And the award goes to ...

This Sunday, March 7, will bring together the who’s-who of Hollywood elite hoping to take home a tiny golden man.
There were many films last year that stuck out among not only the viewing public but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Whether James Cameron was making “FernGully for grown-ups” in Avatar or Quentin Tarintino had Brad Pitt offing Nazis in Inglorious Basterds, people were definitely making the effort to make it out to the movies for date night.
The two films with the most nominations are the aforementioned science-fiction love story Avatar and the story of a bomb squad unit in Iraq, The Hurt Locker, with nine nods each. Having already snagged not only the Golden Globe for Best Picture but also becoming the top-grossing film of all time, Avatar is the frontrunner expected to sweep the red carpet.
Tarintino’s Nazi-scalping Jewish insurgents known as the Inglorious Basterds are toting a respectable eight nominations, followed by Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, which is based on a true story of a young woman who becomes impregnated by her father for the second time, with six nominations.
In an unexpected twist, the nominations for “Best Picture” doubled to 10 different nominees this year. Does the Academy really need to provide themselves with such a multitude of options? Evidently, considering the films span the gamut of styles, from alien next-door neighbors in District 9 to Disney/Pixar’s collaboration, Up.
Likened to the Super Bowl for movie buffs, the Academy Awards showcase the best dressed, best spoken and most importantly, the best movies of 2009.