The Oscar nominations are out today. You can see all the nominations here: http://oscar.go.com/nominations/nominees

My Bestie Janice and I have a yearly tradition. We watch the Academy Awards show together, and this year will make it our 4th year doing this together. Neither of us are particularly thrilled about them this year. I’m especially not thrilled about the new 10 Best Picture nominees idea. It’s a response to the Dark Knight backlash from last year. How could Dark Knight not get nominated? Because it didn’t deserve to be. 5 other movies were better, and that’s how it should be. Popularity at the box office does not mean a movie should get nominated. Why isn’t “Twilight” getting an oscar nom then? I’d be willing to bet the tween girl viewership would go up if they did that.

Announcing that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were hosting together felt more like a promo for their then upcoming movie. Why not get the chicken foot demon from Paranormal Activity then? Or a 12 foot blue dude with dread locks? Now that would be an accomplishment; A live 3D CGI host.

I’ve been watching the show religiously since I was 13, when “Schindler’s List” rightfully stole the show. I’ve seen the good (The Titanic Sweep)and the bad (Shakespeare In Love? Really?) and I accept the fact that my opinion may not be the popular one, seeing how the votes seem to swing in the other’s favor sometimes.

I liked the show last year. I thought Hugh Jackman brought energy and enthusiasm, and yes, a little comedy. The hosts have generally been comics, and last year they decided to go with 2009′s sexiest man alive. I thought the past winners announcing the nominees and rewarding the newcomer to the group was also a nice touch. This year I’m interested to see if they still do that. I rather enjoyed the change, perhaps because I’m still young and appreciate a good musical number involving a hot guy in a suit.

The show’s format has pretty much been the same since I started watching it, but for the last couple of years it seems they’re trying gear it towards a younger audience. It seems they don’t just want movie nuts and film students to watch. They want the average Transformer fan to enjoy the show too. By that I mean -to me, in my opinion, they seem to want people who just go to the hottest CGI driven action film with big name actors to watch the broadcast. They also want the rest of us who watch movies for more than entertainment to still watch. That’s how “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” both got lumped in a Best Picture category.

I feel that a Best Picture should encompass everything that makes a movie great. It should have a great, hopefully semi-original story. Great acting, directing, visuals. It should make you feel something, and do it in such a way that you didn’t believe possible. Maybe my standards are a little high, but this is my site and I’ll express whatever unrealistic ideals I deem fit.

I thought that “Up”, “Up In The Air” and “Avatar” were good movies. Great even. But they don’t deserve to be nominated for Best Picture. “Up” is an animated movie. Not to take away from the marvel of modern animation, but I don’t think a cartoon should win a best picture award. There’s a whole award dedicated to them. It’s called the “Best Animated Feature”.

How a film (UP) can be nominated for best picture AND best animated feature is beyond me. It’s like nominating an actor for best leading and best supporting for the same role in one movie. It’s ridiculous. They needed to fill the 10th hole and couldn’t think of another good movie that came out this year? It’s been a pretty lame year movie wise, but come on. Give me a break.

Leonardo DiCaprio has never won an Oscar, which is a travesty. But a cartoon can get nominated for 2 different best picture awards, and that’s ok?

I’m not naive, and I’m not an idiot. “Up” will not win best picture. It doesn’t stand a chance. Neither does “The Blind Side” or “Inglorious Basterds”. They just don’t cut it. They’re great movies, but not good enough. Sorry, but they just aren’t. They’re hole fillers. They made the decision to go with 10 best picture nominees in a year when there weren’t 10 Oscar worthy movies that came out.