Oscar nominees releasedMultiple nominations include:
9 noms for Avatar and The Hurt Locker
8 for Inglourious Basterds
6 for Precious and Up in the Air
5 for Up
4 for District 9, Nine, and Star Trek
Some highlights:
Up was one nomination shy of tying Beauty and the Beast for most nominations for an animated film, although Up did it in 5 distinct categories while B&B did it in 4, making Up more prolific.
Up is also the second animated film and first CGI film to be nominated for Best Picture.
Up and Avatar are the first films released in 3D to be nominated for Best Picture.
Avatar and District 9 are one of a few science fiction films to be nominated for Best Picture, although I and many others feel that Avatar is much less sci-fi driven as D9 is.
None of the Golden Globe nominees for Best Picture - Comedy/Musical made it to the Oscars' Best Picture category.
No comedy actors got in, whilst only one comedy actress got into Best Actress: Meryl Streep.
Clint Eastwood got bumped from Best Director for Lee Daniels for Precious.
Original Screenplay will be interesting, with Globe-winner Up in the Air over in the Adapted category: Coen Bros vs. Tarantino vs. Pixar.
Randy Newman busted into the Oscars again.
Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs got bumped for The Secret of Kells, an Irish-Belgian-French film I've never heard of.
Overall, I'm quite happy with nominations. Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus got some nods in the design categories, which are much deserved. District 9 got some love despite it being a South African sci-fi flick about apartheid. And Pixar finally got the respect it deserved. Up deserves the nod, don't get me wrong, but this is obviously a make-up nomination for not giving a look to WALL-E last year.