Oscar Goes to Ten

Last year's Best Picture nominations consisted of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, THE READER, FROST/NIXON and MILK.

How many of those movies have you seen...prior to the Best Picture Oscar being handed to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE?

What if five more movies were added to that roundup, say: THE DARK KNIGHT, DOUBT, GRAN TORINO, THE WRESTLER and WALL-E?

Yesterday, in a move that looks to be a way to boost entertainment advertising dollars as well as actually be relevant to the people they're broadcasting their 4+ hour program to...the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that next year's broadcast (2010) they will be expanding the Best Picture category to ten (instead of the traditional five).

I mentioned the secondary list of five above because I feel those would have, more than likely, been the ones that would be added to the 2009 docket of nominees. So instead of saying I only saw 2 of 5 (for example), most would be able to say I saw 6 of 10. Plus, some deserving movies would get some due recognition - and not just disregarded as true art because they made a boatload of money.

So who do I now think has a real shot at being nominated come next year's Oscar broadcast? Of the movies I've seen thus far...I think the only movie that's a guaranteed lock is Pixar's UP. If you haven't seen it - I highly recommend you do so this weekend (I bet it'll get nominated for Best Picture).