The Nominations Are In For The 82nd Academy Awards

Early this morning Hollywood woke America up (or so the hoped) to announce the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards. There were little to few surprises this year, I myself think that's because there were little to few good movies to choose from. The one major difference this year was the addition to the Best Picture category, there are ten nominations in that one category.

Here is the breakdown of nominations by film: Avatar 9, The Hurt Locker 9, Inglourious Basterds 8, Precious 6, Up in the Air 6, Up 5, District 9 4, Nine 4, Star Trek 4, Crazy Heart 3, An Education 3, The Princess and the Frog 3, The Young Victoria 3, The Blind Side 2, Fantastic Mr. Fox 2, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 2, Invictus 2, The Last Station 2, The Messenger 2, A Serious Man 2, Sherlock Holmes 2, The White Ribbon 2.

Some of the nominations seem like a shoe in while others are making a race out of it. Meryl Streep's nomination for Julie & Julia is her 16th, further distancing herself from Katharine Hepburn, who has 12 and Jack Nicholson, who also has 12. Though Hepburn won 4 Best Actress Oscars and Nicholson 2 Best Actor Academy Awards as well as 1 Best Supporting Actor, Streep has just 1 Best Actress Oscar and 1 Best Supporting Actress. Streep was one of the nominated stars whose victory was thought to be a sure thing until the late resurgance of Sandra Bullock in The Blinde Side.

Best Motion Picture
Avatar James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers (20th Century Fox)
The Blind Side Nominees to be determined (Warner Bros.)
District 9 Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers (Sony Pictures Releasing)
An Education Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Hurt Locker Nominees to be determined (Summit Entertainment)
Inglourious Basterds Lawrence Bender, Producer (The Weinstein Company)
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
A Serious Man Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers (Focus Features)
Up Jonas Rivera, Producer (Walt Disney)
Up in the Air Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

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

Actor In A Lead Role
Jeff Bridges: Crazy Heart
George Clooney: Up in the Air
Colin Firth: A Single Man
Morgan Freeman: Invictus
Jeremy Renner: The Hurt Locker

Actress In A Lead Role
Sandra Bullock: The Blind Side
Helen Mirren: The Last Station
Carey Mulligan: An Education
Gabourey Sidibe: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Meryl Streep: Julie & Julia

Actor In A Supporting Role
Matt Damon: Invictus
Woody Harrelson: The Messenger
Christopher Plummer: The Last Station
Stanley Tucci: The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz: Inglourious Basterds

Actress In A Supporting Role
Penélope Cruz: Nine
Vera Farmiga: Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal: Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick: Up in the Air
Mo’Nique: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

Animated Motion Picture
Coraline Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox Wes Anderson
The Princess and the Frog John Musker and Ron Clements
The Secret of Kells Tomm Moore
Up Pete Docter

Many of these motion pictures were very good to watch and some others were like a visit to the dentist, Deserving or not some one will walk away a winner of an Academy Award. My list (guesses) of winners will be posted on Febuary 10th.