Can You Believe it's Oscars Time Again? Avatar Set for Success

Can you believe that it's time once again for the Academy Awards; the big night for the movie industry? Indeed it is, and the nominees, announced this morning, aren't too surprising.

Of course Avatar is up for Best Picture, which will bring 3D even more into the forefront. The movie, which is still going strong in theatres, keeps company with The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air. A diverse selection, no doubt, ranging from 3D sci-fi to animation, to a film led by an unknown actress, Gabourey Sidibe (Precious), who is also up for Best Actress.

Avatar is also up for Art Direction and Cinematography (no surprise there) as well as Best Director, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects. In total, a whopping nine awards. Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds is up for a handful as well, as is Up in the Air with George Clooney and Precious.

It's safe to predict that Avatar will dominate this year's Academy Awards. Interestingly, you'll notice none of the actors in the movie were nominated for their roles. This isn't a slight regarding their acting prowess: Sigourney Weaver has certainly proven herself a wonderful actor over many decades. But in this film, the actors were overshadowed by fantastic cinematography and visual effects. In many ways, they were ironically overshadowed by their own avatars. Is this a sign of things to come in the acting world? Will technology take over such that the people working on the back end become more recognizable than those on the front? Going even further, will actors be needed more for replicating human movements for on-screen "avatars" rather than their actual acting ability?

Who knows. For now, let's enjoy movie's big night, and the best films of the year. The Academy Awards air Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. (EST). A complete list of nominees can be found at www.oscars.org. Also, visit our slideshows on Movie Magic to see a highlight of some past Oscar-winning films; and The Other Oscars for highlights from technology-related awards (like cinematography and sound mixing) from the 2009 event.