The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has added 14 miles to my life.

That's how far I'll have to run to burn off the extra 1,400 calories I'll be consuming in the form of five 3½-ounce boxes of Raisinets — one each at the five additional films nominated for best picture.

In case you haven't heard, the field of Oscar contenders has been bumped up from five to 10 this year. Fortunately, I don't eat popcorn at the movies: At 1,200 calories a shot for a medium popcorn, that would be an extra 6,000 calories, or 60 miles.

That's more than two marathons. No thanks.

A lot of folks accustomed to Hollywood excess have questioned whether the industry has the wherewithal to output 10 legitimate best-picture candidates in a year's time. The short answer is "No"; the slightly longer, more accurate answer is "Not really, but ..."

Let's consider this year's race. In the wake of last week's Golden Globe nominations, the cream appears to have risen to the top in the form of "Up in the Air," a seriocomedy from "Juno" director Jason Reitman starring golden boy George Clooney (whose "Michael Clayton" should have won the best-picture Oscar two years ago but lost to the sexy pick, "No Country for Old Men," but I digress); the much-ballyhooed space fantasy "Avatar"; "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," a devastating portrait of physical and spiritual poverty in America's inner cities; the Iraq War tale "The Hurt Locker"; and Quentin Tarantino's irreverent World War II saga "Inglourious Basterds."

Industry pundits used to look at Golden Globe nominees to project the Oscar field, but now Globe films are as good as locked in for the Academy Awards.

Best musical/comedy Globe nominee "Nine" — "Chicago" director Rob Marshall's film adaptation of a musical adaptation of a film, Federico Fellini's "8½" — most certainly would have muscled its way into contention in a five-horse race (probably knocking out "Inglourious Basterds"), but now it's got its own red-carpeted stall.

Look for all to be among the nominees announced Feb. 2, 2010.

For argument's sake, let's say as many as six or seven films regularly deserve a shot at best picture.

That still leaves a few movies riding in on the tuxedo tails of superior offerings. Critics are bound to grouse about having to invest their time in inferior art, but in fact these extra films won't be lesser, just different.

It's no secret that the Academy leans toward "serious" dramas, and in doing so neglects entire classes of worthy films that don't fit neatly into its prescribed vision of a best picture.

I'm talking about animated films like "Up," a funny, thoughtful Disney-Pixar project that deserves one of the extra slots; or an independent film like "An Education," a coming-of-age tale that has outgrown its indie-fest accolades.

Moreover, the expanded race better accommodates the work of filmmakers like Spike Jonze ("Where the Wild Things Are") and the Coen Brothers ("A Serious Man"), whose visionary efforts often run contrary to mainstream tastes. With nominee No. 10, the Academy can acknowledge brilliance and still feel free to ignore it.

So sure, it's 10 more hours in a smelly theater and a few extra hours at the gym, but that's a small price to pay for a little cinematic diversity.