Never has the Best Picture race been so uncertain before the Oscars. With 10 nominees and a new voting system, many Oscar prognosticators have no idea who will win this year. Kit Bowen has it down to three choices: Avatar, which won the Golden Globe; Inglourious Basterds, which won the SAG; and The Hurt Locker, which won the both the Producers and Directors Guild Awards. Bowen is picking Avatar. Who do you pick?

Nicolas Chartier, one of several producers for “The Hurt Locker,” has been banned from the Oscars this Sunday after sending an inappropriate e-mail to Academy members asking for votes over “Avatar.” With a tight Best Picture race, could Chartier have cost his film an Oscar? Savanna New reports.

With the Academy expanding the field of Best Picture nominees to 10 films, Adam Spunberg asks if the move was worth it. The change allowed mainstream movies like “The Blind Side”, “Up”, and “District 9″ to get nominated, but Spunberg questions the value of having them there.

Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is his career masterpiece, Mallory Pickard writes. She closely examines the themes of this unique film and discusses Tarantino’s choices in altering history and spelling. Pickard sees great things for the historical fiction tale on Oscar night.

After receiving excellent reviews, some critics feel “Bright Star” could be a sleeper Best Picture nominee. But while Adam Spunberg found the film delightful, it also left something to be desired. Spunberg examines this film on 19th century English poet John Keats’ short and tragic romance.

A total of ten Best Picture Nominees will be unveiled on Tuesday. Adam Spunberg offers his own personal top ten films of the year.

Is this an “Avatar” year at the Oscars? Or does a film like “Up in the Air” or “The Hurt Locker” have the goods to upset the James Cameron blockbuster? Christa Youngpeter examines the anatomy of a Best Picture film, as we’re less than a week away from learning the nominees.

Quentin Tarantino won a screenplay Oscar for “Pulp Fiction” in 1995, but his eyes are on a bigger prize. “Inglourious Basterds” is his best shot yet at Best Picture. Is this Tarantino’s year, or is filmmaker too violent and too unusual to win over the Academy? Michaela Zanello reports.

Oscar voters are having trouble coming up with 10 nominees for Best Picture. If they actually watched some movies this year, it wouldn’t be that hard. Phil Wallace offers a critique of Academy members.

“The Hurt Locker” won Best Picture at the Producers Guild Awards, significantly in a 10-nominee race. With “Inglourious Basterds” winning the top SAG award and “Avatar” winning Best Drama at the Golden Globes, Kit Bowen looks at the three frontrunners for Best Picture.