Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Ten best picture nods offer something for everyone

This year's expanded list of Oscar nominees makes room for both blockbusters and critical favorites, part of a new strategy to offer something for everybody.

This year's expanded list of Oscar nominees makes room for both blockbusters and critical favorites, part of a new strategy to offer something for everybody.

The best picture list has doubled to ten and includes the record shattering "Avatar," the animated smash "Up," and the crowd-pleasing "The Blind Side." It also accommodates the gritty Iraq war drama "The Hurt Locker," the sci-fi sleeper "District 9" and the Coen brothers curiosity "A Serious Man."

The academy also nominated the art house hit "Precious," which earned an Oscar nomination for director Lee Daniels. The Philadelphia native becomes the first African-American to be nominated in that category.

The list is longer and more generous that ever, and yet it still leaves room for head-scratching. We see that Maggie Gyllenhaal (supporting actress) and Jeff Bridges are nominated in acting categories for "Crazy Heart," and yet the movie (also nominated for best song) failed to score a picture nod.

The same is true for "Invictus," directed by perennial nominee Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman (best actor) and Matt Damon (supporting) got nods, but the picture itself went begging. "The Last Station" (opening here Friday) also earned two acting nods (for Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer), but came up short in best picture.

Support for Daniels' "Precious" looks strong - it won nominations for Mo'Nique (supporting), for Gabby Sidibe (best actress), for Daniels, for best picture, and for best adapted screenplay.

If you look at the best director's category, you get a good idea what would have been nominated under the old five-nominee system - "Precious," "Avatar" (James Cameron), "The Hurt Locker" (Kathryn Bigelow), "Inglourious Basterds" (Quentin Tarantino), and "Up in the Air" (Jason Reitman).

Bigelow is now one of just four women to be nominated in that category, and the first ex-wife to go up against her ex-husband (Cameron).

Some of the distortion in the best picture list appears to have been created by the nomination of "Up," also nominated as one of the five top animated movies of the year. "Up" is also up for original screenplay and score, and its general high regard among voters appears to leave little doubt as to how it will fare in best animated film category.

In the acting categories there are only mild surprises - Penélope Cruz for the flop musical "Nine," and maybe Woody Harrelson for "The Messenger," although that movie has decent awards-season buzz, and was also nominated for best original screenplay.

The morning's biggest surprise came in the best animated features group - an obscure Irish film called the "Secret of Kells" won a nod, alongside "Up," "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," "The Princess and the Frog," and "Coraline."