Oscar nominees

[Dr Mordrid]

Best Picture:

Avatar (of course)
The Blind Side (true story of a family that takes in a poor kid who blossoms into an NFL star)
District 9 (yeah!! thank you Peter Jackson! - also up for effects, adapted screenplay and editing)
An Education (yet another teen coming of age flick)
The Hurt Locker (bomb disposers in Iraq)
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino's comedic war flick)
Precious (poor teen finds her way to being a swan)
A Serious Man (Coen Brothers black comedy)
Up (Disney's major effort this year, also up for best animation)
Up in the Air (yet another George Clooney Oscar vehicle)

Best Director:

"Avatar" James Cameron
"The Hurt Locker" Kathryn Bigelow (Cameron's ex-wife )
"Inglourious Basterds" Quentin Tarantino
"Precious" Lee Daniels
"Up in the Air" Jason Reitman

Best Actor:

Jeff Bridges "Crazy Heart"
George Clooney "Up in the Air"
Colin Firth "A Single Man"
Morgan Freeman "Invictus"
Jeremy Renner "The Hurt Locker"

Supporting Actor:

Matt Damon "Invictus"
Woody Harrelson "The Messenger"
Christopher Plummer "The Last Station"
Stanley Tucci "The Lovely Bones"
Christoph Waltz "Inglourious Basterds"

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock "The Blind Side"
Helen Mirren "The Last Station"
Carey Mulligan "An Education"
Gabourey Sidibe "Precious"
Meryl Streep "Julie & Julia"

Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz "Nine"
Vera Farmiga "Up in the Air"
Maggie Gyllenhaal "Crazy Heart"
Anna Kendrick "Up in the Air"
Mo'Nique "Precious"

Best Animation

"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Up"

[Mehen]

10 nominees and they missed the best movie. Drag Me to Hell

[Elie]

Where's Star Trek here? And who comes up with the nominees anyways?

[Dr Mordrid]

The members of AMPAS, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, choose the nominees and vote on the awards; actors for actors, directors for directors etc. For best picture it's the entire membership voting. There are about 6,000 members and actors are the largest voting bloc.

Obviously Star Trek didn't make the cut, probably losing out to District 9 since the others were pretty much a lock for nominations.

Star Trek did get 4 tech nominations: Makeup, Achievement in Sound, Sound Editing and Visual Effects.

[Elie]

Thanks Doc, at least it's mentioned.

[Brian Ellis]

Boof! More important things to consider than Hollywood-style (etc.) entertainment and obscene cash spent so that brainless (some) "stars" can parade their lack of talent. Same applies to other similar ceremonies.

Bah! Humbug!