Nominees:
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, The Hurt Locker
Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox
*Michael Giacchino, Up
James Horner, Avatar
Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes
The one craft in which Avatar lagged was Horner's so-so score (and worse title song). We're guessing that the Academy will cite Up, since most of the film's first section has little dialogue and is lifted emotionally by Giacchino's poignant, waltzing score.