Poll: Had there been 10 Best Picture nominees in 2008, which films (besides those nominated) would have made the list?

It's well known that the Academy's decision to expand the Best Picture category to 10 nominees was largely based on the fury surrounding the omission of two of the best reviewed films of last year, The Dark Knight and WALL-E. Apparently the thought is that with 5 more spots, more mainstream successes will make the cut, and in turn ratings for the telecast will go up.
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This is either bang on the money or wishful thinking. The Dark Knight was an exceptional superhero film that managed to rise above genre stereotypes, and definitely deserved a nomination. But that doesn't mean there'll be a commercial success each year that makes it onto a host of critics' top ten lists. We'll find out February 2 if the expansion will make for drastic change or just more of the same.
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In the meantime, let's pretend for a moment there had been 10 spots last year. Besides the 5 that did make it, which films would have landed a Best Picture nod? Pick the five you think would have been most likely in the sidebar poll!
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(POLL RESULTS: Last week we talked about Sam Raimi's filmography, and which of his films we loved the most. Results were pretty well spread out. The winner was Spider-Man 2, with 40% of the vote, while The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Drag Me to Hell tied with 20%.)
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Thanks for voting again everyone! Let's hear your thoughts on last year's legendary Best Picture race in the new poll and in the comments section!

Animation Deliberation

I just got home from seeing Ponyo. I don't need to tell you it was wonderous. Hayao Miyazaki always promises adventure and magic, which is exactly what you get with Ponyo, a little fish who longs to be human after befriending a young human boy named Sosuke. The plot is very loosely based on the classic 1989 Disney film The Little Mermaid.

It's turning out to be one hell of a year for animation. With the wonderful stop-motion picture Coraline, Pixar's fantastical Up, and now Ponyo, we may already have the Best Animated Feature category's three nominees.

But there's a wealth of animated features still to come in the next few months, too. There's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Robert Zemeckis' new take on the classic A Christmas Carol, the hotly anticipated 9 from Tim Burton, and Wes Anderson's The Fantastic Mr. Fox, to name a few.

And don't count out Disney's return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess and the Frog, the classic fairytale with a twist.

With all these promising projects, I'm thinking this could be a year for five nominees instead of three. My guess at how it will all line up is there at the top. I think we may be on the verge of another golden age for animation, and with ten Best Picture slots, I no longer think the question is whether or not an animated film will be among them. Now it's just a question of which one it is. My money's on Up, which definitely deserves it, but could also benefit from voter's remorse after WALL-E's unthinkable snub last year.

Another big question. Is it possible that TWO animated films could make the Academy's top ten? How much do those extra spots really open the members' minds? Ponyo and Up are two of the best-reviewed films of the year thus far, but stubborn voters still may not recognize them as important works.

I'm not the biggest champion of having 10 nominees, but if it helps people take animation more seriously, I'll be all for it. Animation truly knows no bounds, and I hope more and more adults start embracing it as a valid art.