Oscars 2010 nominations date and time

The excitement of the annual Oscar awards continues to build!  A live countdown timer on the official Oscar.com website, lists about 34 hours until this Sunday's big Hollywood awards spectacle.  This will mark the 82nd edition of the Oscar Award show, hosted by Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin.  It will feature all of the glitz and glam of Tinseltown as the celebrities make their way out to pay tribute to the best in film from the past year. Among those in the Oscar 2010 nominations for best picture there's a looming battle between The Hurt Locker and Avatar.  The Oscars 2010 start time will be at 8PM EST, 5PM PST on this Sunday, March 7th.  ABC will air the show live.

Last year's Best Picture winner for 2008 was Slumdog Millionaire, a story about an 18-year old from Mumbai, India who competes on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and has learned many of the necessary answers from his life experiences.  In the Oscar nominees for Best picture are a staggering 10 choices for the top film of the past year.  A Serious Man, Avatar, An Education, The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, Up, Up in the Air, Precious, District 9 and Inglorious Basterds will all look to take the top prize.  Several of the actors, actresses and directors will also be among those nominated for other awards.

In the Best Actor category, Jeff Bridges may be the favorite for his work in "Crazy Heart".  He'll be competing against George Clooney ("Up in the Air"), Morgan Freeman ("Invictus"), Jeremy Renner ("The Hurt Locker"), and Colin Firth ("A Single Man").  For Supporting actor there's Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones) and Christopher Waltz (Inglorious Basterds).

How about the ladies?  Sandra Bullock has been considered the favorite for Best Actress for her work in "The Blind Side".  She takes on a tough field though including Helen Mirren from "The Last Station" and Meryl Streep from "Julie & Julia".  Carey Mulligan of "An Education" and Gabourey Sidibe who plays the troubled but inspired female in "Precious" complete the nominees.  In the supporting actress field, comedian Mo'Nique may be the strong choice to win for her evil character in "Precious".  Penelope Cruz is nominated for "Nine", both Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga for "Up in the Air" and Maggie Gyllenhaal for "Crazy Heart".

The directing category is where many in Hollywood are focusing though. It's a battle of the exes as both James Cameron ("Avatar") and Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") are up for the award.  Also Lee Daniels is nominated for "Precious", Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds and Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air".

With the Oscars 2010 nominations ready to go, fans will now eagerly anticipate the 8PM Oscars 2010 start time.  Once the show hits the air we will finally get to see the latest Hollywood stars claim their golden trophies, and find out which movie will reign supreme as the overall best picture for 2009.

View the full list of Oscar nominees here.