By Greg Jorgensen
Bangkok, Feb 24 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Nominees: James Cameron, Avatar; Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker; Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds; Lee Daniels, Precious; Jason Reitman, Up in the Air.

While each of the directors on the list showed an enormous amount of skill and finesse bringing their creations to life, the list follows the same trend as the Best Picture category – composed of fine examples but overshadowed by a few big names that are getting all the press.

While Daniels, Reitman and Tarantino have all coaxed fantastic performances from their actors and nudged and kneaded their films in incremental units of awesomeness, it really comes down to Cameron’s groundbreaking work on Avatar and Bigelow’s steely determination on The Hurt Locker (it also adds to the drama that they were once married). Bigelow got the nod at the BAFTA awards, but Cameron took home the honor at the Golden Globes, so the race is pretty much neck-and-neck.

However, while Bigelow created a tense, gritty, near-documentary on bomb disposal in Iraq, the award will likely go to James Cameron. The sheer amount of ground that Avatar broke and technical wizardry that it spun simply cannot be ignored – all of it designed, created and utilized under Cameron’s control-freak watch. He may be Hollywood’s biggest jerk (bets will be taken to see if he makes an ass of himself as he did when he won for Titanic), but he sure knows how to push the boundaries of what can be done onscreen, and that’s why he’ll get the nod.

Greg Jorgensen has been scouring the back alleys and lurking in the movie theaters of Bangkok since 2001. His biggest regret is getting a Gold Class ticket for Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones.

Who do you think will win the best director? Let us know via the comments below.