They're in. They're here. They're predictably all pointing towards Avatar and The Hurt Locker. Shame about the first bit there, but Cameron and Mrs Non-Cameron are squaring up with nine nominations apiece for their movies. And maybe, just maybe, The Hurt Locker might bag the majority of those.

Naturally, they're both up for the two biggies, but it's nice to see Kathryn Bigelow's brilliant war film pick up a Best Actor nomination for Jeremy Renner too. Although with Jeff Bridges in there for Crazy Heart, it's likely the Oscar is going his way - sorry, Colin Firth, but it's not a year for British actors.

British Actresses, on the other hand. Well, we've got Helen Mirren for The Last Station, as well as Carey Mulligan for An Education. Neither will get it with Sandra Bullock up for grabs, but hey, it's good to have our ladies honoured in passing at least. As for Supporting Actors, those are pretty much a given, too, with Mo'Nique and Christoph Waltz both nominated for their award-winning roles.

The best news for me is Best Adapted Screenplay, which sees not only Nick Hornby pick up his first nod for An Education, but also Armando Ianucci for In the Loop. I'll just repeat that again: In the Loop. Armando Ianucci. It's worth repeating, partly because it's brilliant but also because Academy President Tom Sherak can't pronounce his name correctly. Once again: Ianucci.

Anne Hathaway had no problem reeling off the other names on the list, with Costume and Art Direction seeing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus receive some worthy creative attention - alongside Avatar, of course. Visual Effects obviously also mentioned the blue people (who thankfully didn't get any writing nominations), but it's stuff like Editing where Avatar might easily lose out to Bigelow's The Hurt Locker; while each have a raft of contenders, some of the technical categories could easily swing any which way.

Animation, naturally, sees Up at the front of the pack - with Fantastic Mr Fox, Coraline and even Princess and the Frog, but curiously no Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. But Up is also now playing with the big boys over in the Best Picture arena. Yes, with the major Oscar now extended to 10 entries, there's a chance for the more audience friendly fare to get a look in. Naturally, that means that Moon, Star Trek, A Single Man and (500) Days of Summer are nowhere near any of them. Instead we have Avatar, Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds (which is too heavily nominated with 8), Up in the Air (a solid 6 nods), Precious, A Serious Man, An Education, District 9 (a pleasant inclusion), Up and The Blind Side. Yes, The Blind Side. The Sandra Bullock thing.

So with no Moon, no Road and no (500) Days of Summer anywhere on the list, this year's Oscars are the usual mix of America-friendly biopics, box office smashes and heartfelt dramas. It's great to have an outsider like District 9 step into position, not to mention the wonderful A Serious Man, but if Young Victoria and Coco Before Chanel can get in there for Costumes, it seems unfair to completely dismiss Clint Mansell's score for Moon, or (500) Days' screenplay. Still, Jason Reitman's nominated for stuff. So I'm happy. The rest I blame on Sandra Bullock.

The Oscars will be happening live here on Sunday 7th March - expect big, multi-platform, cross-blogging coverage - in the wee small hours of the morning. I'll put up my predictions in the interim weeks. Until then, read on for the full list of nominees. And then leave your angry comments below. 

Best Picture

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglorious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up In the Air

Best Director

James Cameron, Avatar

Katherine Bigelow, The Hurt Locker

Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds

Lee Daniels, Precious

Jason Reitman, Up In The Air

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

George Clooney, Up In The Air

Colin Firth, A Single Man

Morgan Freeman, Invictus

Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress

Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side

Helen Mirren, The Last Station

Carey Mulligan, An Education

Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, Nine

Vera Farmiga, Up In the Air

Anna Kendrick, Up In the Air

Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart

Mo’nique, Precious

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Matt Damon, Invictus

Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones

Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Christopher Plummer, The Last Station

Best Adapted Screenplay

Neil Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9

Neil Hornby, An Education

Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche, In The Loop

Geofrey Fletcher, Precious

Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Best Original Screenplay

Mark Boall, The Hurt locker

Quentin Tarentino, Inglourious Basterds

Joel And Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Alessandro Camon and Oren Moverman, The Messenger

Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Up

Art Direction

Avatar

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Nine

Sherlock Holmes

The Young Victoria

Cinematography

Avatar

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The White Ribbon

Costume Design

Bright Star

Coco Before Chanel

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Nine

The Young Victoria

Best Documentary Feature

Burma VJ

The Cove

Food Inc.

The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon

Papers

Which Way Home

Best Documentary Short

China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner

The Last Truck: Closing of A GM Plant

Music By Prudence

Rabbit A La Berlin

Film Editing

Avatar

District 9

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire

Best Foreign Language Film

Ajami

El Secreto

Desus Ojos

The Milk of Sorrow

A Prophet

The White Ribbon

Make Up

Il Divo

Star Trek

The Young Victoria

Music: Original Score

Avatar

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Hurt Locker

Sherlock Holmes

Up

Music: Original Song

The Princess and The Frog – Almost There

The Princess and The Frog – Down In New Orleans

Paris 36 – Loin de Panane

Nine – Take It All

Crazy Heart – The Weary Kind

Short Film: Animated

French Roast

Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty

The Lady And The Reaper

Logorama

A Matter of Loaf and Death

Short Film: Live Action

The Door

Instead of Abracadabra

Kavi

Miracle Fish

The New Tenants

Sound Editing

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Up

Sound Mixing

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Star Trek

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Visual Effects

Avatar

District 9

Star Trek

Best Animated Feature Film

Coraline

Fantastic Mr Fox

The Princess And The Frog

The Secret Of Kells Up