This year’s nominees for Best Documentary include films on Richard Nixon, illegal immigration, and Burmese unrest. But it’s two films on food and Japanese dolphin hunters that are the early favorites. Nate Freiberg reports on this category in our “Road to the Oscars” series.

Bryce Van Kooten sees the list of Oscar nominees and sees plenty of performances that got snubbed. His list includes “Star Trek” for Best Picture, Matt Damon’s for Best Actor in “The Informant!” and Zoe Saldana for her portrayal of Neytiri in “Avatar.” Who do you think got snubbed?

The second in our “Road to the Oscars” series focuses on Best Animated Short. Four of the five nominees in this category are European including a “Wallace and Gromit” short, “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” and “The Lady and the Reaper.” Kit Bowen takes a closer look.

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.

“Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” both earned nine Academy Awards nominations, leading a wide-open race for Best Picture. Kit Bowen analyzes the nominations and takes a look at a few of the surprises. You can also see the full list of nominees on this post.

You can now sign up for Oscar pools on AwardsPicks.com. If you were in a group last year, then the group leader can simply add the 2010 Oscar Game. If you want to start a new group, then go ahead and register. You can sign up for public and private groups. Feel free to e-mail any questions or comments to Feedback@awardspicks.com

Before the nominees were announced, Adam Spunberg had a good idea what would be snubbed. Writing on Monday evening, Spunberg said that Viggo Mortensen and Zooey Deschanel put in just a handful of first-class performances that the Academy overlooked.

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.

On the eve of the Academy’s big announcement, Kit Bowen offers her nomination predictions.