2009 was the year the Academy went to a ten nominee best Picture slate, a practice which lasted a mere two years. Beginning this year the new rule is a minimum of five nominees and a maximum of ten with the caveat that each film nominated must receive at least five percent of the total first place ballots. Many pundits are predicting that under the new rule no more than seven films will be nominated. We shall see.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at the ten nominees for Best Picture of 2009.

One can never know for sure, but if I had to guess which five films received the most votes in that year I would have to say The Hurt Locker; Avatar; Inglourious Basterds; Up in the Air and Precious, with Up; District 9; An Education; A Serious Man and The Blind Side benefitting from the additional slots.

Topicality was probably The Hurt Locker’s greatest strength. The best war movies about World War II and the Vietnam War were films made after those wars had ended. Films made while WWII was in progress tended to be highly patriotic and somewhat unrealistic while the only major film made about Vietnam War during its duration was the roundly ridiculed The Green Berets. The Hurt Locker was not only topical in its portrayal the then six year-old war in Iraq but was highly realistic and frightening as well. It also had the advantage of being the first Hollywood war movie directed by a woman. Oscar voters were well aware that no woman had ever won an Oscar before and following in the footsteps of various critics’ groups agreed that this was the year to finally award one. That woman, Kathryn Bigelow, was also aided by the irony that her toughest competitor this year was deemed to be Avatar’s James Cameron, who just happened to be her ex-husband.

The Hurt Locker earned a total of six Oscars including Best Picture; Director; Original Screenplay; Editing; Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. It had also been nominated for Best Actor (Jeremy Renner); Cinematography and Score.

James Cameron had not made a theatrical film since 1997’s box-office and Oscar champ, Titanic, which helped to build up considerable anticipation for his new film, the science fiction fantasy, Avatar. Fans were not disappointed. The film, released simultaneously in 3-D and standard 2-D, cleaned up at the box-office and netted a not too shabby nine Oscar nominations resulting in three wins. The film took home awards for Best Cinematography; Art Direction and Visual Effects. It had also been nominated for Best Picture; Director; Editing; Score; Sound Mixing and Sound Editing.

Quentin Tarantino hadn’t had a hit film since 2004’s Kill Bill: Vol. 2, but his audacious return with the World War II yarn, Inglouious Basterds put the writer/director back on top of the Hollywood heap. Nominated for eight Oscars including Best Picture; Director; Original Screenplay; Cinematography; Editing; Sound Mixing and Sound Editing, the film won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for veteran German actor Christoph Waltz.

Jason Reitman’s romantic drama, Up in the Air had been seen as an early awards season favorite, but the film, which was about a corporate downsizing expert hit too close to home in the midst of the worst recession in America since the Great Depression. Nevertheless the marvelous performances of George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick were strong enough to warrant each an acting nomination along with additional nods for Best Picture; Director and Adapted Screenplay.

A critical hit at the Sundance Film Festival in January, 2009, Mo’Nique was an early favorite for the year’s Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the abusive mother in Lee Daniels’ Precious. The film, which also won for Best Adapted Screenplay, scored additional nominations for Best Picture; Director; Actress (newcomer Gaborey Sidibe) and Editing.

This year’s Oscar winner for Best Animal Feature, Pixar’s Up probably benefitted most from the expansion to ten Best Picture nominees, becoming the first animated film nominated for Hollywood’s top honor since 1991’s Beauty and the Beast. The film about an old curmudgeon and a precocious eight year-old kid who fly off in the old man’s home attached to balloons became an instant classic, one of the few animated features that can be truly said to appeal to audiences of all ages. It was also nominated as well for Best Original Screenplay; Sound Editing and Score, winning the latter category.

A cerebral science-fiction drama about terrestrial aliens invading South Africa’s slums, Neill Blomkamp’s District 9 breathed new life into the genre, paying off in four Oscar nominations. It was nominated for Best Picture; Adapted Screenplay; Editing and Visual Effects and was recognized as well by just about every awards body out there.

A coming-of-age story set in the swinging London of the 1960s, Lone Sherfig’s An Education was mostly praised for Carey Mulligan’s star turn for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The film also received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay along with its Best Picture nod.

The Coen Brothers’ black comedy, A Serious Man received a Best Original Screenplay nomination for the brothers in addition to its Best Picture nomination.

A box office phenomenon, John Lee Hancock’s The Blind Side also received just one other nomination, but it resulted in a win, a highly popular one, for star Sandra Bullock as real-life Lee Anne Touhey who takes in a homeless boy she tutors on his way to becoming an All American football player.

Other films Oscar liked this year included Crazy Heart; Julie & Julia; A Single Man; The Last Station; The Messenger; Star Trek The Lovely Bones; and Nine.

Jeff Bridges won his first Oscar on his fifth nomination playing an over-the-hill country singer in Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart, which also won an Oscar for Best Song, “The Weary Kind”. Maggie Gyllenhaal received a Supporting Actress nod as the young mother who becomes his lover.

Meryl Streep picked up her sixteenth nomination playing the legendary Julia Child in Nora Ephron’s film of Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia while Colin Firth picked up his first as the grieving gay professor in Tom Ford’s film of Chrisotpher Isherwood’s A Single Man.

Veteran Christopher Plummer picked up his first nomination for playing the legendary Russian author Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station, while former winner Helen Mirren picked up her third as his volatile wife Sofya.

A moving film about the men who have to tell the next of kin of the deaths of soldiers was the theme of Oren Moverman’s The Messenger which netted Woody Harreslson a Best Supporting Actor nomination and Moverman and co-writer Alessandro Camon nods for Best Original Screenplay.

A re-boot of the highly successful Star Trek netted four Oscar nominations for Sound Mixing; Sound Editing; Visual Effects and Makeup, winning in the latter category.

Two highly anticipated films that failed to win approval from either critics or audiences, The Lovely Bones and Nine, nevertheless piqued Oscar’s interest. The former was nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Stanley Tucci) while the latter was nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Penelope Cruz) along with nods for Art Direction; Costume Design and Song (“Take It All”).

All films discussed have been released on DVD in the U.S.

This week’s new DVD releases include the Blu-ray debuts of the Oscar winning musicals West Side Story and My Fair Lady and the foreign film treasures, The Rules of the Game and the Three Colors: Blue, White, Red trilogy.