It was a very odd choice to double the amount of Best Picture nominations for this year's Academy Awards.

Sure, we have 10 nominees now, but there still are only 3 with any real chance at winning come March 7. "Up in the Air" has a decent shot at it, but chances are, the race really is going to come down to "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker." And the 2 are certainly polar opposites.

A scene from "Avatar."

First, let’s look at "Avatar." It, as you probably know, has already shattered "Titanic"’s record as the highest grossing movie of all time. It’s also the most expensive movie ever made, with a budget bordering on $500 million.

For months prior to its release, it built up an absolutely ridiculous amount of hype, with most people already sure it was destined to be a classic. Not to mention the fact it has far and beyond the single greatest special effects ever. This was after all the return to form from acclaimed blockbuster director James Cameron after a 12-year hiatus. It certainly has a lot going for it.

James Cameron talks about his vision for "Avatar":

Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

"The Hurt Locker," on the other hand, flew almost completely under the radar prior to its release. It’s a character-driven indie war drama focusing on a bomb squad in Iraq, with an $11 million budget (minuscule in the film world) and just $16 million gross revenue, which would make it the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner should it win.

Watch a clip from "The Hurt Locker":

I devote a very large amount of attention to the happenings of the film world, yet I’d never so much as heard it mentioned until I started seeing rave review after rave review, and for good reason. It’s an absolute tour de force of a film, with a score of 94 (the 12th highest of all time) from Metacritic, an aggregator of scores from many different critics to come up with a general consensus. It just never caught on with audiences (at least until its recent DVD release, which was very successful).

Which one will come out on top, it’s hard to guess. But in case the Best Picture race needed any more drama, the directors of the 2 films, James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, are ex- husband and wife.

Josh Kaplan is a student at Pioneer High School.