Oscar nods show some surprises

Oscar nominations are out, and there aren’t too many surprises. Fans of the Spokane International Film Festival - some of them anyway - should be pleased to know that they’ve already seen one of the Best Foreign Language nominees, “Ajami,” which screened Sunday night.

Overall, the two films that have been trading honors back and forth all awards season - “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” - lead the nominess with nine each.

But eight nominations for Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”? Including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Isn’t it time to recognize that Tarantino can direct scenes, he can write dialogue, but - at least with this film and his epic “Kill Bill” - he can’t write a complete picture that holds together beginning to end?

This year, of course, is the year that the Motion Picture Academy has upped its Best Picture category to 10, which makes the New York Times’ surprise over the cheesy sports film “The Blind Side” getting a Best Picture nod a bit surprising in itself. If there were just five nominees, it would be a surprise.

It is a bit of a surprise that “Blind Side” received the nomination and Clint Eastwood’s “Invictus” did not. Other than acting nominations for Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon, Eastwood’s film received nothing. Then again it’s probably time that Hollywood thank Sandra Bullock, who does successfully make an impact in the film without pulling all the attention from the central figure: the homeless-kid-turned-NFL-player Michael Oher.

One thing that doesn’t make sense to me is “Up” being nominated both for Best Motion Picture and Best Aminated Picture. Shouldn’t it have been one or the other? This is a perfect scenario for it falling victim to a split vote, giving the animated win to something such as “Fantastic Mr. Fox.”

That wouldn’t bother me too much as I liked Wes Anderson’s “Fox” film. But “Up” should win something.

Below : The Oscar nominations (pardon the ad).