Oscars 2010: 'Avatar' vs 'Hurt Locker'

And we're off to the races. Nine nominations for both "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" spells a show-down between directors and friendly exes James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, but what it really means is that Bigelow finally has the respect she has long deserved and that her film will get the broad audience it deserves. Good for Quentin Tarantino, too, with eight nominations for "Inglourious Basterds."

Surprises? Clint Eastwood got skunked: "Invictus" got two nods for actor (Morgan Freeman) and supporting actor (Matt Damon) but no best picture, director, or adapted screenplay. "Nine" got four (supporting actress Penelope Cruz, art direction, costumes, original song), which is four more than it should have gotten. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" wasn't nominated for "Visual Effects" while the much cheaper "District 9" was -- ha. No one has any idea what the fifth nominated animated feature, "The Secret of Kells," even is. And Stanley Tucci was nominated for the wrong supporting performance. Trust me, Academy, you mean "Julie & Julia," not "The Lovely Bones."

As for the much-debated best picture field, the experiment to blow the nominations out to ten seems to have been a success: We've got big-budget popcorn ("Avatar"), populist popcorn ("The Blind Side"), art-house popcorn ("District 9," "Inglourious Basterds," "Up in the Air"), art-house art-house ("An Education," "A Serious Man"), Pixar ("Up"), and the sort of tough little indies that normally would have been relegated to the screenplay category ("The Hurt Locker," "Precious"). Which five would have been left out if there were only five best picture nominees? You could make an argument for "Avatar" (too popcorn), "District 9" (too violent), "The Hurt Locker" (too small), "Inglourious Basterds" (come on, it's Tarantino), "Precious" (too small), "A Serious Man" (too dark), or "Up" (animated). In other words, good job, Academy — this year everyone wins except Clint Eastwood.

For a complete list of the nominees along with photos, Globe reviews, and more, check out Boston.com's complete coverage the 82d Oscars.

Best Picture

 "Avatar"

"The Blind Side"

 "District 9"

"An Education"

 "The Hurt Locker"

 "Inglourious Basterds"

 "Precious"

"A Serious Man"

 "Up in the Air"

"Up"

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"

James Cameron, "Avatar"

Lee Daniels, "Precious"

Jason Reitman, "Up in the Air"

Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"

 

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side"

Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"

Carey Mulligan, "An Education"

Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia"

 

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"

George Clooney, "Up in the Air"

Colin Firth, "A Single Man"

Morgan Freeman, "Invictus"

Jeremy Renner, "The Hurt Locker"

 

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, "Nine"

Vera Farmiga, "Up in the Air"

Maggie Gyllenhaal, "Crazy Heart"

Anna Kendrick, "Up in the Air"

Mo'Nique, "Precious"

 

Best Supporting Actor

Matt Damon, "Invictus"

Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"

Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"

Stanley Tucci, "The Lovely Bones"

Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"

 

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boal, "The Hurt Locker"

Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"

Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"

Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, "A Serious Man"

Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, "Up"

 

Best Adapted Screenplay

Neil Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, "District 9"

Nick Hornby, "An Education"

Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, and Tony Roche, "In the Loop"

Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious"

Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, "Up in the Air"

Best Animated Feature

"Coraline"

"Fantastic Mr. Fox"

"The Princess and the Frog"

"The Secret of Kells"

"Up"

 

Best Foreign Language Film

"Ajami" (Israel)

"The Milk of Sorrow" (Peru)

"Un Prophete (A Prophet)" (France)

"El Secreto de Sus Ojos (The Secret in their Eyes)" (Argentina)

"The White Ribbon (Germany)

 

Best Feature Documentary

"Burma VJ"

"The Cove"

"Food, Inc."

"The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers"

"Which Way Home"

 

Best Art Direction

"Avatar"

"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"

"Nine"

"Sherlock Holmes"

"The Young Victoria"

 

Best Cinematography

"Avatar"

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

"The Hurt Locker"

"Inglourious Basterds"

"The White Ribbon"

 

Best Costume Design

"Bright Star"

"Coco Avant Chanel"

"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"

"Nine"

"The Young Victoria"

 

Best Editing

"Avatar"

"District 9"

"The Hurt Locker"

"Inglourious Basterds"

"Precious"

 

Best Make-Up

"Il Divo"

"Star Trek"

"The Young Victoria"

 

Best Visual Effects

"Avatar"

"District 9"

"Star Trek"

 

Best Original Score

"Avatar"

"Fantastic Mr. Fox"

"The Hurt Locker"

"Sherlock Hollmes"

"Up"

 

Best Song

"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog"

"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog"

"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36"

"Take It All" from "Nine"

"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart"

Sound Mixing

"Avatar"

"Hurt Locker"

"Inglourious Basterds"

"Star Trek"

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"

 

Sound Editing

"Avatar"

"Hurt Locker"

"Inglourious Basterds"

"Star Trek"

"Up"

Documentary Short

"China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province"

"The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner"

"The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant"

"Music by Prudence"

"Rabbit a la Berlin"

Animated Short

"French Roast"

"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty"

"The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)"

"Logorama"

"A Matter of Loaf and Death"

Live Action Short

"The Door"

"Instead of Abracadabra"

"Kavi"

"Miracle Fish"

"The New Tenants"