The Motion Picture Academy has announced the list of movies finalized as nominees for the most coveted award in filmdom – The Oscar Award for Best Motion Picture 2010. The movies vying for the golden statuette are “Avatar”, “The Blind Side”, “District 9”, “An Education”, “The Hurt Locker”, “Inglourious Basterds”, “Precious: Based On the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”, “A Serious Man”, “Up”, and “Up In The Air”. Here is a quick look at them. A 20th Century Fox production, James Cameron’s epic Avatar is the strongest contender for the Oscars this year. Cameron had mind-mapped his movie 15 years ago but was waiting till he could capture his dream with the greatest visual effects technology. After the death of his scientist-twin, ex-marine Jake Sully becomes an Avatar (created with human DNA and Na’vi, the inhabitants of the verdant planet Pandora) to aid the US army to bring back a mineral that could rescue the despoiled Earth. This sci-fi film, also released in 3D, brings an imaginative world alive with breathtaking effects and animations. The Blind Side (Warner Bros.) is a real-life story about a poor Afro-American teenager Oher who is taken into the fold of a wealthy American family and lovingly nurtured and encouraged to become a football player. Sandra Bullock steals the show as the woman who defies boundaries, in stark contrast to the well-disguised racism exhibited by her friends. Third in line is Peter Jackson’s horrifying yet deeply engrossing Sci-fi fantasy District 9 where aliens are refugees in South Africa and are returned to their planet, escaping from the clutches of the evil MNU. They seek the help of a human Wikus (Sharlto Copley) who himself is undergoing an alien metamorphosis due to an unfortunate incident. Sony Pictures’ “An Education” is about the life of a 16 year old English girl in post-war 1962 London and her affair with a man twice her age. Carey Mulligan renders a brilliant portrayal as Jenny. The film which highlights a young woman’s trials and tribulations in a narrow minded yet impressionable society, sparkles in humor throughout. Summit Entertainment’s The Hurt Locker is based on the experiences of a US bomb Squad in war-inflicted Baghdad. “Inglourious Basterds” is a brilliant WW2 movie about a group of ruthless Jewish-American soldiers and a revenge-seeking French-Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied France. Precious is a courageous yet dire movie about the abuse of a young Afro-American by her own parents. Although the storyline is audacious, it portrays stark reality that is sometimes willfully ignored. The movie is critically much acclaimed. “A serious man” attacks US prejudice against Jews in 1962, with dark humor. Walt Disney 89-minute beautiful animation film “Up” is universal in appeal. It is a light-hearted tale of an adventure undertaken by a cantankerous old man and an 8 year old young explorer brought together by sheer coincidence. Up in the Air is a story of a millionaire’s life gone hay-wire by a tumultuous series of events, with convincing portrayals from George Clooney and Vera Farmiga.