Oscarwatch: And the Nominees Are...

The biggest winner at this morning's Academy Award nomination announcements was the general movie-going public.

Avatar, Up, The Blind Side and Inglourious Basterds -- popular movies viewed and appreciated by more than the snoots who write movie reviews -- were all nominated for the top prize.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the morning was Up's nod for Best Picture.

Everything else seems as expected.

Up competes with Avatar, Up in the Air, District 9, The Blind Side, An Education, Inglorious Basterds, Precious and A Serious Man. Only five of these films have a serious chance at winning -- The Hurt Locker, Avatar, Up in the Air, Basterds and Precious. And with Hurt Locker taking the Director's Guild Award just two days ago, conventional wisdom tells us Kathryn Bigelow's war drama is the film to beat.

The award for Actor in a Lead Role will most likely go to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), who already picked up Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe wins. He competes against George Clooney (Up in the Air), Collin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman(Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (Hurt Locker). (Note to Academy voters, an upset here would be welcome news come award night. Bridges gives horrible speech.)

In the race for Actress in a Lead Role, the award is Sandra Bullock's to lose. Bullock (Blind Side) competes against Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia). Bullock already has a SAG and Globe on her mantel, clear signs as to which way the wind is blowing.

Mo'Nique's Supporting Actress Oscar is in the bag. The comedienne, who won every other major award this season for her work in Precious, "competes" against Penelope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart) and Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air).

And in the Supporting Actor race, Cristophe Waltz (who was genius in Inglourious Basterds), will defend his trophy from Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station) and Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones).

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Anne Hathaway announced the nominations for 10 of the 24 categories for the 2010 Oscars at 5:30 a.m. this morning.

For a full list, go to Oscar.com.