The biggest surprise of the 2010 Oscar nominations was how few surprises there actually were.

For the first time in recent memory, none of the best director nominees directed movies that weren’t also nominated for best picture. Of course, the fact that the Academy, in its effort to plump up TV ratings (and let us not forget what this is really about), expanded the best-picture category from five nominees to 10, may have had something to do with that. On the other hand, this also means that half the best-picture nominees were by directors who weren’t nominated. (More…)