The Oscar nominations are out

The Oscars nominations were announced this morning minting a whole new class of actors who will forever have the words “Academy Award Nominee” in front of their names in movie trailers. Even if that movie turns out to be Snow Dogs. The 82nd Academy Award nominations offered up a few surprises and a classic David v. Goliath storyline.

In this case, the Goliath is box office record behemoth Avatar and the David is scrappy Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker. The two films lead the way with nine nominations each. And they also set up what is being called the battle of the exes as former husband and wife Avatar director James Cameron and The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow go head to head for best director. Kathryn, meanwhile, becomes only the fourth woman ever to earn a best director nomination. No woman has won the honor — yet.

Best Picture

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

In the acting categories, it was experience versus the ingénues. Only three of the 10 women honored had been nominated before (Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Penelope Cruz). For the men, half had received nods previously. A full look at the acting nominations:

Best Actress

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

Best 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 Actor

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

Best Supporting Actor

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

The other major nominations:

Best Director

Avatar, James Cameron
The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino
Precious, Lee Daniels
Up in the Air, Jason Reitman

Best Animated Feature

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

Best Foreign Language Film

Ajami, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, Peru
A Prophet, France
El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina
The White Ribbon, Germany

Best Documentary Feature

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

Best Original Song

"The Weary Kind" from Crazy Heart
"Take It All" from Nine
"Loin de Paname" from Paris 36
"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog
"Down in New Orleans" from The Princess and the Frog

Find a full list of nominees here. The Oscars will be telecast March 7. So, what do you think? Any surprises (um, The Blind Side)? Any snubs (awww, Julianne Moore)? And are you rooting for David or Goliath? And is it too much to hope that Meryl and Sandra tie again for best actress and make out on stage? A gal can dream.