WGA Noms Avatar, Hangover; Cinematographers Like Nine, Basterds

Another pair of Hollywood trade organizations today announced nominations for their best of 2009, with the Writers Guild of America and the American Society of Cinematographers spicing up awards season with an intriguing balance of Oscar favorites and out-of-nowhere dark horses. And once again, we still can't find a nominating body that would dare shut Avatar out.

Even the WGA went for James Cameron's on-the-nose, curiously dated slang in the Best Original Screenplay category, and even more notably selected The Hangover in the same space along with more conventional favorites (500) Days of Summer, The Hurt Locker and A Serious Man. They threw Star Trek a nod in the Adapted category as well; at least someone seems to have understood that whole time warp/ice-planet detour in the middle of the of the film. (Quiet, spoilerphobes! It's not a spoiler if it doesn't make any sense.) See the full list of nominees for the screen below; the winners will be announced Feb. 20.

Meanwhile the American Society of Cinematographers recognized D.P. Mauro Fiore's radiant (if computer-generated) texture of phosphorescent jungles and hanging mountains alongside the more tactile pleasures of Nazi-hunting (Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds), starlet-boffing (Dion Beebe, Nine), bomb-dismantling (Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker) and social repression (Christian Berger, The White Ribbon). The winner here will be announced Feb. 27. As always, congrats to all!

· WGA

· ASC

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

(500) Days of Summer, Written by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Avatar, Written by James Cameron

The Hangover, Written by Jon Lucas & Scott Moore

The Hurt Locker, Written by Mark Boal

A Serious Man, Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Crazy Heart, Screenplay by Scott Cooper

Julie & Julia, Screenplay by Nora Ephron

Precious: Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

Star Trek, Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

Up in the Air, Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Against the Tide, Screenplay by Richard Trank

Capitalism: A Love Story, Written by Michael Moore

The Cove, Written by Mark Monroe

Earth Days, Written by Robert Stone

Good Hair, Written by Chris Rock & Jeff Stilson and Lance Crouther and Chuck Sklar

Soundtrack for a Revolution, Written by Bill Guttentag & Dan Sturman