No shocks this year from the Academy

The nominations are out and I can say they ran pretty much true to form -- well, to my form, at least. In scanning over the list of nominees I can say I found no major shocks, one pleasant surprise and one left field surprise.

The left field surprise was in the animated feature category in which a film I must admit is completely unfamiliar to me, The Secret of Kells, was nominated over the likes of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Ponyo.

The pleasant surprise was the recognition by the Academy's writers branch of the wonderful movie In the Loop in the adapted screenplay category. I wasn't sure enough voters had ever seen this picture, but apparently my fears were unfounded. I was mildly disappointed that (500) Days of Summer's original screenplay wasn't nominated.

I said there were no major shocks. I correctly predicted nine of the 10 best picture nominees. The one I missed was The Blind Side sneaking in over Clint Eastwood's Invictus, which, at the beginning of the season was considered the Oscar favorite in this category. I correctly predicted all the nominees in the acting categories except for Maggie Gyllenhaal's supporting actress performance in Crazy Heart who got in at the expense of Julianne Moore in A Single Man. I thought if any actress was vulnerable in this category it would be Penelope Cruz. I got all five directors correctly (but they were also identical to the Director's Guild's slections). I must admit to being mildly surprised that the cinematographers chose Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince over Nine.

If I had to pick the winners right now, I would go with:
Actor in a leading role: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Actor in a supporting role: Chistoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Actress in a leading role: Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side (although don't count out Meryl Streep)
Actress in a supporting role: Mo'nique, Precious, Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
Animated Feature: Up
Art Direction: Avatar
Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Directing: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Documentary Feature: The Cove
Film Editing: Avatar
Foreign Language Film: A Prophet
Makeup: Star Trek
Original Score: Up
Song: "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
Picture: The Hurt Locker
Sound Editing: Avatar
Sound Mixing: Avatar
Visual Effects: Avatar
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Up in the Air
Writing (Original Screenplay): The Hurt Locker (but watch out for those Basterds)