steven Spielberg, who's gotten beaten up one side and down the other for Munich (for either its politics or its quality), we don't think his nomination is some kind of knee-jerk, oh-it's-Spielberg-we-have-to-nominate-him reaction, but an acknowledgement that, after movies like The Terminal and War of the Worlds, he's still a pretty darn good filmmaker -- and a tacit reminder that he should be making better movies and less popcorn claptrap.

True, we'd have loved to see David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Fernando Meirelles (The Constant Gardener) or Woody Allen (Match Point) in this category. Not that they would have had a chance, but it would've been nice!

Our pick: Hulk notwithstanding, it's time to honor the relentlessly superb Ang Lee for Brokeback.