In years past, the Best Documentary Feature, Best Short Film (Animated) and Best Short Film (Live Action) categories have been decided by the limited amount of members who could make it to the screenings of the films and therefore prove they viewed them before voting. This has always made predicting the results of those categories a little interesting, given the assumed “typical” sort of member who would have the time to participate. Things are changing this year, though.

In an email AMPAS president Hawk Koch sent out to Academy members, he notes that, “For the first time this year, our entire membership will be able to vote in three additional categories. The Academy will be sending you DVD screeners of the nominated films from these three categories before final voting begins.” However, he added, “We look forward to seeing you at our screenings of the nominated films, which will begin on January 19 in Los Angeles, New York, London and San Francisco.” So obviously a theatrical look is still preferred.

This is great news for the filmmakers behind the short nominees in particular, because the spectrum of exposure will be much wider. Their work will fall before the eyes of countless potential future collaborators, not just select people who make the effort to see and vote on these films each season. It also means the dynamics of predicting the eventual winners could be a touch different as a larger group of people will be deciding.

Meanwhile, opening the documentary feature category up to the entire Academy obviously helps films with a popular head of steam, and in this case, it all but secures the Oscar for “Searching for Sugar Man.” However, as I noted in the podcast Friday, I think the film in that category that makes you feel the most while watching it is “The Invisible War,” so it’s potentially a spoiler. My pick running away would be “5 Broken Cameras,” however, while “The Gatekeepers” is just catching its stride now and I suppose could pose something of a threat to its Sony Classics stablemate “Sugar Man.”

I’m not quite sure why this hasn’t been extended to the documentary shorts, as well. I mean, if the other shorts are going to be sent, why not these, too? I started digging into them recently and it’s a varied lot. “Redemption” is a revealing look at canners in New York City and in its way a commentary on the jobs situation in America, while “Kings Point” is a depressing but moving profile of a retirement community in Florida full of seniors who don’t dare get close to anyone with everyone on a ticking clock. I haven’t seen “Inocente,” yet, but it could be the one to beat as the trailer certainly presents a potentially moving portrait of a young, homeless, undocumented immigrant’s dream of becoming an artist.

But we’ll get into that in due time. There are six whole weeks to go before the Oscars, after all.

As well as being gratifying in and of itself, Thursday’s Best Picture Oscar nomination for Michael Haneke’s “Amour” is immensely pleasing to Oscar stat geeks, who can count up the many ways in which it breaks form in the top category: the first foreign-language nominee since 2006’s “Letters from Iwo Jima,” the first non-US foreign-language nominee since 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the first French-language nominee since 1969’s “Z,” only the ninth foreign-language nominee overall, etc, etc.

But the stat we’ve picked up on today relates back to the start of its awards journey, where it won arguably the loftiest film award of all: the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. It scarcely needs to be stated that Cannes and the Oscars occupy very different worlds, so their respective favorites rarely overlap — but “Amour” now becomes only the 16th Palme d’Or winner to convert that prestige into a Best Picture nomination. (Okay, not strictly, given that a few films on the list actually went to Cannes after Oscar night, but the overlap is the point.)

Moreover, to return to a theme you may have picked up in the first paragraph, “Amour” is the first foreign-language Palme d’Or winner to crack the Academy’s top race — 11 of the films on this exclusive list are American, with others boasting  British, New Zealand or mixed European heritage.

Excitingly, “Amour” is the second straight Palme d’Or winner to make the Oscar crossover, after Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” also edged its way into the top race — that both these challenging arthouse prospects made it in speaks well of the recently elastic format of the Best Picture category, and is an encouraging sign for future Cannes winners that leave the festival with equivalent critical buzz.

Looking beyond the Palme d’Or, last year’s Best Picture winner “The Artist” premiered in Competition at Cannes (and won Best Actor for eventual Oscar champ Jean Dujardin), while fellow nominee “Midnight in Paris” opened the fest. This year, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” may have made its opening splash at Sundance, but it consolidated its buzz with a Camera d’Or win at Cannes too.

Cannes, then, remains a potential Oscar kingmaker, even as the festival concerns itself largely with auteurs who will never see the inside of the Dolby Theater — and wouldn’t really care to do so either, thank you very much. (We can but dream, Gaspar Noe.) In the gallery below, I take a chronological tour through the 16 moments the tastes of the Cannes jury and the Oscar voters collided at the highest level. Take a look.  

Another year, another set of Oscar nominees. And while all are lucky to be in the mix, some are twice as lucky. There are always a few double dippers each year, individuals recognized in multiple categories or, sometimes, twice in the same category. So who’s in the club this time around?

Let’s start with “Amour” director Michael Haneke, because you could actually make a case for him being a triple nominee this year. He was recognized individually in the Best Director and Best Original Screenplay categories, but he will also be the one to accept the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film should “Amour” wind up victorious there. Alas, the nomination “officially” goes to the film’s country of origin, Austria in this case, but the fact is Haneke is in a position to walk away with three trophies next month. No one else can say that this year.

David O. Russell (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) will be seeing a lot of each other, as each was featured in both the Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay categories. Fellow Best Director nominee Steven Spielberg, meanwhile, is also a nominee as producer of Best Picture contender “Lincoln.” Ditto Ang Lee, chalked up for Best Director and Best Picture for “Life of Pi.”

(All of the directors nominated this year, therefore, are double-nominees. Intriguing, that.)

Rounding out the above-the-line talent, Mark Boal joins Spielberg in the Best Picture category as producer of nominee “Zero Dark Thirty,” and he’ll also be duking it out with Haneke in the Best Original Screenplay field.

The below-the-line categories can often feature multi-nominated talent, and this year is no different. Sound mixer Andy Nelson was nominated for both “Lincoln” and “Les Misérables,” with a very real shot at winning the latter. Mychael Danna, meanwhile, didn’t just receive his first nomination this year but his second, as well, for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “Life of Pi.”

Finally, William Goldenberg joins Nelson as the only other nominee to be recognized for two different films this year. He was nominated in the Best Film Editing category for both “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” 

So congratulations to those nine individuals on their tallies. And best of luck to them. At least they have the added benefit of better odds with a couple of shots on goal!

(Also, worth noting in all of this is that George Clooney’s nomination in the Best Picture category as producer of “Argo” breaks a record, making him a nominee in six different categories to date. Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Screenplay were the others.)

The 85th Academy Awards will be held on February 24, 2013.

Welcome to Oscar Talk.

In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

The Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards were held last night. We cover the carnage.

Oh, and not to bury the lead, but the Oscar nominations were kind of announced yesterday morning. So we spend the majority of the podcast chewing on those.

Have a listen to the new podcast below. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. (APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR ANNE’S VACUUM CLEANER IN THE BACKGROUND.) You to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here. And as always, if you have a question you’d like us to address on a future podcast, send it to OscarTalk@HitFix.com.

“Here I Come” courtesy of Stuart Park.

The American Cinema Editors (ACE) decided there was no rush and chose to hold its announcement for nominations honoring excellence in filmmaking until after the Oscar nominations landed. This despite being ready to announce on Tuesday. I applaud them for that. Just because the Academy says “jump” doesn’t mean you have to.

The group has nominated films in four categories — drama, comedy/musical, animated and documentary — and nothing seems to be terribly amiss. “The Master” missed out on yet another industry award citation by falling out of the drama category, as did “Django Unchained.”

On the comedy/musical side of things, the usual suspects are in the hunt. And we’re reminded that, indeed, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” still has its fans. But with “Les Misérables” and “Silver Linings Playbook” showing up there, I’d say most films are accounted for all around, save the two mentioned above.

Check out the full list of nominees below and as always, keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Drama:

“Argo”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Skyfall”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Comedy or Musical:

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”
“Les Misérables”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Ted”

Animated:

“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“Rise of the Guardians”
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Documentary:

“Samsara”
“Searching for Sugar Man”
“West of Memphis”

The 63rd annual ACE Eddie Awards will be held on February 16.

The Oscarweb today is mainly awash with responses to yesterday’s Academy Award nominations, and little news besides, so let’s lead with the most articulate of them. A.O. Scott, for one, is pretty thrilled with the list, seeing this year’s Oscar class as an encouraging indication that there’s still a place in the industry for entertaining, stimulating mainstream cinema for adults: “You may also notice a lot of big-studio releases without a superhero in sight. And, perhaps most remarkably, you will find movies that have already sparked passionate arguments and sold a lot of tickets. It would be hard to say the same about the last two best picture winners, ‘The Artist’ and ‘The King”s Speech’ … What strikes me about this year”s Oscar nominees is how many of them invite, or even force, their viewers to think, and making thinking part of the pleasure they offer.” Do you think this year’s lineup represents an improvement on recent years?  [New York Times]

Roger Ebert, meanwhile, offers his mostly positive view of the Academy’s choices, while at the same time delivering his verdict on “Les Miserables.” And boy, is he not a fan. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Ali Gray continues his annual tradition of tweaking Oscar nominees’ posters in order to “tell the truth.” I particularly like the conjunction of “Lincoln” and “Django Unchained.” [The Shiznit]

Steve Pond wonders what yesterday’s unorthodox, banter-filled nominations announcement portends for Seth MacFarlane’s hosting gig next month. [The Wrap]

After noting this unprecedented all-winner lineup for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Joe Reid digs through the archives to find acting fields that can make the same claim — if only in retrospect. [Film.com]

Trivia enthusiast Nathaniel Rogers finds a selection of odd facts and figures about yesterday’s nominees. Is “Amour” at present the lowest-grossing Best Picture nominee of all time? [The Film Experience]

African-American writer and cultural analyst Candace Allen examines the racial debates swirling around “Django Unchained,” and is surprised to find herself on Tarantino’s side. [The Guardian]

Chris Lee talks to two contrasting nominees in the Best Costume Design category: three-time winner Colleen Atwood (“Snow White and the Huntsman”) and first-timer Joanna Johnston (“Lincoln”). [LA Times]

Surprise Best Director nominee Benh Zeitlin, meanwhile, offers his dazed response to his Oscar success: “I don’t know how this movie does this.” [The Projector]

I apologized to Broadcast Film Critics Association president Joey Berlin after this evening’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards for being frank about it, but I couldn’t tell a lie: this year’s show was an embarrassment. Appalling, I’d go so far to say.

Why? You’ve got Tony Kushner on stage during a commercial break, that’s why. You’ve got Rich Moore talking over the crowd during another one upon accepting his Best Animated Film prize, that’s why. You’ve deteriorated into the People’s Choice Awards with added air time for Jennifer Lawrence to make some more “Hunger Games” remarks and Judd Apatow padding a show that could have dealt a little more courtesy to the winners of the evening.

So if Kushner can’t have air time, I’ll give him a little in that snap shot to the left. It was just disgraceful, to reduce the screenplay categories to the sidelines like that. The crafts categories, added a few years back, have always been dished out on the red carpet and announced as a bumper to commercial break, but it’s just wrong. I was sitting next to “Life of Pi” cinematographer Claudio Miranda. He joked that his win was the best kind because he didn’t have to get up and make a speech. Nevertheless, it’s a level of disrespect that I don’t find in keeping with the BFCA’s stated purpose.

They want to make a principled alternative to the Golden Globes. But this is as tacky if not more so than anything I’ve seen the HFPA do. They added a slew of populist-geared categories this year, presumably to curry favor with The CW and boost ratings by getting people like Jake Gyllenhaal and Christian Bale in the mix. But it’s so transparently ludicrous, and when I saw Kushner and Rian Johnson resorted to between-segment recognition, I nearly blew a cork.

And it was in the room. “There’s a sense of, ‘What is the point of this,'” a high profile individual who shall not be named told me. “They need to get their act together,” said another. It was palpable. But maybe I was just being a dick about it, so I sent out a floater on Twitter. How was the show playing at home?

“Genre awards bring it to a stand-still.” “The CW move seems like it inspired a complete change in ‘prestige.'” “Awkward. Clumsy.” “Low budget.” Those were the replies.

Oh, and it didn’t help that someone had the bright idea to blatantly insult nominees this year. An email went out to BFCA members asking if they had ever panned one of the nominees or some such. It would be cute to needle them a bit, I guess was the idea. Well, a barb for Anne Hathaway and “The Princess Diaries 2” sure blew up in their faces when she called them out for misspelling her name on the big screen after she was up for, and won, Best Supporting Actress. Good for her. Who thought that was a good idea? And who decided to execute it like a sledgehammer?

Sam Rubin as host was another sticking point for viewers, it seemed. I had wondered why there hadn’t been a host announcement. The BFCA went with one of their own, a local (KTLA), and he apparently landed just this side of a ton of bricks.

The defense is that the BFCA is trying to find an audience. Awards for genre performances are meant to draw bigger numbers. But forgive me if I don’t think that should be the goal. Maybe the audience should come to them. That’s what “principled” is. Not blatant pandering that couldn’t be more desperate if it tried.

With all of that off my chest, I was happy to run into a few people at the show. “Beasts of the Southern Wild” director Benh Zeitlin was a favorite amongst the audience, constantly courted during commercial breaks. He was brought around by Kathleen Kennedy to meet Steven Spielberg, surely a huge moment for him. He said he shrieked when he heard his name called this morning as a surprise Best Director nominee. It’s such a lovely story.

Ben Affleck was hounded by iPhone camera-wielders most of the show (many of them, sadly, BFCA members). He admitted to me that he was upset over his Best Director snub by the Academy this morning but it wasn’t all frowns for long as he and his film won top honors at the show. I let him know that I think the film still has a decent shot to make a play, despite what the “stats” might say, because of the preferential balloting system. It’s simply a year so strange that anything can happen. But he noted he was in good company on the sidelines, given Kathryn Bigelow’s absence.

Best Actress winner Jessica Chastain was there with her grandmother as her date. She said she just performed “The Heiress” on stage in New York yesterday and has more of that to come this weekend. The double-duty would be murder for anyone but she’s a hard worker. And her heartfelt speech was a touching note.

I also ran into Sony Classics honcho Michael Barker, who gave me a fierce handshake and said, “I told you!” Indeed, he had a lot of confidence going into this morning that “Amour” would land big nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress. And it did. And like me, he thinks Emmanuelle Riva has a real shot at winning the Oscar. The strategy is percolating to life, believe me.

At the after party I spoke with “Flight” screenwriter John Gatins at length, a bit of a surprise nominee this morning. He’s on cloud nine and reiterated what he told me this morning, that his friend Rian Johnson should have been there for “Looper.” Quvenzhané Wallis, meanwhile, was dancing the night away. The girl loves the camera and plenty had theirs out to grab photos and videos (me included). She just lights up her corner of the room. Finally, John Hawkes puffed a cigarette outside, way more okay with being an Oscar snubbee than you’d expect of anyone. He is, as ever, humble, happy, himself.

So if the show itself was unfortunate all around, at least the chance to convene with these talented people the day many of them got some great news was enjoyed. And I hope the BFCA figures it out one of these days, but on this trajectory, I’m not all that hopeful.

Check out the night’s winners here. And now, Quvenzhané Wallis is going to dance for you.

It’s been a day of bittersweet fortunes for “Argo.” This morning, the popular political thriller’s hopes of winning the Best Picture Oscar were cut down to size when Ben Affleck shockingly failed to make the Best Director lineup. Hours later, however, Affleck was the golden boy once more at the Broadcast Film Critics’ Association’s Critics’ Choice Awards, as he won both the Best Picture and Best Director trophies –elbowing out “Lincoln,” which had led the field with 13 nominations. If not for this morning’s bombshell, Affleck would likely now be in the driver’s seat for the Oscar. It’s a weird season, this.

Those two awards were all “Argo” won, however, as the BFCA opted to spread the wealth between their supposed frontrunners. “Lincoln” took three prizes, for Best Actor, Adapted Screenplay and Score, while “Zero Dark Thirty” nabbed a pair — including Best Actress, for which Jessica Chastain beat Oscar favorite Jennifer Lawrence.

Not that Lawrence was ignored: she won two of the group’s newly made-up performance categories, specifically for work in comedy (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and action film (“The Hunger Games”). She also got to share in the Best Ensemble award for “Playbook” — which, thanks to these somewhat dubious genre categories, took four awards, the most of any film on the night.  

In the supporting categories, Anne Hathaway and, somewhat less predictably, Philip Seymour Hoffman took the gold, while “Life of Pi” and “Anna Karenina” each earned a pair of technical awards. Kris was on the scene, and may have more to report later; for now, check out the full list of winners below, as well as over at The Circuit.

Best Picture: “Argo”

Best Director: Ben Affleck, “Argo”

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables” 

Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Tony Kushner, “Lincoln”

Best Animated Film: “Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Young Actor: Quvenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”

Best Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood, “Anna Karenina”

Best Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”

Best Film Editing: William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Makeup: “Cloud Atlas”

Best Visual Effects: “Life of Pi”

Best Original Score: John Williams, “Lincoln”

Best Original Song: Adele and Paul Epworth, “Skyfall,” “Skyfall”

Best Comedy: “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actor in a Comedy: Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Actress in a Comedy: Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Sci-Fi or Horror Film: “Looper”

Best Action Film: “Skyfall”

Best Actor in an Action Film: Daniel Craig, “Skyfall”

Best Actress in an Action Film: Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games”

And they”re here. Another year come and another set of nominees in the Academy”s crafts categories, highlighting the invaluable contributions to our movies by behind-the-lines, “below the line” artists.

While most Oscar-watchers are still picking their jaws up off the floor after what happened in the Best Director category, several have also noticed the over-performing of “Life of Pi” and “Silver Linings Playbook.” In the case of “Pi,” that led to its leading the way among the crafts category contenders, with 8 nominations. “Lincoln” landed in second place with six nods.

“Skyfall” crushed the previous record for nominations among Bond films, with five (“The Spy Who Loved Me” earned three). “Les Misérables””s tally of five is the only other dominator, though “Argo” (4), “Anna Karenina” (4) and “Snow White and the Huntsman” (2) did respectably.

“Django Unchained” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” however, must be considered mild under-performers, each garnering only two crafts nominations. But “The Avengers” (with one) and especially “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Cloud Atlas” (both shut out) are the ultimate disappointments.

And like the acting categories this year, there are also a lot of returning nominees. Relatively few newcomers tickled the branches” fancy this year.

I didn”t have a perfect record in any of these fields but I went 3 or 4 out of 5 in all but Best Makeup and Hairstyling. (As for the top eight, including foreign and animated, I had a perfect record in Best Actor and went 4 out of 5 in all the others except Best Director, where my 1/5 score is my worst in 13 years of predicting!)

Let’s take a closer look…

Best Cinematography

I went only 3/5, erring at the last minute. Claudio Miranda (“Life of Pi”), Roger Deakins (“Skyfall”) and to a lesser extent Janusz Kaminski (“Lincoln”) all seemed to be obvious picks. They”ll be competing with each other for the statue.

My last minute swap-in of ASC/BAFTA nominee “Les Misérables” was a mistake as I should have gone with Seamus McGarvey”s ASC/BAFTA-nominated work in “Anna Karenina.” Oh well. I”m not sad about this miss.

I also left the wrong film in, as Greig Fraser”s work in “Zero Dark Thirty” was skipped over for Robert Richardson”s gorgeous lensing of “Django Unchained.” I do have more qualms with this choice but so be it. Richardson is an extraordinary DP and I”m confident Fraser”s time will come.

This category has five previous nominees, for the first time in recent memory. I haven”t had time to check if it is the first time ever, but certainly the past 20 years.

Best Costume Design

I went 3/5 here as well. Jacqueline Durran”s nomination for “Anna Karenina” was obvious and she”ll be difficult to beat for the statue. Joanna Johnston, meanwhile, FINALLY earned her first nomination, for “Lincoln,” having done high profile work for Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis for over a quarter-century. Paco Delgado”s first nomination for “Les Misérables” was predictable as well.

Jacqueline West, like many of “Argo””s crafts artists, may have suffered from too much subtlety. As for poor Sharen Davis, I can”t believe she was snubbed for “Django Uncahined.” The Designers branch mustn”t get Tarantino. None of his films have ever been nominated in either Best Costume Design or Best Art Direction/Production Design.

The category”s affinity for films otherwise unrecognized, arguably of poor quality and/or those that were thought forgotten continued. Both “Snow White” films of 2012 showed up, as Eiko Ishioka was posthumously cited for “Mirror Mirror” and Colleen Atwood earned her 10th nomination to date for “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

Best Film Editing

I went 4/5 here. William Goldenberg earns his third and fourth nominations for “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” (the latter shared with Dylan Tichenor). I expect him to be competing with himself for the win, though the films” director snubs give me pause.

With his nomination for “Lincoln” (his eighth), Michael Kahn sets a new record among film editors for nominations, while Tim Squyres finally earned a second nomination for “Life of Pi.”

The complaints about “Les Misérables””s editing must have resonated as Chris Dickens ended up being passed over for Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers”s crisp work on “Silver Linings Playbook.” David O. Russell”s film truly scored everywhere it was plausible.

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Ouch. I went only 1/3 here as my “no-guts-no-glory” prediction of “Men in Black 3” over “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” backfired. There was a surprise (nonetheless foreseen by Kris) as “Hitchcock” made it in over “Lincoln.” Only “Les Misérables” was a truly predictable nominee.

This category is crazily difficult to call, and cases could be made for each contender, but I suppose I”d give the edge to “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”

Best Music (Original Score)

I went 4/5. I am happy to say that my confidence in John Williams (“Lincoln”), Alexandre Desplat (“Argo”), Mychael Danna (“Life of Pi”) and Dario Marianelli (“Anna Karenina”) was not misplaced. My reservations about the previously un-nominated composers of “The Master,” “Cloud Atlas” and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” also turned out to be justified.

Alas, Desplat did not become a nominee for “Zero Dark Thirty” but Thomas Newman pulled off his 11th nomination for “Skyfall,” which I found somewhat surprising given that “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” was also in contention, but there you go.

This is a truly open race, but I can”t help but wonder if it”s time for Williams to win again? Then again, first time nominees frequently win when nominated, so I”d keep my eye on Danna. Or could it finally be Newman”s turn? But isn”t Marianelli”s score most memorable?

Best Music (Original Song)

I went 3/5 here. “Suddenly” and “Skyfall” were obvious bets and I fully expect them to now be battling out for the win.

“Pi”s Lullaby” managed to sneak in but “Ancora Qui” from “Django Unchained” and “Learn Me Right” from “Brave” did not. Rather, the branch went for the Seth MacFarlane-penned and Norah Jones-performed “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from “Ted.” In hindsight, this seems patently obvious as a way to get Jones to the ceremony and to honor MacFarlane — not that that is ever a real concern with this branch, though. Plus, it”s actually a good song that plays very well in the opening credits.

As for “Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice?” I did not see that one coming. I”d go so far as to rank it alongside Jacki Weaver”s nod as the day”s biggest surprise.

Best Production Design

I went 4/5 here, but I”m very content as my alternate also made it in. “Anna Karenina,” “Lincoln,” and “Les Misérables” were obvious nominees. Cases could be made for any of them winning, but I”ll come back to that in the weeks ahead.

“Django Unchained” represented the last opportunity to honor the late J. Michael Riva. The branch passed up on that – as I said, they clearly don”t go for Tarantino in this branch. Fantasy instead ruled the day as both “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (which I predicted) and “Life of Pi” (which was my alternate) made it in.

Best Sound Editing

I went 3/5 here, with my faith in “Django Unchained,” “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” turning out to be well placed.

But my bet on both “The Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” backfired badly, as they both missed. Instead, “Life of Pi” continued its dominance (one of five categories where I underestimated it) and “Argo” managed to sneak into the final five, which truly did surprise me, especially given Affleck”s strange omission in Best Director. There you go.

This is also an open race for the win, though my gut leads me to give the edge to “Skyfall.”

Best Sound Mixing

I went 3/5 here as well, again missing both “Argo” and “Life of Pi.” The omission of “Django Unchained” doesn”t bother me, but “Zero Dark Thirty””s missing does upset me profoundly. Oh well. Life goes on.

“Lincoln””s nomination here shows its support runs deep and it is clearly leading the way for Best Picture. But this crew, anchored by Gary Rydstrom, Ben Burtt and Andy Nelson, also demands extraordinary respect. This is one of two horses that Nelson has in this race, as he was also predictably nominated for “Les Misérables.”

But expect “Les Mis” to get some competition for the win from the other easily predictable nominee in this category. Greg P. Russell earned his 16th nomination to date for his collaboration with four-time winner Scott Millan on “Skyfall.” We”ll see if he can get his long overdue first win. Musicals have beaten Russell thrice before, but not for a film as nominated and respected as “Skyfall.”

Another real surprise here, even though I predicted it, was in what was not nominated. Not a single summer blockbuster was in the line-up for the first time in 20 years.

Best Visual Effects

I went 3/5, getting the easy calls of “The Avengers,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “Life of Pi.” The latter’s stranglehold on this category is probably rivaled only by those of Daniel Day-Lewis in Best Actor and Anne Hathaway in Best Supporting Actress.

“Cloud Atlas” missing for “Prometheus” is in hindsight predictable and I’m kicking myself for not seeing it coming. Though I certainly didn”t expect “Snow White and the Huntsman” to score here, and as such to contribute to “The Dark Knight Rises” being shut out.

So that”s it. Kris, Guy, Greg and I will continue to monitor the crafts categories until the envelopes are opened announcing the winners in these categories next month. Congratulations to all the nominees.

What are your predictions throughout the crafts categories? Have your say in the comments section below!

Well, then. That was a cold blast of water to the faces of Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow this morning. The directors of “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” respectively failed to be nominated for their films, each of which were frontrunners for a potential win in the Best Picture race leading into today’s announcement and assumed nominees for their work on the CIA thrillers. But without a Best Director nod, it’s generally a little tough to take the big prize, and so, the biggest shock of the day is their failure to get in.

They each yielded to perhaps the most surprising nominee of the day, Benh Zeitlin, director of “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” Talk about a big, beautiful success story. Sundance is gearing up for another run in just one week and to see this film last a whole year (it debuted at Sundance 2012 where it was picked up by Fox Searchlight) and particularly see this strong a showing (Quvenzhané Wallis was also nominated in the lead actress category, the youngest actress ever to have the honor) is just lovely. Congrats to all involved.

Speaking of Oscar records, Emmanuelle Riva picked up a nomination for Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” becoming the oldest actress ever nominated in the category. A nice bit of symmetry, that. But it didn’t stop there for Sony Classics’ Palme d’Or winner. The film landed nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and, in a first for a foreign language contender since the category was expanded beyond five, Best Picture. It clearly resonated (and boy am I glad I pulled my last second punch and ended up predicting each of those). Mark that as another big success today.

Going down the list here, Joaquin Phoenix managed to make it into the Best Actor category for his performance in “The Master,” despite being left off the SAG list. Shoved aside unceremoniously: John Hawkes in “The Sessions.” This was forecasted by BAFTA’s nominations yesterday, which coughed up nearly the same line-up. It’s a shame that Hawkes got the scoot for such a lived-in, honest, touching performance, but I am nevertheless glad Phoenix made the cut. Though it isn’t like Paul Thomas Anderson’s film found some big, unexpected windfall. Three nominations for acting and that’s it, not even an original screenplay bid for the maestro. (John Gatins made it in for “Flight” instead.)

The only real “surprise” in the acting category was Jacki Weaver showing up for “Silver Linings Playbook.” I put it in quotes because she has been all over the place this season, putting in the face time, and she delivers a good little performance that was on the periphery of possibilities. Not only that, but her bid puts David O. Russell’s film in rare territory: four actors from the film were nominated. That along with nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing make it a formidable competitor for the Best Picture win on February 24.

Which brings me to the buried lead: Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” was the nominations leader with 12 tips of the hat across the board. That makes it, to my mind, the frontrunner to win the prize. The only nomination it missed that most were predicting was Best Makeup and Hairstyling (the only category I got 100% correct). But let’s not count out “Life of Pi,” which picked up a stunning 11 nominations, though none (as expected) in the acting categories. I would call it a very real spoiler possibility and Fox might want to snap out of it and see this as an opportunity. “Silver Linings Playbook” is the one lying in wait to trip both period pieces up.

And who would have thought that would be where we’re at? Such is the Oscar season, always ready to give you a bit of a start. Always primed for surprise.

There’s plenty of time between now and the Oscars to really chew on this (a whole six weeks, in fact!), but moving on with some reactions, I have to first and foremost say I’m happy “Django Unchained” made the cut for Best Picture. I had my doubts, but it slid in. I tossed in “The Intouchables” as a last-second WTF bet because a number of members loved the film (though, interestingly, not enough in the foreign film category to get it a nomination there) and were vocal about it down the stretch. But with my ranking, I got all of the other nominees, so I’ll count that as a 100% guess, too.

(And speaking of foreign film, I would say it’s safe to say “Amour” has that locked up now, but you just never can tell.)

“Argo” may have shockingly been left off the Best Director list (as I noted a few weeks ago, sometimes the directors can put actors-turned-helmers in their place — see Ron Howard and “Apollo 13”), but it was strong enough elsewhere, grabbing seven nods total, including surprising nominations in both sound categories.

Oh, speaking of which, a huge congratulations to friend-of-IC Greg P. Russell for his 16th Oscar nomination, for “Skyfall.” Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables” clearly showed weakness, failing to get nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing (though it did rack up eight nods overall). Is this perhaps the year Russell finally gets it? My fingers are, as ever, crossed for him. Meanwhile, Sam Medes’s 50th anniversary effort picked up five nominations, all told, including a somewhat surprising nod for Thomas Newman (who also had “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” in play). That, combined with Russell and Roger Deakins’ predictable nominations, make this two-month-old piece all the more timely. Three vets who have never won an Oscar, combining for an 0-34 track record at the Academy Awards. Brilliant.

One thing worth mentioning is, as I had expected might happen, DreamWorks Animation’s “Rise of the Guardians” — a box office flop with average reviews — was left off the list of Best Animated Feature Film nominees. But the beneficiary wasn’t GKIDS, rather, Aardman Studios, as “The Pirate! Band of Misfits” made the cut. Intriguing. And my beloved “5 Broken Cameras” popped up in the documentary category, but the story there is Sony Classics getting two nominations. That’s somewhat rare. And they likely have the Oscar for “Searching for Sugar Man” all but sewn up.

Finally, the telecast this morning chose to announce the Best Original Song nominees live for an obvious reason: Seth McFarlane was one of the nominees! “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from “Ted” joined “Pi’s Lullaby” (“Life of Pi”), “Suddenly” (“Les Misérables”), “Skyfall” (“Skyfall”) and fellow surprising nominee, “Before My Time” (“Chasing Ice”), leaving “Brave” in the dust. I had hoped one of the “Django” tracks would get a notice. Bummer.

A last note on predictions. I went 82/107 overall. I’ll let you tell me if that’s good or not. I honestly don’t know. I missed an average of one in each category and, like I said, the only fields where I picked all the nominees were Best Picture and Best Makeup. (Sad face for “Moonrise Kingdom” on the former.) I’d love to hear how you did.

And there we are! My first blush reaction to the nominees, which were, thankfully, full of intrigue. We have a long, long way to go to the Oscars, so let’s not blow our load just yet. It’ll be a fun race to the finish, even if it seems like only three can make it. But is that really true? Could this be a year when Best Director snubs don’t hurt this or that contender? It’s not a hard and fast “rule” or anything.

We shall see.

The 85th annual Academy Awards will be held on February 24, 2013.

When the Academy announced it was moving up the announcement of its nominees to an unprecedently early date, we knew the ensuing precursor scramble could result in a few surprises. We just didn’t know quite how many. With this morning’s nominations, they may have played by the book in some respects — pretty much everyone saw that field-leading haul of nods for Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” coming — but in many others, they were on excitingly independent-minded form, freed from the lockstep of Guild thinking.

Nowhere was that more evident than in the gasp-inducing Best Director category, where — for the first time in Oscar history — the Academy’s directors’ branch only matched two of the five Directors’ Guild nominees. One of those; of course, was Spielberg; the other was Ang Lee, whose magical-realist survival story “Life of Pi” exceeded expectations by nabbing 11 nominations to a dozen for “Lincoln,” establishing itself in one fell swoop as a sneaky Best Picture threat to the presumed frontrunner.

But the Best Director announcement — made especially, disorientatingly suspenseful as Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced all the nominees in non-alphabetical order — spelled crushing news for Ben Affleck, whose political thriller “Argo” had widely been viewed as “Lincoln”‘s chief competition until this morning. As the directors shockingly excluded the popular actor-turned-filmmaker, “Argo,” despite a healthy total of seven nominations, appears to be out of the race: no film since “Driving Miss Daisy” has taken the Academy’s top prize without a nod for its helmer.

Still, Affleck is in good company on the sidelines: the omission of recent winner and critical favorite Kathryn Bigelow for her controversial military thriller “Zero Dark Thirty,” which managed five nominations overall, was almost as surprising. Could the media fuss over what some see as the film’s pro-torture stance have cost her a nod for what is nothing if not a director’s film? The third DGA nominee to miss the cut was another recent champ, “Les Miserables” helmer Tom Hooper — though his miss, given Globe and BAFTA snubs and the polarizing nature of his unorthodox directorial approach to the beloved musical, is less unexpected.

But, of course, where one contender falls, another rises, and the three films to benefit from the Academy’s bold shake-up were “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Amour” and, most remarkably, “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” all three of which secured nominations for their directors, and joined “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi,” “Argo,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Les Mis” and “Django Unchained” in the nine-strong Best Picture lineup.

We saw the nominations for “Amour” and Michael Haneke coming, but this outcome still represents a major coup for the French-Austrian Palme d’Or winner, especially when you consider that no foreign-language film from a non-US director has entered the Academy’s top race since “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” 12 years ago. With five nominations, including Best Actress for veteran New Wave icon Emmanuelle Riva and, of course, Best Foreign Language Film, this is the nominee that should have the most critics cheering.

But if we can claim bragging rights on “Amour,” we certainly can’t say we anticipated a nomination for Benh Zeitlin, the 30-year-old first-timer who brought “Beasts of the Southern Wild” so dynamically to the screen. Most pundits thought the indie darling would be lucky to secure a Bicture nod in the expanded field, but with three extra nods, including Best Actress for the film’s other precocious wunderkind, nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, it was clearly higher up the ranks than we’d been thinking. In a neat bit bit of symmetrical trivia, meanwhile, Wallis and 85-year-old Riva now enter the record books as, respectively, the youngest and oldest Best Actress nominees in the category’s history.   

“Silver Linings Playbook” arguably joins “Pi” as the morning’s biggest overperformer — a Best Picture nod was always a given for David O. Russell’s scrappy, acid-laced romcom, as were acting nods for stars Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. But the Weinsteins’ prize pony wasn’t about to be content with that. Not only did Russell, widely seen as on the bubble, nab his second directing nod, but in perhaps the biggest upset of the morning, Australian character actress Jacki Weaver broke into the Best Supporting Actress category, elbowing out big-name SAG nominees Nicole Kidman and Maggie Smith, and making “Playbook” the first film since “Reds” 31 years ago to receive nods in all four acting races. Add an all-important Best Film Editing nod to bring its tally to eight, and the film is very much back in the game.   

Once more, then, Harvey Weinstein did the trick with Oscar voters — though the famously savvy campaigner didn’t have it all his own way, as his other hopefuls enjoyed mixed fortunes. With five nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained” clearly overcame the obstacles of bloody content and a late release to impress a significant amount of voters, though it didn’t perform as well below the line as might have been expected.

“The Master,” meanwhile, secured three acting nominations — with the famously prickly Joaquin Phoenix overcoming a SAG snub to edge out John Hawkes in a tight Best Actor field — but that was all she wrote for Paul Thomas Anderson’s chilly critics’ favorite, as even Anderson found himself frozen out of the Best Original Screenplay race.

And there was worse news for the Weinsteins’ French crowdpleaser “The Intouchables,” seen not only as a shoo-in for a Best Foreign Language Film nod, but even as a potential Best Picture nominee. As it turned out, the film received nothing at all — even losing out to “Amour,” “War Witch,” “No,” “A Royal Affair” and “Kon-Tiki” in the foreign field. (Of course, “Kon-Tiki” is a Weinstein title too — so, you know, swings and roundabouts.) With this news, “Amour” can now pretty much rest assured that it has at least one award in the bag.

Weaver’s nod aside, the acting nods brought fewer eyebrow-raising talking points: both Best Actor and Best Actress were hotly contested, each featuring a few too many names for five slots. That SAG nominee Hawkes made way for Phoenix wasn’t as surprising it would have been a month or two ago; buzz for “The Sessions” had been quietly fading, and eventual nominees Hugh Jackman, Denzel Washington, Bradley Cooper and, of course, comfortable front-runner Daniel Day-Lewis had strong support.

Over in Best Actress, something similarly had to give, and it was SAG nominees Helen Mirren and Marion Cotillard, whose performance in “Rust and Bone” simply hadn’t attracted many eyeballs, who made way for Wallis and Cotillard’s compatriot Riva. In Best Supporting Actor, Christoph Waltz overcame internal competition from “Django Unchained” co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson to knock “Skyfall” villain Javier Bardem out of SAG’s supporting actor lineup. (The 007 juggernaut, meanwhile, had to be content with a quartet of technical nods.)

Between Waltz, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones and Alan Arkin, I think this may be the first time the Academy has composed an acting field entirely of former winners, though I haven’t had time to check the records.  

The Best Animated Feature category, as usual, brought one major surprise. While holiday flop “Rise of the Guardians” failed to join fellow studio titles “Frankenweenie,” “Brave,” “ParaNorman” and “Wreck-It Ralph” in the lineup, the beneficiary wasn’t, as might have been expected, one of the foreign GKIDS titles, but Aardman’s quirky British comic adventure “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” Perhaps some of that seafaring good fortune from “Life of Pi” rubbed off on it.

While the ever-growing club of “Perks of Being a Wallflower” fans are crossing their fingers for a screenplay Oscar nod in the next hour or so, the film’s word-of-mouth success was rewarded last night with a People’s Choice Award win for Best Dramatic Movie (and Best Dramatic Actress for Emma Watson). It’s easy to mock these awards, but it’s nice to see actual evidence that this little film has connected with audiences out in the real world. More predictably, “The Hunger Games” took the top award, while Jennifer Lawrence took two prizes, for Best Actress and Face of Heroism — it’s safe to say “Silver Linings Playbook” didn’t factor into either of these. Other film category winners include “Ted,” Chris Hemsworth, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Aniston — hey, these awards aren’t so bad. [Yahoo!] 

Perhaps not too surprisingly, not everyone sees the funny side of those campy “Django Unchained” action figures. [Wall Street Journal] 

Jon Weisman considers the implications, such as they are, of Steven Spielberg’s BAFTA miss, and his curious absence from almost all the critics’ awards. [The Vote]

Melena Ryzik invites a host of past Oscar honorees, from Sally Field to Tom Hooper, to reflect on their Academy Award experiences. [The Carpetbagger] 

In a field heavy on former winners and nominees, which first-timers will be admitted to the Oscar club? [Entertainment Weekly]

Speaking of which, Daniel Montgomery wonders if Eddie Redmayne can beat the odds and nab a supporting nod for “Les Mis.” Some pundits are actually going there, but missing with BAFTA wasn’t a good sign. [Gold Derby]

The piece is a year old, but the author resurrected it on Twitter because it’s just as applicable this year: why the Razzie Awards are a waste of time. [Gawker]

Mike D’Angelo offers an appreciation of Wes Anderson’s efforts to keep the montage alive in “Moonrise Kingdom.” [The AV Club]

Looking beyond Oscar, Michael Cusumano finds five reasons to believe Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” will be one of his good ones. The cast is great, but you knew that without looking. [The Film Experience]

Ryan Gilbey offers an affectionate appreciation of “Snakes on a Plane” director David R. Ellis’s career. Ellis passed away on Monday. [The Guardian]

Okay, so I went back and fiddled with some things this morning before getting on my flight to LA. It’s all reflected there and in this afternoon’s big gallery story presenting my final predictions along with Greg Ellwood’s and Guy Lodge’s.

I love how zany this year is. So much that we “know” about an awards season can just be thrown out the window. But of course, there will always be those who claim to have “the knowledge.” Don’t let ’em fool you.

I have a few wishes, if I might toss them out there. I’d like to see “The Grey ” show up. Anywhere. Doesn’t matter the category. Any hint that it was seen and loved, that would be great, thanks. (Fat chance, I know.)

I would like to see the actors do the right thing by Emmanuelle Riva. It’s the year’s best performance, a brave portrayal in the actress’s twilight years. And frankly, I’d love to see Jean-Louis Trintignant right there beside her. Indeed, Trintignant and Samuel L. Jackson are my left-field hopefuls that have a fair enough chance to surprise.

Speaking of Jackson, though my hunch is that “Django Unchained” played better to BAFTA than to AMPAS, I hope that hunch is wrong. “They love it in the Palisades” is something I’ve heard this week, but, well, the Academy’s membership stretches further and more varied than “the Palisades.”

I want the writers to give a pat on the back to Stephen Chbosky and Rian Johnson. Both made it in with the WGA but their Oscar chances seem a taller order.

I would like Focus’s last minute realization that “Moonrise Kingdom” was a real player to not matter all that much and for the film to have found passion within the Academy. To be fair, they couldn’t have expected back in the summer that it would end up in a position to land a Best Picture nomination, particularly with that fall slate lying ahead at the time. But sometimes you have to make that gamble and bank on the passion.

My fingers are crossed for the below-the-line work on “Argo” that has received recognition in some quarters, hasn’t in others. The cinematography, costumes, film editing and production design are all impeccable, detailed, thorough and, above all, not showy — a rare feat for a period piece. It’s also slowly but surely becoming my pick to win Best Picture.

Mostly, I just want to be delighted by the nominations. We might get a roll call of the expected, but with such an exciting, dynamic year as this one, the worst thing that could happen is reflecting it in a boring set of anticipated nominees. Give us McConaughey, give us “The Intouchables,” give us Trintignant, give us anything to show that you had your own point of view, Academy, whether I agree with your ultimate picks or not. I know your backs were against the wall with the schedule and the voting snafus, but it was just too good, too intriguing a year to ignore what was on the periphery of the usual. There are other things out there. I hope you saw them.

My case-closed final predictions are right here. Guy’s are here. Greg’s are here. And Gerard’s are here. See you in the morning.

As I wrote last weekend when I broke down this year’s Oscar race for Best Documentary Feature, I really wish I had caught up with “5 Broken Cameras” earlier in the season. It is quite simply one of the most astonishing pieces of work I’ve seen all year and could easily have figured on my top 10 list (where “The Queen of Versailles” was already featured — it’s been such a great year for the form).

I was happy, then, to see the news that the film took the top prize at tonight’s Cinema Eye Honors. Such a bold and respectable call in a year that sees “Searching for Sugar Man” virtually dominating the scene (and likely to win the Oscar, too). I still feel good about the film’s chances for a nod; after this win (not that this is an overly predictive), it’s clear it has support.

Another film I’m betting on for a nod, “Detropia,” picked up prizes for direction and original score, while the aforementioned “Sugar Man” picked up just one prize, for graphic design/animation (and I won’t argue there). Just a great slate of winners on down the line. Cinematography — of course “Chasing Ice” deserves that. Editing — “How to Survive a Plague” is a feat of editing. I don’t even much like “The Imposter,” but it’s handsomely mounted, so an achievement in production prize is fine by me.

Check out the full list of winners below. We’ll see what the branch has to say tomorrow morning. And as always, keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking
“5 Broken Cameras”

Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, “Detropia”

Outstanding Achievement in Production
“The Imposter”

Outsdanding Achievement in Cinematography
“Chasing Ice”

Outstanding Achievement in Editing
“How to Survive a Plague”

Audience Choice Prize
“Bully”

Outstanding Achievement in Debut Feature Film
Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims, “Only the Young”

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Score
“Detropia”

Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design or Animation
“Searching for Sugar Man”

Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Short Filmmaking
“Good Bye Mandima (Kwa Heri Mandima)”

Spotlight Award
“Argentinian Lesson”

Heterodox Award
“Museum Hours”

Legacy Award
“The War Room”

Right, ’tis the night before Oscar Nomination Day, and plenty of creatures are still stirring. Many pundits are still feverishly tweaking their prediction lists, cross-referencing precursor lists and previous years’ editions for clues, but like my HitFix colleagues, I’ve let mine go. These, for better or (probably) worse, are my final guesses — some pragmatic, some playful — and I don’t much feel like shuffling them any further.

Nor, really, do I feel like talking about them much further. I could use this column to explain the method (minimal) behind my eight-nominee Best Picture lineup or the madness (maximal) behind predicting a Best Original Song nod for “The Sambola!,” but any such rationalizations reach their sell-by date in just a few hours’ time. I could look ahead to the next stage of the race, and the contenders likeliest to win it, but thanks to the Academy’s reconfigured calendar, we still have over six weeks left in which to exhaust that topic. (Thank heavens we have some festivals in the interim to break up the conversation.)

Rather, in the vague spirit of this column’s title, I’d prefer to use this Nomination Eve edition to raise a glass to the worthy films and individuals that won’t be receiving the blessed phone call bright and early tomorrow morning. Except I don’t mean the lovable million-to-one shots and on-the-bubble underdogs for which we only need cross our fingers a few hours longer before the Academy, in all probability, shatters their dreams (and ours).

I’m referring to the ones that are already, officially, out of the running. I may know as well as you do that Anna Kendrick isn’t going to nab a Best Actress nod for “Pitch Perfect,” and that my #6 film of the year, “Sister,” has no propects beyond a Best Foreign Language Film nomination it’ll do well to get. But at least they’re on the formal list of possibilities — which is to say, the list of 282 titles deemed eligible for main-category consideration in this year’s Academy Awards. And that’s more than can be said for a number of 2012’s best theatrical releases. 

If I were a member of the Academy’s cinematographers’ branch, for example, I wouldn’t have any hesitation in jotting down Robbie Ryan’s name at the top of my ballot, for his breathtaking visual sorcery on the Yorkshire moors in Andrea Arnold’s imposing redesign of “Wuthering Heights.” But wait a minute, I wouldn’t be able to — despite a limited but legitimate release in the autumn, the Oscilloscope property hasn’t jumped through the administrative hoops required to secure a place on the longlist of hopefuls.

Arnold’s film is in good company on the bleachers. Shattering Australian true-crime drama “The Snowtown Murders,” whose non-pro discovery Louise Harris would probably win my personal Best Supporting Actress award for 2012, can’t be nominated either. Ditto a host of outstanding foreign-language features, from my own top film of 2012, “Tabu,” through to “Miss Bala,” “Elena” and Cannes-crowned critics’ favorites “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” and “The Kid With a Bike.”

It’s not just acclaimed independent fare from outside North America that is out of the race (or, if you prefer, was never in the race to begin with). “Sound of My Voice,” which recently netted two major Independent Spirit nods, isn’t on the list; neither are “Gayby,” “The Color Wheel” or “Hello I Must Be Going,” with its roundly praised lead turn by Melanie Lynskey.

Perhaps the most prominent absentee from the list is David Cronenberg’s star-studded Cannes title “Cosmopolis,” which has landed on several major year-end critics’ lists; I probably wouldn’t go so far as to vote for the calculatedly blank Robert Pattinson as Best Actor, but it’d be nice to have the option. (Cronenberg, who recently spoke of his disregard for awards season, is unlikely to be bothered.)

Any stray R.Pattz fans in the Academy may be crushed to learn that they can’t vote for “Bel Ami” either — if nothing else, the film boasted the year’s most baitily corset-astic costumes until “Anna Karenina” flounced along.They can take comfort — as can fans of all the aforementioned ineligibles — in knowing that they’re free to vote for “The Twight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2” in all categories. Or “That’s My Boy,” for that matter. 

None of this is especially anyone’s fault: the Academy has defined eligibility criteria, and it just so happens that the necessities of independent and arthouse distribution don’t always abide my them: some of these films may not have played the required Los Angeles theatrical run, or may have disqualified themselves with a prior release in a non-theatrical format, or may simply not have been entered in the first place. Granted, almost all these titles would likely be ignored by voters even if they were eligible.

Either way, I’m pointing this out not to chide the Oscars, but to remind observers that these awards — or indeed any others — can’t factor in everything that’s going on in the bustling US and world cinema scenes. It’d help, of course, if the Academy would venture a little further even within their practical boundaries — which is why the prospect of top nominations tomorrow for a foreign film like “Amour” (or even, much as I personally dislike the film, “The Intouchables”) would be encouraging news.

As models of film production and distribution continue to expand beyond old-school theatrical formats, and as globalization muddies the definitions of Hollywood and mainstream cinema, the Oscars in their present shape may seem an increasingly antiquated institution, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing if audiences came to recognize that even the shiniest film awards are far from all-encompassing — and that 282 films make for a mere drop in the ocean of the global film industry.

On the next page, then, you’ll find my ideal-world Oscar ballot, including many films not eligible for recognition tomorrow morning — though all of them were US theatrical releases in 2012. (Consider this a truncated version of my annual two-part My Dream Ballot feature — as much as I’d have liked to stick to the old format, time simply ran out.) Take a look, and share your own thoughts and favorites — on or off the eligibility list — below. See you bright and early tomorrow.

Best Picture
“Alps”
“Damsels in Distress”
“Elena”
“Magic Mike”
“The Master”
“Post Mortem”
“Sister”
“The Snowtown Murders”
“Tabu”
“Wuthering Heights”

Best Director
Andrey Zvyagintsev, “Elena”
Steven Soderbergh, “Magic Mike”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
Miguel Gomes, “Tabu”
Andrea Arnold, “Wuthering Heights”

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Denis Lavant, “Holy Motors”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
Paul Rudd, “Wanderlust”
Channing Tatum, “21 Jump Street”

Best Actress
Greta Gerwig, “Damsels in Distress”
Melissa Leo, “Francine”
Nadezhda Markina, “Elena”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”

Best Supporting Actor
Jason Clarke, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Tom Cruise, “Rock of Ages”
James Gandolfini, “Killing Them Softly”
Armie Hammer, “Mirror Mirror”
Matthew McConaughey, “Magic Mike”

Best Supporting Actress
Edwina Findley, “Middle of Nowhere”
Louise Harris, “The Snowtown Murders”
Elena Lyadova, “Elena”
Juno Temple, “Killer Joe”
Lorraine Toussaint, “Middle of Nowhere”

Best Original Screenplay
Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Flippipou, “Alps”
Whit Stillman, “Damsels in Distress”
Andrey Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin, “Elena”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
Miguel Gomes and Mariana Ricardo, “Tabu”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Julia Loktev, “The Loneliest Planet”
Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain, “Rust and Bone”
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Shaun Grant and Justin Kurzel, “The Snowtown Murders”
Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill, “21 Jump Street”

Best Documentary
“The Central Park Five”
“I’m Carolyn Parker”
“The Imposter”
“Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God”
“This Is Not a Film”

Best Animated Feature
“Frankenweenie”
“The Painting”
“The Secret World of Arrietty”

Best Cinematography
Robbie Ryan, “Ginger and Rosa”
Mihai Malaimare, Jr., “The Master”
Gokhan Tiryaki, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”
Agnes Godard, “Sister”
Robbie Ryan, “Wuthering Heights”

Best Production Design
Sarah Greenwood, “Anna Karenina”
Mark Digby, “Dredd 3D”
Florian Sanson, “Holy Motors”
Eugenio Caballero, “The Impossible”
Jack Fisk, “The Master”

Best Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”
Margot Wilson, “Lawless”
Mark Bridges, “The Master”
Eiko Ishioka, “Mirror Mirror”
Leah Katznelson, “21 Jump Street”

Best Film Editing
Steven Soderbergh, “Magic Mike”
Gerardo Naranjo, “Miss Bala”
Juliette Welfling, “Rust and Bone”
Veronika Jenet, “The Snowtown Murders”
William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Makeup and Hair
“Holy Motors”
“The Impossible”
“Lawless”

Best Original Score
Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Jonny Greenwood, “The Master”
Kathryn Bostic, “Middle of Nowhere”
Mihaly Vig, “The Turin Horse”
Alexandre Desplat, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Original Song
“The Sambola! International Dance Craze,” “Damsels in Distress”
“Who Were We,” “Holy Motors”
“Cosmonaut,” “Lawless”
“Midnight Run,” “Lawless”
“Skyfall,” “Skyfall”

Best Sound Mixing
“The Impossible”
“Miss Bala”
“The Snowtown Murders”
“Wuthering Heights”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Sound Editing
“The Impossible”
“Lawless”
“Miss Bala”
“Neighbouring Sounds”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Visual Effects
“Holy Motors”
“The Impossible”
“Life of Pi”
“Prometheus”
“Rust and Bone”

The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics’ Association has added its list of nominees to the very tall pile, and in a wholly non-stereotypical turn of events, “Les Misérables” leads the film field with four citations, including one particularly likely to aggravate its detractors — for Visually Striking Film of the Year. “Argo,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Lincoln” join”Les Mis” in the top category, but there’s more individuality to be found in the more specialized races, where the pleasingly alliterative trio of “The Perks of Being  a Wallflower,” “The Paperboy” and “Pitch Perfect” all feature, while “Keep the Lights On” scored in both the Film of the Year and LGBT Film of the Year fields. Full list of film nominees below; everything else at The Circuit.

Film of the Year
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Keep the Lights On”
“Les Miserables”
“Lincoln”
“Moonrise Kingdom”

Performance of the Year – Actor
Alan Cumming, “Any Day Now”
Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”
Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”

Performance of the Year – Actress
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard, “Rust and Bone”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

LGBT Film of the Year
“Any Day Now”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Gayby”
“Keep the Lights On”
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Documentary of the Year
“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”
“Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“The Invisible War”
“The Queen of Versailles”

Visually Striking Film of the Year (honoring a production of stunning beauty)
“Anna Karenina”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Moonrise Kingdom”

Campy Flick of the Year
“Cloud Atlas”
“Magic Mike”
“The Paperboy”
“Pitch Perfect”
“Rock of Ages”
“2016: Obama’s America”

Unsung Film of the Year
“Bernie”
“The Cabin in the Woods”
“Chronicle”
“Holy Motors”
“Looper”
“Your Sister”s Sister”

There’s a standard line in awards-watching circles that voters often confuse Best Sound with Most Sound, but yesterday’s nominations for the Cinema Audio Society awards didn’t quite bear that out. Nestled between the thundering action of “The Hobbit” and “Skyfall,” and the showy live-vocal capture of “Les Mis,” we had the soft, chamber-y echoes of “Lincoln” and, most interestingly of all, “Zero Dark Thirty” – a film that takes a refreshingly understated sonic approach to territory Hollywood tends to fill with cacophonous fireworks.

This isn’t the first time Swedish-born sound designer Paul N.J. Ottosson has been recognized for his muscular-but-delicate artistry on a Kathryn Bigelow thriller – three years ago, with collaborator Ray Beckett, he won the CAS Award, not to mention two Oscars, for his unnerving soundscapes on “The Hurt Locker.” That film, with its narrative expressly based around explosives, was a sound man’s playground, compared to which “Zero Dark Thirty” concentrates its pyrotechnics in shorter bursts.

Laymen will, of course, feel the effects of Ottosson’s work most in the film’s pummelling action sequences, climaxing with a nerve-shredding Navy SEAL raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound, but listen closer and there’s as much rich sonic texture in the film’s quieter labyrinth of CIA office politics. Ottosson, who has worked on such Hollywood blockbusters as “Spider-Man 2” (for which he received another Oscar nod), “2012” and “Men in Black 3,” relishes the chance to mine the tension even in less high-adrenalin environments.

“Compared to ‘The Hurt Locker,’ ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ felt to me like a much denser world in terms of the sonic space,” he says, “and the quiet or more-dialogue-driven scenes present as many challenges as the big action set pieces. It’s interesting to work on a film that doesn’t have an immense amount of action throughout. I’ve worked on so many that are nothing but action, and with those you kind of get to paint with all your colors – everything’s jumping at the screen, so of course you made to make it cool and exciting. But when you’re working on a long scene like the one at the compound, when they get Osama, it’s 17 or 18 minutes in this really quiet place, with almost no music, and that really exposes a lot of things if you don’t do them correctly. There’s no give.”

In contrast to the blockbuster work, Ottosson describes his collaborations with Bigelow as heavily reliant on organic sound, even in the most high-octane sequences. “We used maybe even a little more than we did in ‘The Hurt Locker,’ and I built this film a bit differently, especially in the interiors.” Describing the principal locale of the narrative, Islamabad, as “a really dense city,” Ottosson was keenly attuned to incidental sound, tapping into the frayed nerves of the film’s characters.

“If we were inside a building, we kept thinking, ‘What’s in the next building?’ Or ‘What’s a block away?’ And we kept going from there. We wanted the sound to emphasize the pressure that Maya is feeling: she’s made this her life’s mission, and not many people believe in her, so I think it helps to have this layered, sometimes overwhelming soundscape in the movie. But then in the interrogation scenes, we play it pretty stark: the guy’s being tortured, but Maya is really uncomfortable too – really exposed, with nothing to hide behind.”

Ottosson prefers to play his explosions pretty stark, too – and he knows this terrain pretty well, having gained first-hand experience with explosives while serving in the Swedish military. It’s knowledge that has served him well on both his collaborations with Bigelow.

“I was never in Iraq, but I remember how you think and feel in an environment like that,” he explains. “Every corner you turn, there could be something that could take you out. Or something behind you. So every time we cut, even if we’re going somewhere in very close proximity to the previous shot, I thought it was important to establish an audible difference – to play with that perspective, make the spaces tighter. It takes a lot of work.”

In that regard, he describes the most challenging scene in the film as a chase sequence wherein Bin Laden’s courier is pursued through a crowded market, with faces and voices accumulating to disorienting effect. “You could have just whizzed through it, but that’s not how Kathryn works: with every cut, you’re building something different, there’s something else going by you.”

Once more, Ottosson found it easy to fuse the film’s pared-down approach with his own experience and sensibility. “I’ve been around a lot of really big explosions, but the funny thing is, I don’t ever remember hearing one of them,” he says. “When it hits you, the shockwaves travel faster than the sound. It shuts down your ears. I never thought, ‘Oh wow, what a loud explosion’; I thought, ‘Oh wow, I almost crapped my pants.’ That explosion in the hotel [in ‘Zero Dark Thirty’] – there’s an insane amount of low end that hits you, which travels a bit slower, and I wanted to get the audience diving back in their seats with the terror of that low end, so that they feel like they’re there, and not just in a loud movie.”

Alexandre Desplat’s score – stylistically and structurally a very different affair from Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders’ work on “The Hurt Locker” – is sparely used, but Ottosson was at pains to ensure it was artfully integrated. “In ‘The Hurt Locker,’ a lot of the score was built out of sound effects, so that kind of made it easier to merge sound and music,” he explains. “Here, we wanted to achieve the same thing, even though we were working with stronger melodies, and a more traditional orchestral approach.

“Where we have score, I’d try to transition in from something else – maybe we’d have a jet flying by – to get you accustomed to it, instead of it just starting up out of nowhere, so the audience wouldn’t overtly feel the music was trying to steer them. I think Alexandre did such a fantastic job, because he’ll let the character feel what they want to feel, and then bring the music in a beat afterwards, rather than having it precede the emotion. It lets the actors be the lead the entire time. And that’s typical of how we wanted to do things.”

Ottosson admires Bigelow’s pursuit of realism in action filmmaking, describing her films as utterly singular – especially relative to his previous Hollywood projects. “All the regular tools I’d use on a blockbuster like ‘2012’ don’t work for her, because once you get this awareness of how cool something is, it takes you out of the movie. The idea with her is draw from the environment, to make it very natural, very real. With Kathryn’s movies, it’s back to basics. You don’t want it too polished, or to feel like someone spent too much time on it.” He pauses, and laughs. “Of course, that takes longer!”

“Lincoln” has picked up a third Best Picture critics prize, landing the Iowa Film Critics Association award for the year’s best film. Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones were also singled out for the biopic, while Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty”) and Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables”) rounded out the acting honors. Check out the full list below and keep track of it all via The Circuit.

Best Film
“Lincoln”

Best Director
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables”

Best Animated Film
“Brave”

Best Film Yet to Open in Iowa
“Amour”