The Oscar nominations were announced today (Tuesday, February 2) and Avatar and The Hurt Locker leads the way. The winners will be announced on March 7 on ABC and CTV.

Best Picture (starting this year, 10 nominees): Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, A Serious Man, Up, Up in the Air.

Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart; George Clooney, Up in the Air; Colin Firth, A Single Man; Morgan Freeman, Invictus; Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker.

Actress: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side; Helen Mirren, The Last Station; Carey Mulligan, An Education; Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia.

Supporting Actor: Matt Damon, Invictus; Woody Harrelson, The Messenger; Christopher Plummer, The Last Station; Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones; Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds.

Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, Nine; Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air; Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart; Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air; Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Directing: James Cameron, Avatar; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Lee Daniels, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire; Jason Reitman, Up in the Air.

Foreign Language Film: Ajami, Israel; El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina; The Milk of Sorrow, Peru; Un Prophete, France; The White Ribbon, Germany.

Adapted Screenplay: Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9; Nick Hornby, An Education; Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, “In the Loop”; Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire; Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air.

Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man; Bob Peteson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy, Up.

Animated Feature Film: Coraline; Fantastic Mr. Fox; The Princess and the Frog; The Secret of Kells; Up.

Art Direction: Avatar, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Nine, Sherlock Holmes, The Young Victoria.

Cinematography: Avatar, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, The White Ribbon.

Sound Mixing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Sound Editing: Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Star Trek, Up.

Original Score: Avatar, James Horner; Fantastic Mr. Fox, Alexandre Desplat; The Hurt Locker, Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders; Sherlock Holmes, Hans Zimmer; Up, Michael Giacchino.

Original Song: Almost There from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Down in New Orleans from The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman; Loin de Paname from Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner and Frank Thomas; Take It All from Nine, Maury Yeston; The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart, Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

Costume: Bright Star, Coco Before Chanel, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Nine, The Young Victoria.

Documentary Feature: Burma VJ, The Cove, Food, Inc. The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Which Way Home.

Documentary (short subject): 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.

Film Editing: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Makeup: Il Divo, Star Trek, The Young Victoria.

Animated Short Film: 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 Film: The Door, Instead of Abracadabra, Kavi, Miracle Fish, The New Tenants.

Visual Effects: Avatar, District 9, Star Trek.

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The Hurt Locker delivers a nail-biting war thriller, says Jim Vejovoda of IGN.com. Read on:

The Hurt Locker follows a U.S. Army bomb disposal squad in Iraq during the summer of 2004. Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner), Sergeant J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) of Bravo Company are tasked with disarming and, if need be, detonating the countless homemade bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), that have killed many of their brothers-in-arms and thousands of Iraqis.

This tautly wound thriller, directed by Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, Near Dark) and scripted by journalist-screenwriter Mark Boal (In the Valley of Elah), takes an episodic, “you are there” approach to the material, embedding the viewer with this bomb disposal squad so that you feel every moment of panic and rush of adrenaline they feel. Hell, you can almost feel the beads of sweat forming on their brows. Bigelow and Boal treat war as a drug that James will never kick, and Renner offers one of the more subtly powerful performances seen this year. He finds the humor and right level of energy for his character with the same precision as James uncovers the right wires to cut. James’ adrenaline addiction is not unlike that of the literary James Bond, who’d rather die in action than be bored to death leading an average life.

Mackie’s Sgt. Sanborn makes a great foil for James; he is a level-headed, by-the-book veteran whose solid exterior masks his fears and doubts. Sanborn just wants to get his men home alive and James’ maverick manner is an ongoing threat to that objective. Geraghty is solid as Eldridge, the closest thing to an innocent in this story. These three actors make for a believable trinity of war movie archetypes, offering us glances into what makes these men tick even when the story sometimes doesn’t.

Not having served in Iraq, I can’t categorically state that The Hurt Locker is the most authentic, unbiased film yet about that war, but it certainly feels that way. But this movie isn’t about politics; it’s about survival. From the opening scene, you understand that no character is safe and that death can come at any moment. That terrifying uncertainty fuels all the drama in the story and helps make The Hurt Locker not only the best film made so far about the war in Iraq, but also one of the best thrillers of the year.

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