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This year they decided that as there were just so many great films, there would be 10 best picture nominations instead of 5. When you discover that one of those 10 choices is Sandra Bullock’s much maligned The Blind Side, it seems like a bizarre decision.

Apparently the reason was more to do with them being concerned that if there had only been 5 nominations they would have all been slightly obscure ‘art house’ films. I’m not quite sure about the Academy’s definition of ‘Art House’ is, any film that didn’t cost over $50 million to make!?

In terms of the number of nominations any one film has received, Avatar predictably leads the pack with 9 nominations but is equalled by the brilliant The Hurt Locker. Certainly Avatar did not deserve to be completely ignored, I would have awarded it the visual effects Oscar, but despite being entertaining it hardly deserves to be showered with awards. The same could be said of James Cameron’s last film as well though.

There are a few surprises and few more predictable choices in the acting departments as well. Morgan Freeman is nominated for his role as Nelson Mandela in Invictus, which let’s be frank, was probably already decided before any of the jury had actually seen the film. Not that I’m criticising his performance, but it is just one of those roles that no matter how he had acted they would have nominated him anyway.

Carey Mulligan has really been the breakout star this year and is nominated for her role in An Education. I’m a big fan and personally hope she wins but have a feeling that they might go for the safer option of Meryl Streep.

Really overall these nominations confirm a few things we already knew, the Oscars are more concerned with status, money and political correctness than they are concerned with quality. Regardless, we still love ‘em and they do occasionally get it right.

Here are the nominations for the main categories:

BEST PICTURE
“An Education”
“Avatar”
“The Blind Side”
“District 9″
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Precious”
“A Serious Man”
“Up”
“Up in the Air”

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney for “Up in the Air”
Colin Firth for “A Single Man”
Morgan Freeman for “Invictus”
Jeremy Renner for “The Hurt Locker”

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Sandra Bullock for “The Blind Side”
Helen Mirren for “The Last Station”
Carey Mulligan for “An Education”
Gabourey Sidibe for “Precious”
Meryl Streep for “Julie & Julia”

DIRECTING
Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker”
James Cameron for “Avatar”
Lee Daniels for “Precious”
Jason Reitman for “Up in the Air”
Quentin Tarantino for “Inglourious Basterds”

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Matt Damon for “Invictus”
Woody Harrelson for “The Messenger”
Christopher Plummer for “The Last Station”
Stanley Tucci for “The Lovely Bones”
Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds”

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Penelope Cruz for “Nine”
Vera Farmiga for “Up in the Air”
Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
Anna Kendrick for “Up in the Air”
Mo’Nique for “Precious”

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Ajami”
“El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
“The Milk of Sorrow”
“A Prophet”
“The White Ribbon”

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Coraline”
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
“The Princess and the Frog”
“The Secret of Kells”
“Up”

Thomas W.’s Tips:
Best Picture – Avatar, outside bet The Hurt Locker
Best Actor – Jeff Bridges
Best Actress – Meryl Streep, outside bet Carey Mulligan
Supporting Actor – Stanley Tucci
Supporting Actress – Mo’Nique
Foreign Language – A Prophet
Animated Feature – Up

P.S These are who/what I think will win, in most cases not what I think should win.