My Pick for Best Director

5. James Cameron- Avatar
He would rank higher if he had not won already for Titanic, and if I liked the movie more. He clearly executed his vision better than anyone could have thought, and his victory is in making Avatar the biggest, most well-liked and obviously best movie of all time, as thought by everyone who has ever existed.

4. Lee Daniels- Precious
His genius in casting Mo'Nique as Mary Jones is nothing short of genius, and I'm sure she'd say that he helped her with that performance. Hell, look what he did with Mariah Carey (see: Glitter). I felt that Precious had serious flaws in editing and in the fantasy sequences, but I am excited to see what he does next, and what genius casting he will make in his next film.

3. Jason Reitman- Up in the Air
Jason has one hell of a track record- Thank you for Smoking, Juno, and now this? What can he possibly do to top himself? He is redefining dark comedies, and has a long Oscar-fueled future in front of him. He will be compensated by winning Adapted Screenplay (with Sheldon Turner).

2. Quentin Tarantino- Inglourious Basterds
Quentin has created his magnum Nazi-opus, and his mastery of every single detail for this movie is just completely ridiculous. It's too long but there is absolutely nothing of substance I would cut out, and the fact that he was able to rewrite history and make it work on such a magnificent level without making it too corny or campy is quite an honor. Hopefully he'll win for his next movie.

1. Kathryn Bigelow- The Hurt Locker
For a movie about explosives it has very few, and so the suspense comes through Bigelow's superb camerawork and long, unedited takes. Picking the right actors for the right role helped, and somewhere along the way she made a new kind of war film that takes our current situation as a nation and turns it into a character study about how war affects the individual.