The Harry Potter Oscar Buzz Begins

Now that the Academy Awards have extended the best picture category to include ten nominees instead of five, you bet your bottom half we're going to start seeing some pretty bold claims when it comes to fan favorites, like Star Trek, Watchmen and the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. With a couple weeks still to go before Half-Blood Prince finally hits theaters, Hollywood.com's Paul Dergarabedian looks to be the first to champion the film for a possible best picture nomination.

Having watched the movie at an advanced screening, he says, "... the Potter loving beast in me has been unleashed after having witnessed a film that was not only exquisite in its production values, but was also charming, funny, scary, enchanting, moving (stop me, the adjectives could go on and on) and dare I say, sexy. Brilliantly directed by David Yates (he directed 2007's "Harry Potter and the Order of The Phoenix"), "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is a tour-de-force that combines style and substance, special effects and heart and most importantly great performances from all of the actors young and not-so-young. Not only that, half-way through I'm thinking the unthinkable - "ten academy awards nominations are available this year, hmm I wonder...."

Granted, the folks from Hollywood.com could be angling themselves for some Potter quotes in print and in future trailers, but seeing as Lord of the Rings had its time in the Oscar spotlight -- coupled with the fact that Potter is nearing his big-screen finale -- I wouldn't be surprised if Half-Blood Prince nabbed one of those ten spots. You?