2010 Oscars (Academy Award) Nominations
Avatar, James Cameron and Jon Landau.
With Earth an ecological disaster, a corporation sets its sights on the distant planet Pandora, which possesses a mineral that can be used as a valuable energy source. To overcome the resistance of the planet’s indigenous population, the Na’vi, former Marine Jake Sully is sent to infiltrate the society as a part-human, part-Na’vi avatar who can operate on Pandora while Jake himself remains in a twilight sleep.
The Blind Side, Gil Netter, Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson.
African-American teenager Michael Oher has been in and out of the foster care system throughout his difficult childhood. When suburban mom Leigh Anne Tuohy, whose children are Michael’s schoolmates, discovers him living on the streets, he gains a home with the Tuohy family and receives the stability and encouragement he needs to develop his talents as a football player.
District 9, Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham.
The arrival of an enormous disabled spaceship over Johannesburg, South Africa, has led to the establishment of a refugee camp on the city’s outskirts for the ship’s starving, stranded aliens. Leading an attempt to relocate its inhabitants to a more remote location is security expert Wikus van de Merwe, whose lack of knowledge about the visitors will undergo a dramatic change when he becomes infected with an alien substance.
An Education, Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey
When Jenny, a 16-year-old English schoolgirl, finds herself the object of a calculated seduction by a charming older man, she is by turns wary, flattered, and disarmed by his interest. As their relationship develops, Jenny is drawn deeper into a sophisticated world of wealth and style that may be too good to be true.
The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro
As the war in Iraq continues, Staff Sgt. William James carries out one of the most dangerous of all military assignments: bomb defusing. While James thrives on the job’s risks, the head of his support team, Sgt. JT Sanborn, becomes increasingly worried by what he feels is a growing recklessness in James’s behavior.
Inglourious Basterds, Lawrence Bender.
Shosanna, a resourceful young movie theater owner fighting to stay one step ahead of the Nazis in occupied France, plots her revenge on the man responsible for her family’s death, the flamboyant Col. Hans Landa. Her plan soon draws the attention of Lt. Aldo Raine, who leads a group of Jewish soldiers known as the Basterds in a savage campaign behind enemy lines.
Precious, Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness.
Sixteen-year-old Precious Jones is overweight, nearly illiterate, and the victim of horrific physical and verbal abuse at the hands of her mother and father. Facing a seemingly hopeless future, Precious transfers to a new school, where a dedicated teacher and fellow classmates offer the unhappy young girl a chance for a new life.
A Serious Man, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen.
In a series of escalating personal catastrophes, physics professor Larry Gopnik finds himself facing an unfaithful wife, ungrateful children, a troubled brother-in-law and poison pen letters at work. But Gopnik is a fundamentally decent man, and he tries, with increasing despair, to respond rationally and fairly to trials befitting a modern-day Job.
Up, Jonas Rivera.
Carl Fredricksen, a gruff, lonely old man, thwarts an attempt to force him out of his home by launching it into the air with hundreds of helium balloons. As he sets his sights on South America, however, Carl discovers he has an inadvertent stowaway: a Boy Scout named Russell who was trapped on his front porch.
Up in the Air, Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman.
Ryan Bingham is a corporate downsizer who spends his days in hotels, airports, and airplanes as he travels around the country laying off other companies’ workers with polished finesse. His pursuit of a life without emotional connections is called into question, however, by his interactions with two women, one a sophisticated fellow traveler and the other an inexperienced young colleague.
