Oscar's voting nightmare

More than a few Hollywood watchers questioned the wisdom of having 10 nominees for best picture instead of the usual five, and now that it's time to cast ballots (deadline is Saturday), Academy voters are struggling to come up with enough movies they really, really like. LAT's Pete Hammond explains:

According to the overwhelming majority of members to whom I have spoken, they get to five or six and give up on the other slots. One voter went so far as to actually send me an e-mail asking me to suggest seven other movies to augment their own three choices. Of course I obliged. "I can barely find five movies to nominate. I have no idea what to do for 10," one exasperated member told me this week. When prodded for more information it was apparent they had only just a few of the real contenders and many in their pile of DVD screeners had so far gone unopened.

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Some voters conversely have told me they welcome the chance to name 10 movies as it frees them to go with their heart even if they believe it's a wasted vote. After listing the usual suspects like "The Hurt Locker," "Up in the Air," "An Education," etc., one guy said he selected "Drag Me To Hell" because that's the best time he had at the movies all year and it doesn't matter that it can't possibly be nominated because he has nine other slots in which to "influence" the race, as the academy language suggests.

There's been buzz that the 10-nomination experiment will be phased out after this year, but ratings are always the ultimate determinant. Low ratings are what got the Academy to bump up the number in the first place. The irony is that they have "Avatar" this year, the kind of blockbuster that tends to boost ratings.