Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards | Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

Nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards

Best picture nominees (IMDb score, % positive reviews):

• Avatar (8.6, 82%)
  
• The Blind Side (7.9, 70%)
  
• District 9 (8.3, 90%)
  
• An Education (7.7, 95%)
  
• The Hurt Locker (8.0, 97%)
  
• Inglourious Basterds (8.4, 89%)
  
• Precious (7.6, 91%)
  
• A Serious Man (7.6, 87%)
  
• Up (8.4, 98%)
  
• Up in the Air (8.0, 90%)
  

The following could have been nominated rather than some of the above:

• Crazy Heart (8.0, 92%)
  
• A Single Man (8.1, 83%)
  
• Star Trek (8.2, 94%)
  
• (500) Days of Summer (8.1, 87%)
  
• Moon (8.0, 89%)
  
• The Hangover (8.0, 78%)
  
• Zombieland (7.9, 89%)
  

Based on the numbers above, Star Trek got the biggest hosing. It beat the following nominees by both rating systems: The Blind Side, Precious, A Serious Man, and Up in the Air.

On the other side of the ledger, The Blind Side was the weakest nominee. All seven films in the "could have been" list had better numbers.

Based on the old system of "best five," the nominees would be (in an ideal world based on those two sets of numbers): Avatar, Up, Inglourious Basterds, The Hurt Locker, and District 9. That list would encompass the two best-reviewed movies and the three highest-rated at IMDb. By that same objective standard, the best film of the year was Up, which had the best reviews and the second-best IMDb score. In the real world, however, it has no chance. The Oscar will go to one of the following: Avatar, Inglourious Basterds or Hurt Locker.