Let's review the Oscar nominations, shall we?

The Academy Awards tried out something new this year: 10 best-picture nominees, instead of the usual five. That brought a few surprises — "The Blind Side," "District 9" and "Up" among the unexpected candidates in that category — but otherwise Tuesday's nominations were business as usual.

And while the expanded top category allowed for a wider range of titles, it's clear which ones are the front-runners: the films also nominated in the directing category, namely James Cameron's "Avatar," Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker," Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," Lee Daniels' "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire" and Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air." Of those, "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" would seem to have the edge for the top prize, but consider this: "Avatar" didn't get a screenplay nomination, and it's rare for a film to win best picture without one.

The last movie to win without a screenplay nomination? Hmm ... it was Cameron's 1997 "Titanic." (Before that, you'd have to go all the way back to 1965 and "The Sound of Music.") "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" also lead in total nominations, with nine each.

The acting categories featured familiar Oscar veterans (Meryl Streep, notching her 16th nomination; Morgan Freeman; Helen Mirren; Jeff Bridges); surprise first-timers (who knew Colin Firth and Christopher Plummer had never been nominated, until now?); new faces (Gabourey Sidibe, Jeremy Renner, Mo'Nique, Carey Mulligan, Christoph Waltz); and the ubiquitous but charming Sandra Bullock, whose Academy Award nomination for "The Blind Side" can now offset her Razzie nod for "All About Steve."

Bridges, Bullock, Waltz and Mo'Nique have been winning numerous pre-Oscar awards and are the clear favorites here; let's see if the Motion Picture Academy decides to shake things up.

Several of this year's nominees have historical significance: Lee Daniels, director of "Precious," is only the second African-American to be nominated in the directing category in Oscar history (first was John Singleton, for 1991's "Boyz n the Hood"). Bigelow is the fourth woman director to make the cut, and "Up" is only the second animated film to get a best picture nod, after 1991's "Beauty and the Beast." ("Up" is also nominated in the animated film category, which it will likely win.)

Former Seattleites John Myhre and Colleen Atwood were nominated for art direction and costume design, respectively, for "Nine." Both already have statuettes on their shelves for "Chicago" (2002) and "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005). And a film about assisted suicide in Washington State, Daniel Junge's "The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner," was nominated for best documentary short.

The Academy Award winners will be announced March 7 in a ceremony televised on ABC, starting at 5 p.m.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com. Macdonald blogs about movies and the moviegoing life at www.seattletimes.com/moviesblog.