2001 was not a great year for movies (well, major movies). Of the nominees, Moulin Rouge is probably the oddest choice. It was a great looking movie, but not a great movie. The most glaring omission is the excellent Mememto. Other possible choices include Ghost World, The Royal Tenenbaums, Mulholland Drive, or maybe even Black Hawk Down or The Deep End.
Haro and Mongoose: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Russell Crowe - A Beautiful Mind

Sean Penn - I Am Sam

Will Smith - Ali

Tom Wilkinson - In the Bedroom

Washington is a great actor, and did show variety and depth with his role in Training Day, but it just isn't Academy material. All of the other actors are equally deserving, so it's hard to pick one. Some other possibilities that deserved mention are Steve Buscemi in Ghost World, Billy Bob Thornton for The Man Who Wasn't There (over Monster's Ball), Jim Broadbent for Iris, Brian Cox in L.I.E., and possibly Kevin Kline for Life as a House and John Cameron Mitchell from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Haro: Russell Crowe
Mongoose: Will Smith

Judi Dench - Iris

Nicole Kidman - Moulin Rouge

Sissy Spacek - In the Bedroom

Renee Zellweger - Bridget Jones's Diary

Zellweger is clearly outperformed by the others, and Kidman should have received a nomination for The Others rather than Moulin Rouge. The real winners are the actresses with the most experience. Other possibilities should have included Tilda Swinton for The Deep End, Julia Blake for Innocence, both Naomi Watts and Laura Elena Herring for Mulholland Drive, Maggie Cheung for In the Mood for Love (if it qualifies), or possibly Scarlett Johansson for An American Rhapsody, or Susan Lynch for Nora.
Haro: Judi Dench
Mongoose: Sissy Spacek

Ethan Hawke - Training Day

Ben Kingsley - Sexy Beast

Ian McKellan - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Jon Voight - Ali

Voight is a great actor, but not for this role. Hawke is not that great of an actor, but good, and should not be here. Other good choices are Bob Hoskins for Last Orders, Viggo Mortensen for Fellowship of the Ring, and maybe Eric Bana for Black Hawk Down.
Haro: Ben Kingsley
Mongoose: Ian McKellan

Helen Mirren - Gosford Park

Maggie Smith - Gosford Park

Marisa Tomei - In the Bedroom

Kate Winslet - Iris

This is the most competitive category this year. Every single actress here is worthy of the award. In fact, Mirren's other role in Last Orders is also worthy of a nomination. The Academy nailed this category, and it's hard to pick a clear winner.
Haro: Jennifer Connelly
Mongoose: Helen Mirren

Ridley Scott - Black Hawk Down

Robert Altman - Gosford Park

Peter Jackson - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

David Lynch - Mulholland Drive

Lynch, Altman, and Scott are all great directors, but they have done much better in the past. For Altman, he has done great work for years. Getting the award would be good, but he deserves it more for his other work. No one deserves it more than Jackson, who can be described as obsessed in his desire to bring Tolkien's work to the screen. The result was a great movie of epic proportions. Other good nominees could have been Christopher Nolan for Memento, Terry Zwigoff for Ghost World, Alejandro Amenabar for The Others, and possibly Richard Kelly for Donnie Darko, Chris Columbus for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, David Siegel and Scott McGehee for The Deep End, or Todd Field for In the Bedroom.
Haro and Mongoose: Peter Jackson

What a bad year for animated films. Especially traditionally animated ones. Each nominee here is highly computer animated. But hello? Jimmy Neutron? Please. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was a better choice. Waking Life is also a deserving film.
Haro: Shrek
Mongoose: Monsters, Inc.

Memento is by far the best choice in this group, although it made it to this category (it's based on a short story) because of a technicality. It's also nice seeing The Royal Tenenbaums recognized, especially since comedies are seldom given their recognition. Other good missed choices are Mulholland Drive, Donnie Darko, and possibly The Others.
Haro and Mongoose: Memento

A Beautiful Mind is a good movie, but diverges so far from its source material that it should not be nominated. If not for The Fellowship of the Ring, this category would go to Ghost World. Other potential choices are Haiku Tunnel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Iris.
Haro and Mongoose: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

A.I. Artificial Intelligence - John Williams

A Beautiful Mind - James Horner

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - John Williams

Monsters, Inc.- Randy Newman

Go John Williams! Nominated twice for two very different, very good scores. Horner is great, but the music in A Beautiful Mind didn't really register. Same with Monster's Inc. Hans Zimmer for Black Hawk Down or Pearl Harbor, would be a better choice, or The Man Who Wasn't There by Carter Burwell, Amelie, by Yann Tiersen, Angelo Badalmenti for Mulholland Drive, or Paul Grabowsky for Last Orders.
Haro: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Mongoose: The Fellowship of the Ring

Kate and Leopold - Sting - Until

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Enya - May It Be

Pearl Harbor - There You'll Be - Faith Hill

Vanilla Sky - Paul McCartney - Vanilla Sky

There is not much quality to choose from this year. Sting, Newman, and McCartney all gave mediocre, unremarkable performances, and no others songs from other movies stick out. Faith Hill had the most exposure, but Enya is the most deserving.
Haro and Mongoose - The Fellowship of the Ring

Amelie - France

Elling - Norway

Lagaan - India

Son of the Bride - Argentina

The problem with this category is that often, the films recieve distribution after the Academy Awards. This time, the general public has yet to even hear of three of the five films. Another issue is that foreign films that people think are eligible may not be. With that in mind, films deserved nomination (if eligible) included The Road Home, The Day I Became a Woman, The Dish, Kandahar, In the Mood for Love, and possibly The Devil's Backbone.

Children Underground

Lalee's Kin: The Legacy of Cotton

Promises

War Photographer

If ever there was a category less accessible than Best Foreign Film, this is it. Documentaries are hard enough to come by in general, and nominated ones usually make the rounds well after the Oscars, sometimes on cable instead of the big screen. Moreover, popular documentaries that seem like potential nominess are usually shunned. Go Tigers! was a good documentary, but who's to say how it compares to the nominees.