2010 Oscar Nominations

It’s Oscar nomination day, and a few rush lists are making their way online (like this one from The Guardian).

Be sure to check out the full list and let us know your choices for some of the categories. For now, here are some highlights from the nominations list as well as some opinions on who might take home the statue.

Best Picture

• Avatar (James Cameron – director; Brooke Breton , Laeta Kalogridis, Jon Landau, Josh McLaglen, Janace Tashjian, Peter M Tobyansen, Colin Wilson – producers)
• District 9 (Neill Blomkamp – director, Bill Block, Philippa Boyens, Carolynne Cunningham, Elliot Ferwerda, Paul Hanson, Peter Jackson, Ken Kamins, Michael S Murphey – producers)
• An Education (Lone Scherfig)
• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
• Inglorious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• Precious (Lee Daniels)
• A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
• The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock)
• Up

As promised, the Academy increased the number of movies this year, and a few of those names are a little surprising. Up is the first movie to break the animation barrier since Beauty and the Beast 19 years ago. The Blind Side has been a smash success, although reviews have been positive yet mixed. And District 9 looks quite pedestrian next to front runner Avatar, though it has a far better story.

Director

• Avatar (James Cameron)
• The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow)
• Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
• Up in the Air (Jason Reitman)
• Precious (Lee Daniels)

Personally, I’d assume this one might be another obvious one. Cameron’s time and effort in the visuals of his film will probably rule the day here.

Animated Feature Film

• Up (Pete Docter and Bob Peterson)
• The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements and John Musker)
• Coraline (Henry Selick)
• Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson)
• The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

It’s been an amazing year for animation, so good that Ghibli’s Ponyo wasn’t even nominated. While Up is the most likely to win in this category, there are a lot to choose from, with Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox both strong contenders. On the other hand, The Secret of Kells was something of a surprise nomination.

Actress in a Leading Role

• Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia
• Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren in The Last Station
• Gabourey Sidibe in Precious
• Carey Mulligan in An Education

Actor in a Leading Role

• Morgan Freeman in Invictus
• Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart
• George Clooney in Up in the Air
• Colin Firth in A Single Man
• Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker

The only thing I have to say here is that Sanda Bullock might be the first person in over 20 years to get a nomination for both Best Actress in the Oscars and Worst Actress in the Razzies. That’s no small feat.

I’m sure we’ll have more in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

UPDATE: Here’s a few reactions from around the web:

- Jeffery Overstreet thinks a robbery took place.

- Io9 thinks there were a few snubs, two of which involve Coraline….and

- Like USA Today (and a lot of other places), they wonder how The Secret of Kells trumped some bigger-named movies.

- Variety saw the need to mention that GI Joe didn’t get a nomination.

- The New Yorker echoes some trivia via Roger Ebert on best picture nominations.