The Directors Guild Award nominations have just been announced (Click the link above for Variety’s coverage).

Based on the DGA noms, it now appears to be a lock that we are in for an Oscar Showdown for Best Director between the formerly married couple of Kathryn Bigelow for “Hurt Locker” and James Cameron for “Avatar”. While I loved “Avatar” and Cameron’s work and dedication to bringing his vision to the screen is clearly mindblowing, my vote is for Bigelow.  “The Hurt Locker” is such an intense and powerful movie-going experience that I’m still affected by it months later.

Nice to see Quentin Tarantino get back in the game for “Inglorious Basterds”, and no one can dispute that both Jason Reitman for “Up In the “Air” and Lee Daniels for “Precious” both well deserve their DGA noms.  A month or so ago Clint Eastwood was a favorite to get recognized for his work on “Invictus” but thanks to that film’s under-performance at the box office, Eastwood’s chances for more Oscar glory seem to be fading.