This morning, the 82nd Academy Award nominations were announced. The big news this year is that there are now 10--count 'em 10--Best Picture nominations. I'm not sure what the thinking on this was. I could see, perhaps, expanding the number to six or seven, but they went hog wild and did 10.
Obviously, this helps the film industry, since there are now five more films than in previous years that can advertised they are "Best Picture Nominees!" It seems to be a bit unwieldy, though, to have that many films nominated. It will make the awards show that much longer.
Even with 10 films being nominated, my favorite film from last year did not get a nomination for best picture--Julie & Julia. Meryl Streep did get nominated for playing Julia Child, but has strong competition by Sandra Bullock, of all people, for The Blind Side. I haven't seen The Blind Side yet, but I must admit it looks good and Sandra looks like she did a great job in it. However, I think even if you asked Sandra Bullock who is a better actress, she'd have to give it to Meryl.
The only shoe-in among the nominations is Mo'Nique for Precious. I'd bet money on that one.
The big race now seems to be between ex-husband and wife James Cameron's Avatar and Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker. They each got nine nominations, including Best Picture nods. I haven't seen either film, but I just got The Hurt Locker on DVD from Netflix, so I should have an opinion shortly.
Of the 10 films nominated for Best Picture -- Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air-- I have only seen three of the films--District 9, Up and Up in the Air. I hope to see more before the awards are presented, but of the three I've seen, I'd vote for Up.
