OSCARS: AND THE NOMINEES ARE...

So Oscar nominations came out today, and it's been a pretty good year for movies so this should be an interesting award race.

BEST PICTURE:
The Hurt Locker, An Education, Precious, Inglourious Basterds, A Serious Man, Up, District 9, The Blind Side, Up In The Air, Avatar

So the Academy went back to 10 Nominations this year (they used to in the early days) and I have no problem with that. In my opinion you could take nearly any combination of 5 from this list and beat last years 5. That said, Hurt Locker has already won the Producers and Directors Guild awards so that would make it the odds on favorite (that and it's incredible!), but Avatar could still swoop in to crush our collective spirit.

BEST DIRECTOR:
*“Avatar” James Cameron *“The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow *“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino *“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels *“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

People are seeing this as the Ex-wife vs. Ex-Husband battle between James Cameron and Katheryn Bigelow, and they are probably right. However, it would be great to see Tarantino win it because "Basterds" is his careers absolute masterstroke.

BEST ACTOR:
* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” * George Clooney in “Up in the Air” * Colin Firth in “A Single Man” * Morgan Freeman in “Invictus” * Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

The best acting categories are going to be tight this year. Jeff Bridges will most likely take it for the "hey, you haven't won yet" vote (not that he is undeserved). But I feel if any performance was better than Bridges, it would be Renner in Hurt Locker. Don't count out George Clooney, who could surprise everyone after his great run in "Up In The Air"

BEST ACTRESS:
* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” * Helen Mirren in “The Last Station” * Carey Mulligan in “An Education” * Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” * Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

The Oscars love to award the surprise newcomer (see Jennifer Hudson, Marlie Matlin, et all) so Sidibe is a strong contender. That said, Bullock is getting a lot of attention after winning the Golden Globe and Meryl Streep just plain wins Oscars.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
* Matt Damon in “Invictus” * Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger” * Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station” * Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones” * Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

This may be the only dead-on lock of the major categories. I really can't see anyone beating Waltz. He is this years Javier Bardem.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: * Penélope Cruz in “Nine” * Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” * Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart” * Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air” *Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Would like to see either of the Women from "Up In The Air" take it, but it is very likely that Mo'Nique would fall into the same "newcomer" category as her co-star. However, if she does win, I would possibly look for someone else to walk away with Best Actress.

Thats all I'm going to handicap now, I will have a nearly-full preview just before the March 7th ceremony.

See the full list of Nominees here