Avatar and The Hurt Locker lead the way with nine nods each. In the first year of the larger Best Picture field, we have an interesting group that includes the unsurprising (Avatar, Up In The Air, The Hurt Locker), the “only two of them would have made it in previous years” group (Inglourious Basterds, Precious, Up, The Blind Side, An Education, A Serious Man) and one you probably didn’t see coming (District 9).  I bet when Peter Jackson looked ahead at 2009 and his work on Lovely Bones and District 9, he never thought the latter would be the one that got him another Best Picture nomination.  But in fairness to Mr. Jackson, D-9 had a much more favorable Wahlberg ratio.

It looks like the predictions from two weeks ago are all on track. I’m going to go ahead and add Avatar for Best Picture and Bigelow for Best Director (DGA prize and 9 Oscar nods trumps no Globe) to round out my Academy Awards pool now – Hollywood PR campaigns and “late surges” be damned.