As members of the Academy hurry through the last screeners they need to see before committing an opinion on the year’s best (for those who bother trying to get as deep into the stack as possible, that is), a number of races hang in the balance as extremely tight categories are sure to leave a number of contenders feeling the sting of “also-ran” on Thursday, January 10.

The lead actor competition tends to lead the way on “tight races” each year, and this year there are definitely more than five hopefuls angling for position. But it seems to me the leading ladies are making for a more spirited showdown than the gents as we close in on the end of phase one this time around. What started out looking like a typically thin season for Best Actress has become tensely competed with, by my count, 10 actresses that could realistically make a go of it.

Let’s start with the givens, though they themselves didn’t even begin with the current frontrunner, Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty,” until recently. She wasn’t considered a strong possibility until the film finally started shaping up in November and made its presence felt in a category sorely in need of a frontrunner.

Until then, Jennifer Lawrence was out front for work in “Silver Linings Playbook,” which put her on the awards map during the Toronto Film Festival. Emmanuelle Riva had already been lurking as a possibility after big buzz in Cannes, but needed a second wind. She started picking up a little pace, inevitably, as critics began dishing out awards in December. Marion Cotillard also maintained steady visibility for her work in “Rust and Bone,” another Cannes player, particularly with a number of tributes throughout the season.

Going way back to January and the Sundance Film Festival, young Quvenzhané Wallis has been a talking point from “Beasts of the Southern Wild” all year, while Helen Mirren — SAG- and Globe-nominated for her performance in “Hitchcock” — could ride the British vote to a nomination many aren’t expecting for her due to the film’s critical reception. (It has, however, been more positively received overseas, particularly in the BAFTA set.)

Amid all of this, after a slow start out of Toronto, Naomi Watts has been getting plenty of attention as “The Impossible” makes its way into theaters and well-publicized endorsements (which all contenders receive, whether publicized or not) keep her above water — so to speak. And joining the conversation after the New York Film Critics Circle sprung for her work in “The Deep Blue Sea” was Rachel Weisz, suddenly in play with a Globe nod and a campaign.

And just because you never can account for a sudden Tommy Lee Jones-like nomination from the blue, I add to that Globe-nominee Judi Dench from “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (a SAG ensemble nominee, too) and Keira Knightley in “Anna Karenina” (who may be nowhere to be found on the circuit but, well, you never can tell).

Who gets in? Does Mirren ride the Brit vote? Does Cotillard love translate throughout the actors branch (which has very little crossover with SAG’s nominating committee)? Has Wallis run out of steam as the room has gotten crowded? And could Watts prove to fall out of the final tally like any number of fellow actors who have received notices from SAG, the HFPA and the BFCA (Paul Giamatti, Cameron Diaz, Russell Crowe, Tilda Swinton, etc.)? The only two I feel confident will land nominations are the two most expect to duke it out for the win: Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence. It’s a race!

Then we get to the leading men, which feels more like a six-player thing. Daniel Day-Lewis (“Lincoln”), John Hawkes (“The Sessions”) and Bradley Cooper (“Silver Linings Playbook”) all seem secure. Hugh Jackman’s status feels maybe a little more concrete for his work in “Les Misérables” than Denzel Washington’s for “Flight,” but ask me again tomorrow and I might feel different. The only real intrigue has been the SAG “snub” of Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master.” Did that reflect an overall feeling? Or did it actually galvanize support?

Add to that the lurking potential of surprise bids for Jean-Louis Trintignant, drawing respect for his work in the two-hander “Amour,” or Golden Globe nominee Richard Gere, working really hard and wanting it for his “Arbitrage” performance, and you have something a little more interesting.

Best Supporting Actor seems to have a revolving door on the fifth spot, with nods for Alan Arkin (“Argo”), Robert De Niro (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Philip Seymour Hoffman (“The Master”) and Tommy Lee Jones (“Lincoln”) all expected. The spot seems to want to go to a performer from “Django Unchained,” but the potential is there for Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz to cancel each other out, with Javier Bardem (SAG-nominated for “Skyfall”), Matthew McConaughey (a critics’ favorite for “Magic Mike” who faded on the surface but still has champions beneath it) and Dwight Henry (sticking around for underrated work in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”) lying in wait to capitalize.

Best Supporting Actress also got spiced up when Nicole Kidman asserted herself with SAG and Globe nods for her incendiary performance in “The Paperboy.” Is she really in the fold as Anne Hathaway (“Les Misérables”), Sally Field (“Lincoln”) and Helen Hunt (“The Sessions”) all seem poised? And if so, who grabs the last spot? Is it the SAG-“snubbed” Amy Adams in “The Master” or the SAG-nominated Maggie Smith in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?” Is it lovable Jacki Weaver to fill out a quartet of acting nods from “Silver Linings Playbook” or it Judi Dench for a substantial turn in “Skyfall?” Does Samantha Barks (“Les Misérables”) have an angle on the race? Does Ann Dowd (“Compliance”) get to a nod on her own dime? Lots of possibilities.

Which brings me to the Best Director category. It hasn’t been this competitive in a long while. It’s certainly tighter than any such race in recent memory. Steven Spielberg seems like the alpha for “Lincoln.” One would more easily say Tom Hooper is right in there for “Les Misérables,” but some are taking his Golden Globe snub a bit too seriously. Kathryn Bigelow, meanwhile, helmed the year’s critical darling in “Zero Dark Thirty” and seems good to go (even if she has to fend off hatchet jobs like the one in last week’s issue of The Hollywood Reporter on the way there).

Most would say Ben Affleck is as assured as anyone else, but it’s interesting to note that the at times selective directors branch can sometimes put its foot down on actors-turned-directors, even on occasions such as this. Ron Howard was somehow snubbed for “Apollo 13” after winning the DGA, remember. (I’m not saying I expect Affleck to be snubbed, or that he’s necessarily even in danger of it. I’m just saying there’s a precedent for a well-liked movie to get the cold shoulder here, and it’s a tight year.)

The directors being a high-minded, smaller group than, say, the guild, you can always expect some rarefied picks. So Michael Haneke is by no means out of it for “Amour.” Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino may have gotten to the party later than most, but it was just in time for “Django Unchained” to be seen, and liked, by an Academy with ballots in hand.

Let’s not forget David O. Russell, who directed one of the films (“Silver Linings Playbook”) we would expect to see make the Best Picture cut in a year of five, nor the BFCA- and Globe-nominated Ang Lee, whose vision for “Life of Pi” is a driving identity for the film. And in the realm of fingerprint vision, let’s also not forget Paul Thomas Anderson, whose “The Master” feels so curiously nebulous in the fray of the season. I would even include the directors of indie faves “Moonrise Kingdom” (Wes Anderson) and “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Benh Zeitlin), because, again, it’s tight all over and you never can tell.

And I haven’t even gotten to the screenplay races, which have their own share of intrigue. I’ll save it for another time.

All of this tight competition simply stems from one of the more neck-and-neck Best Picture races we’ve ever seen. So much room to maneuver and I’m betting even the nominations leave unanswered questions. We’ll see if I’m right in 10 days’ time.

Until then, have a Happy Holiday and we’ll reassess the standings again in 2013.

Check out my updated predictions HERE and, as always, see how Guy Lodge, Greg Ellwood and I collectively think the season will turn out at THE CONTENDERS.

I had thought we were done with critics’ awards until the holidays subside, but the Online Film Critics Society decided to make us a Christmas present of their nominations — or perhaps that should be a gift for “The Master,” which underlined its status as a critical darling with a field-leading eight nominations. “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” were a distant second with five each.

It’s a strong list, the most distinctive feature of which is a Best Picture nod for “Holy Motors,” the first such citation I can recall this season. Also relatively unique: a double shot of genre fare in the Best Original Screenplay category, with “The Cabin in the Woods” joining the more frequently cited “Looper”; David Cronenberg’s slavishly faithful “Cosmopolis” screenplay scoring in the adapted race, and foreign-language nod for Oscar-shortlisted doc “This Is Not A Film.”

Check out the full list below and, of course, at The Circuit.

Best Picture
“Argo” 
“Holy Motors” 
“The Master” 
“Moonrise Kingdom” 
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Director 
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Leos Carax, “Holy Motors”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master” 
Wes Anderson, “Moonrise Kingdom” 
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty” 

Best Actor 
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln” 
John Hawkes, “The Sessions” 
Denis Lavant, “Holy Motors” 
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master” 
Denzel Washington, “Flight”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty” 
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook” 
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour” 
Quvenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” 
Rachel Weisz, “The Deep Blue Sea”

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, “Argo” 
Dwight Henry, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” 
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master” 
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” 
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Master” 
Ann Dowd, “Compliance” 
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables” 
Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Cabin in the Woods”
“Looper”
“The Master”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Cosmopolis”
“Lincoln”

Best Foreign Language Film 
“Amour” 
“Holy Motors” 
“Rust and Bone” 
“This Is Not a Film” 
“The Turin Horse”

Best Animated Feature 
“Brave” 
“Frankenweenie” 
“ParaNorman” 
“The Secret World of Arrietty” 
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Documentary 
“The Imposter”
“The Invisible War” 
“Jiro Dreams of Sushi” 
“The Queen of Versailles” 
“This Is Not a Film”

Best Cinematography 
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“The Master”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Skyfall”

Best Editing
“Argo”
“Cloud Atlas”
“The Master” 
“Skyfall”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Well, you wouldn’t exactly have expected Spike Lee to be leading the cheers for “Django Unchained.” The firebrand filmmaker has previously taken Quentin Tarantino to task over his use of the n-word, and while it’s liberally used in QT’s new slavery-era Southern western, that’s far from the only thing that has Lee riled up — even though he admits he has no intention of seeing it. “All I’m going to say is that it’s disrespectful to my ancestors, to see that film,” he told VIBETV. “I can’t disrespect my ancestors. I can’t do it. Now, that’s me, I’m not speaking on behalf of anybody but myself.”  He later hit Twitter to add: “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.” Of course, Lee is hardly the only opponent of a film that looks set to generate continued discussion and debate. [The Playlist]

“Holiday in Handcuffs?” “Santa With Muscles?” For those who can’t bear revisiting “It’s a Wonderful Life” this year, Charlie Lyne suggests six alternative Christmas movies. [The Guardian]

Meanwhile, for those who can bear revisiting “It’s a Wonderful Life,” Todd Van Der Werff has a wonderful essay on the film’s enduring, “cracked” complexities. [The AV Club]

Justin Chang offers his take in this year’s foreign language shortlist, noting that whatever film wins, there’s a good chance it’ll be in French. [Variety]

James Gandolfini — who, regardless of the awards race, has had a fantastic year — explains why his performance in “Not Fade Away” is a homage to his own father. [LA Times] 

R. Kurt Osenlund rounds up the worst movie posters of 2012. There are some real horrors here, but he doesn’t include my own candidate: the US one-sheet for “Quartet.” (Look it up if you dare.) [Slant]

Tim Robey uses the differing fates of two recent literary adaptations — “Life of Pi” and “Midnight’s Children” — as a springboard for a discussion of the frequently misguided notion of “unfilmability.” [The Telegraph]

Nathaniel Rogers questions the role of film critics in the awards race — should they simply anoint consensus favorites, or advocate worthy alternatives? [The Film Experience]

Sasha Stone looks at the competitive Best Actress race, and wonders if Naomi Watts could leap into contention for the win. I don’t see it, but… [Awards Daily]

Joe Reid, meanwhile, casts a magnifying glass over a densely packed Best Supporting Actor field. Is the Academy really going to nominate five former winners? Or can DiCaprio and/or McConaughey still spoil? [Film.com]

The moment the guitar on Dick Dale’s “Misirlou” struck on the soundtrack of “Pulp Fiction” and those giant titles slowly, methodically crawl up the screen, we knew we were in the hands of a master. And indeed, Quentin Tarantino had already established a unique ear for the songscape of his work two years prior in “Reservoir Dogs.”

How about the fact that no one will ever use The Meters’ “Cissy Strut” better than he did in “Jackie Brown?” Or how effectively the march of Ennio Morricone’s “Rabbia E Tarantella” closes out “Inglourious Basterds?” What about Elle Driver’s eerie whistling of Bernard Herrmann’s “Twisted Nerve” theme in “Kill Bill” Vol. 2?”

The director’s latest, “Django Unchained,” takes a whole other step forward, adding four original songs to the usual mix of source music. Elayna Boynton and Anthony Hamilton’s “Freedom” gets us going early on while the Morricone-penned “Ancora Qui” slows us down later.

And yet, none of these made our list of the director’s “Greatest Hits” to date, showing just how expansive his work infusing music to image has been.

Two years ago the Broadcast Film Critics Association inaugurated its Music + Film Award by handing it over to Tarantino (even before Martin Scorsese, who received it the very next year). And it was a great choice, as the gallery below reflects. Separating the man from the tunes is virtually impossible, as hearing any number of the tracks he’s used in his films inevitably conjures memories of those scenes.

Katie Hasty and I (check her out over at HitFix’s Immaculate Noise blog) put our heads together and came up with 16 tracks that stuck out to us for inclusion on a compilation album, if, you know, we were toiling away on such a thing. But as noted above, so many wonderful songs are inevitably going to be left off when you cook up a list like this, so click through ours below and feel free to offer up your thoughts and/or your own picks in the comments section below.

“Django Unchained” opens everywhere December 25.

The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle has also chimed in for “Argo” today, giving the film Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay honors. The group was in lock-step with the rest of the season throughout: Daniel Day-Lewis, Jessica Chastain, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Anne Hathaway, etc. Check out the full list below and keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Top 10
1. “Argo”
2. “Zero Dark Thirty”
3. “Moonrise Kingdom”
4. “Django Unchained”
5. “Silver Linings Playbook”
6. “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
7. “The Master”
8. “Lincoln”
9. “Looper”
10. “Les Misérables”

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 Adapted Screenplay
“Argo”

Best Original Screenplay
“Moonrise Kingdom”

Best Animated Film
“Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Amour”

Best Documentary
“Searching for Sugar Man”

Best First Feature
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Guilty Pleasure
“21 Jump Street”

Best Body of Work
(TIE) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Lincoln,” “Looper” and Matthew McConaughey, “Bernie,” “Killer Joe,” “Magic Mike”

Obviously Worst Movie
“That”s My Boy”

Not-So-Obviously Worst Movie
“Prometheus”

The Nevada Film Critics Society has added one more notch to “Argo”‘s tally of Best Picture wins. The group tied Ben Affleck with “Zero Dark Thirty” helmer Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director and went in a relatively unique direction with its Best Actor call, opting for John Hawkes in “The Sessions.” Check out the full list of winners below and keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Film
“Argo”

Best Director
(TIE) Ben Affleck, “Argo” and Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Actor
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”

Best Actress
(TIE) Helen Hunt, “The Sessions” and Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Supporting Actor
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, “Lincoln”

Best Cinematography
“Life of Pi”

Best Production Design
“Les Misérables”

Best Visual Effects
“Life of Pi”

Best Ensemble Cast
“Lincoln”

Best Animated Movie
“Frankenweenie”

Best Youth Performance
Tom Holland, “The Impossible”

I’ve been saying for some time now that the Academy’s cull of the foreign-language field from 71 to nine contenders would be a heartbreaker, and so it was.

Among the standout films eliminated from the competition after yesterday’s announcement are: Australia’s vivid, perspective-bending WWII tale “Lore,” Belgium’s wrenching domestic drama “Our Children,” Hungary’s brutal Berlin Silver Bear winner “Just the Wind,” Mexico’s disquieting conversation piece (and Cannes Un Certain Regard champ) “After Lucia” and Germany’s acclaimed, elegant Stasi-era character study “Barbara.” We salute them, and many others: here’s hoping they find the international audiences (and, in some cases, distributors) they deserve in spite of this setback.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that the films that did make the cut are, by and large, a deserving lot, representing a healthy balance between populist and more provocative voting instincts. Some will carp about the inevitable selection of the middlebrow crossover smash “The Intouchables” over more artistically accomplished fare — but there are many more who legitimately love it. Others will complain that, with seven of the nine selections hailing from Europe, the shortlist isn’t as representative of world cinema as it might have been — but would we really want the Academy to vote in a more tokenistic fashion? 

In any event, how many will argue against the immaculate construction of universal critics’ favorite “Amour,” the technical daring and political wit of “No,” or the visual panache and scrappy emotional kick of “Sister?” Some of 2012’s best films — foreign-language or otherwise — are still in the hunt for this too-often compromised award. For that, the Academy deserves some credit, even if they’d have had to work hard to make too many egregious mistakes in a banner year when most countries, for once, chose their submissions wisely.

Boiling down a planet’s worth of international cinema to a mere nine (and, in a few weeks, five) films is always going to be a problematic, borderline-absurd process, but that’s the nature of the awards-season beast: perhaps, with the Best Picture category now permitted up to 10 nominees, its multilingual counterpart deserves the same courtesy.  

The Academy didn’t spring many surprises with the shortlist. Seven of the selections — “Amour,” “The Intouchables,” “A Royal Affair,” “No,” “War Witch,” “Sister” and “Kon-Tiki” — were already featured in the top nine on our Contenders chart for the category. The remaining two were hardly off the radar, either. Icelandic maritime survival thriller “The Deep” is the only title on the shortlist I haven’t yet seen, but was reported to have played extremely well at its Academy screening. Romania’s “Beyond the Hills,” obviously, has been a high-profile arthouse property since its Cannes debut.

Most have received ample exposure on the festival circuit and, in some cases, on general release. In addition to “Beyond the Hills,” “Amour” and “No” are Cannes babies, having triumphed in the Competition and Directors’ Fortnight sections respectively; “A Royal Affair,” “Sister” and “War Witch,” meanwhile, all debuted (and won prizes) in competition at Berlin. “The Intouchables” and “Kon-Tiki,” both being distributed Stateside by The Weinstein Company, don’t have quite the same festival cred, but hardly need it: the former is already the year’s highest-grossing foreign-language film, while the latter, a robust seafaring epic that is the most expensive production in Norewgian industry, also boasts crowdpleasing potential. 

What six titles were chosen by the general branch voters, and what three were “saved” by the executive committee? Since the voting procedure was changed in 2008, that’s the guessing game played by most Oscar pundits following the announcement of the shortlist, and it’s a particularly tough one this year. Only one film strikes me as an obvious executive-committee pick: “Beyond the Hills.”

Cristian Mungiu’s gruelling, somber parable on matters of spiritual and moral corruption, arguably represents a challenge to the branch’s more conservative members — who, after all, controversially shut out Mungiu’s last film, “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” in 2007. Given that the “4 Months” omission is widely viewed as the final straw that led to the Academy’s revision of the voting system, one might view the inclusion of “Hills” — which hasn’t been quite as unanimously acclaimed as its predecessor — as an apology of sorts on the executive committee’s part. Either way, it’s nice to see the Romanian New Wave, one of world cinema’s most celebrated recent movements, finally acknowledged to some extent by the Academy.

It’s harder to pinpoint the other executive-committee saves, though it’s safe to say “The Intouchables”isn’t one of them. As unbelievable as it may seem to some reader, Kris even hears whispers that “Amour” — installed by many pundits as the putative frontrunner since Cannes — might have needed the committee’s help. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if that were the case: for all its cross-category buzz, the film is a typically severe auteur piece from Michael Haneke, and while some older voters may be moved by its unblinking study of the perils of aging, many might find it too tough a sit.

I maintain that the upbeat, broadly accessible buddy narrative of “The Intouchables” makes it the one to beat, however banal its aesthetics and iffy its social politics. It has just enough intended pathos and worthy thematic aspirations to be taken seriously by the comedy-shy Academy, plus a galvanizing star turn from Omar Sy. If I’m right, it’ll be perennial nominee France’s first winner in exactly 20 years; perhaps its a sign that their last, the sudsy Catherine Deneuve melodrama “Indochine,” was similarly unremarkable.

Those two — both of which could feasibly have been France’s entry this year — seem the most secure candidates for the final five, which could boast as many as four French-language nominees. The other two are impressive child-driven stories that, while hardly sentimental Academy bait, should tug at voters’ heartstrings.

Switzerland’s entry, “Sister,” is actually favorite film on the shortlist: since Berlin, I’ve been raving about Ursula Meier’s smart, surprising, sneakily moving study of a semi-feral youth surviving on the moneyed slopes of a tourist-infested ski resort, and recently made a long-shot Oscar plea for teenager Kacey Mottet Klein’s quick-witted lead performance (though Lea Seydoux also turns in career-best work as his barely adult guardian). It’s a sharp, nippy little film with an unexpected wallop of an emotional payoff; I’m hoping the gloss lent by Gillian Anderson in supporting role (not the mention the great Agnes Godard’s luminous cinematography) is enough to lure more cautious voters.

Perhaps a likelier bet is Canada’s “War Witch,” which had grown men in tears at its first screening in Berlin, where it won the Best Actress award for remarkable 14 year-old newcomer Rachel Mwanza. Playing a pregnant child soldier abducted by rebel forces in an unnamed African nation, she’s the backbone of a strong-blooded film, infused with magical realism, that is nonetheless just redemptive enough to appeal to the broader votership; for me, it doesn’t quite land the bodyblow of the superior, similarly-themed “Johnny Mad Dog,” but it’d be an exciting nominee.  

I expect one of these films to make the cut, alongside fellow Berlin favorite “A Royal Affair.” Long earmarked as likely bait in this category — it’s a literate, lavishly appointed historical biopic, after all — its chances are helped by the recognizable star presence of Mads Mikkelsen, as well as up-and-coming “Anna Karenina” standout Alicia Vikander. (It was their co-star Mikkel Folsgaard, meanwhile, who won Best Actor at Berlin.) Steve Pond, however, hears word that the film wasn’t as well-received at its screening as you might expect — perhaps because it’s a younger, brisker, sexier film than outward appearances suggest.

Add in Gael Garcia Bernal in “No,” which I discussed in some detail at Cannes, and this could be the category’s starriest lineup in some time. Some have speculated that director Pablo Larrain’s witty, thematically crucial decision to shoot the film in funky, 1980s-style video stock, could be a turn-off for voters, but I think the film is too absorbing (and ultimately rousing) a political thriller for that to be a significant obstacle.

It’s one of several options now open to the Academy that combine comparatively mainstream entertainment smarts with sinuous, singular artistry — a compromise of sorts between the arty austerity of “Amour” and “Beyond the Hills” and the loud crowd appeal of “The Intouchables.” I’d rather voters didn’t opt for the latter, but either way, this strong shortlist has all but safeguarded the Academy against making a choice that will please nobody.

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists has announced its list of nominees this year, with its own fair share of unique categories. The Best Film nominees were “Argo,” “Lincoln” and “Zero Dark Thirty” (each also cited for Best Director). Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announced next month. And, as always, keep track of the 2012-2013 film awards season via The Circuit.

Best Film
“Argo”
“Lincoln”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Director
Ben Affleck, “Argo”
Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, “Lincoln”
John Hawkes, “The Sessions”
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, “Argo”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams, “The Master”
Sally Field, “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Argo”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Original Screenplay
“Amour”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Editing
“Argo”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Cinematography
“Life of Pi”
“The Master”
“Skyfall”

Best Film Music Or Score
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Animated Film
“Brave”
“Frankenweenie”
“ParaNorman”

Best Non-English-Language Film
“Amour”
“A Royal Affair”
“Rust and Bone”

Best Documentary
“The Gatekeepers”
“The Imposter”
“The Invisible War”
“Searching for Sugar Man”

Best Ensemble Cast
“Argo”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS (for women only)

Best Woman Director
Sarah Polley, “Take This Waltz”
Andrea Arnold, “Wuthering Heights”
Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Woman Screenwriter
Lucy Alibar (with Benh Zeitlin), “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Ava DuVernay, “Middle of Nowhere”
Zoe Kazan, “Ruby Sparks”
Sarah Polley, “Take This Waltz”

Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star
Gina Carano, “Haywire”
Anne Hathaway, “The Dark Knight Rises”
Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games”

Best Animated Female
Merida (Kelly Macdonald), “Brave”
Tooth (Isla Fisher), “Rise of the Guardians”
Vanellope (Sara Silverman), “Wreck-It Ralph”

Best Breakthrough Performance
Samantha Barks, “Les Misérables”
Ann Dowd, “Compliance”
Alicia Vikander, “A Royal Affair”
Quvenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Judi Dench, “Skyfall”
Helen Mirren, “Hitchcock”
Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”

AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism — Female Icon Award
Presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.
– Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
– Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
– Judi Dench, “Skyfall”

Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry
Presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year – such as Kathryn Bigelow”s Best Director Oscar win, or for an actress having multiple outstanding films released during one year.
– Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”
– Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games” and “Silver Linings Playbook”
– Women Documentary Filmmakers, including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (“Detropia”), Lauren -Greenfield (“The Queen of Versailles”), Alison Klayman (“Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry”) and Sarah Burns (“The Central Park Five”)

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
Sean Anders, “That”s My Boy”
Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Dictator”
Gabriele Muccino, “Playing For Keeps”

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Katherine Heigl, “One For The Money”
Nicole Kidman, “The Paperboy”
Reese Witherspoon, “This Means War”

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn”t
“Anna Karenina”
“Cloud Atlas”
“Les Misérables”

Unforgettable Moment Award
“Argo” (The runway chase)
“Flight” (Crash sequence)
“Les Misérables (Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing “I Dreamed A Dream”)
“Rust and Bone” (Marion Cotillard as Stephanie dancing in the wheelchair)
“Zero Dark Thirty” (Jessica Chastain as Maya says, “I”m the mother…”)

Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction (include film title AND actors” names)
“Anna Karenina” (Keira Knightly and Aaron Taylor-Johnson)
“Rust and Bone” (Marion Cotillard)
“The Sessions” (Helen Hunt and John Hawkes)

Sequel or Remake That Shouldn”t Have Been Made Award
“The Amazing Spider-Man”
“Red Dawn”
“Total Recall”

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest Award
“Flight” (Denzel Washington and Kelly Reilly…and Nadine Velazquez)
“Seeking a Friend For the End of the World” (Steve Carell and Keira Knightly)
“Silver Linings Playbook” (Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence)

The Women Film Critics Circle has announced its annual…unique…slate of award winners. “Zero Dark Thirty” won three awards while “Lincoln” won two. And they have a bone to pick with “Killer Joe” and “Think Like a Man.” Check out the full list of winners below and keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actress
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables”

Best Family Film
(TIE) “Life of Pi” and “Rise of the Guardians”

Best Movie about Women
“A Royal Affair”

Best Movie by a Woman
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Foreign Film by or about Women
“Where Do We Go Now?”

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

Best Woman Storyteller
Julie Delpy, “2 Days in New York”

Best Comedic Actress
Maggie Smith, “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”

Women’s Work: Best Ensemble
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”

Best Equality of the Sexes
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Female Images
“Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Male Images
“Lincoln”

Best Animated Females
“Brave”

Worst Female Images
(TIE) “Killer Joe” and “Think Like a Man”

Worst Male Images
“Killer Joe”

Best Theatrically Unreleased Movie by or about Women
“Hemingway & Gellhorn”

Adrienne Shelly Award (a film that most passionately opposes violence against women)
(TIE) “Compliance” and “The Invisible War”

Josephine Baker Award (best expressing of women of color experience in America)
“Middle of Nowhere”

Karen Morley Award (best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society and courageous search for identity)
“A Royal Affair”

Acting and Activism Award
Sally Field

Lifetime Achievement Award
Barbra Streisand

I’ve been on board “The Impossible” since way back in August and still believe it to be part and parcel of a great year for movies. It’s been getting a lot of buzz lately as it barreled toward release and now, it’s out there for you to chew on. When you get a chance to do so, come on back here and tell us what you thought. And again, feel free to rate the film above.

I’ve been a little dismayed at the critical reaction to Judd Apatow’s “This is 40” (one of Drew McWeeny’s top 10 films of the year.) It feels like some had the knives out. I’m not a worshiper of the man’s work or anything but his latest is, to me, his richest film to date. Perhaps it’s about relating to it or not, I don’t know. In any case, I’d love to hear your thoughts, so cut loose with your take in the comments section below when/if you get around to seeing the film. And feel free to rate it above.

Here’s something novel. A biennial awards presentation. The eligibility period for the International Online Film Critics’ Poll is November 16, 2010 to November 15, 2012, leaving a wide array of films to choose from. Pity, then, that the critics’ choices aren’t themselves as varied. Tomas Alfredson’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” won five awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Check out the full list below (and the previously announce nominees at the poll’s website). And of course, keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Top 10 Films
“Argo”
“The Artist”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Black Swan”
“Lincoln”
“The King’s Speech”
“The Master”
“Skyfall”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Picture
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Director
Tomas Alfredson, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Actor
Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”

Best Supporting Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Master”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Master”

Best Cinematography
“Lincoln”

Best Editing
“The King’s Speech”

Best Production Design
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Score
“The Artist”

Best Visual Effects
“The Dark Knight Rises”

Best Cast
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

If you thought we had escaped the year of “The Artist,” you were wrong. The Dublin Film Critics Circle has chosen Michel Hazanavicius’s Best Picture winner as the year’s best film, as it opened on those shores in 2012. It joins Michael Haneke, Joaquin Phoenix, Emmanuelle Riva and more for top honors this year. Check out the full list below (with curious ties throughout), and as always, keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Film
1. “The Artist”
2. “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”/”Amour”
3. “The Turin Horse”/”The Avengers”/”Michael”/”Elena”
4. “The Master”/”Life of Pi”/”The Raid: Redemption”/”Looper”
5. “Rust and Bone”/”The Grey”/”Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Best Director
1. Michael Haneke, “Amour”
2. Ben Affleck, “Argo”
3. William Friedkin, “Killer Joe”
4. Paul Thomas Anderson, “The Master”
5. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”

Best Actor
1. Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
2. Jean-Louis Trintignant, “Amour”
3. Mads Mikkelsen, “The Hunt”
4. Matthias Schoenaerts, “Rust and Bone”
5. Michael Fassbender, “Shame”/Matthew McConaughey, “Killer Joe”

Best Actress
1. Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
2. Marion Cotillard, “Rust and Bone”
3. Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
4. Anna Paquin, “Margaret”
5. Suzanne Clément, “Laurence Anyways”/Nina Hoss, “Barbara”/Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Breakthrough
1. Gareth Evans, “The Raid: Redemption”
2. Jack Reynor, “What Richard Did”
3. Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
4. Ben Drew, “Ill Manors”
5. Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Irish Film
1. “What Richard Did”
2. “Shadow Dancer”
3. “Silence”
4. “Grabbers”
5. “Death of a Superhero”

Best Documentary
1. “Maria Abramovic: The Artist is Present”
2. “The Queen of Versailles”
3. “The Imposter”
4. “Bill Cunningham New York”
5. “Call Me Kuchu”/”Searching for Sugar Man”

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.

It’s our 100th episode! With four years of coverage behind us, I went back and listened to our first podcast from August 28, 2009 and took notes on what we discussed. So we chew on that for old time’s sake.

One of the things we talked about in that first podcast was “The Hurt Locker,” and this year, Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal are back in the fray and weathering criticism of “Zero Dark Thirty.” We discuss that and coverage of same.

With that in mind, we also discuss the idea of “whisper campaigns” against films this time of year, whether they make an impact and whether it’s of any value to cover such things in the media.

And finally, we dig in on the Best Animated Feature Film race and how we see it playing out.

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. 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 Utah Film Critics Association has announced its 2012 winners, and, big surprise, “Zero Dark Thirty” took top honors. But the group went in a couple of different directions elsewhere, tapping Dwight Henry for Best Supporting Actor, Wes Anderson for Best Director and “Indie Game: The Movie” for best doc. Check out the full list of winners below and keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Picture
“Zero Dark Thirty” (Runner-up: “Looper”)

Best Director
Wes Anderson, “Moonrise Kingdom” (Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, “Zero Dark Thirty”)

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master” (Runner-up: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln” and John Hawkes, “The Sessions”)

Best Actress
(TIE) Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty” and Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Supporting Actor
Dwight Henry, “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (Runner-up: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”)

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables” (Runner-up: Ann Dowd, “Compliance”)

Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (Runner-up: “Silver Linings Playbook”)

Best Original Screenplay
“Looper” (Runner-up: “The Cabin in the Woods”)

Best Cinematography
“Skyfall” (Runner-up: “Life of Pi”)

Best Animated Feature
“ParaNorman” (Runner-up: “Frankenweenie” and “Wreck-It Ralph”)

Best Non-English Language Film
“Headhunters” (Runner-up: “Amour”)

Best Documentary Feature
“Indie Game: The Movie” (Runner-up: “The Invisible War”)

The Academy has announced the nine finalists for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Seventy-one films were submitted from countries around the world.

High-profile snubs include “Barbara” from Germany, “Lore” from Australia, “Fill the Void” from Israel, “After Lucia” from Mexico and “Blancanieves” from Spain.

Check out the full list of finalists below. Guy will circle back later today with commentary on the list.

The nominees will be announced on January 10, 2013.

Austria, “Amour,” Michael Haneke, director

Canada, “War Witch,” Kim Nguyen, director

Chile, “No,” Pablo Larraín, director

Denmark, “A Royal Affair,” Nikolaj Arcel, director

France, “The Intouchables,” Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, directors

Iceland, “The Deep,” Baltasar Kormákur, director

Norway, “Kon-Tiki,” Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, directors

Romania, “Beyond the Hills,” Cristian Mungiu, director

Switzerland, “Sister,” Ursula Meier, director

The Costume Designers’ Guild, which will hold its 2012 award ceremony on February 19, has announced a list of honorary award winners that includes costume designers Judianna Makovsky (a three-time Oscar nominee previously rewarded by the Guild for “Pleasantville” and the first “Harry Potter” film) and Eduardo Castro, as well as TV producer Lorne Michaels. The biggest name being honored, however, is Anne Hathaway, who’s likely to be well-practiced in accepting trophies by mid-February. She’ll be receiving the Spotlight Award, and while I’m not sure what the criteria are, Hathaway makes sense as a thespian ambassador for the art of costume design, given how many of her roles, from “The Devil Wears Prada” to “Les Mis,” have played with image and costume. Or perhaps the Guild simply wants a piece of the season’s likely golden girl. [CDG]

With the Academy set to announce the Best Foreign Language Film shortlist later today, Steve Pond considers the possibilities, and concludes that while “The Intouchables” and “Amour” are in, “A Royal Affair” isn’t as safe as you might think. [The Wrap]

“Still Alive,” the Best Original Song Oscar hopeful from “Paul Williams Still Alive,” gets a music video. [Motion Captured] 

Gregg Kilday considers the films in this year’s Oscar race that are vulnerable to whisper campaigns against them, including such Best Picture frontrunners as “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty” and “Argo.” [THR]

Christmas comes early for Nathaniel Rogers as he gets to interview Nicole Kidman, the season’s unlikeliest SAG and Globe nominee, about “The Paperboy,” “Birth” and working with Chan-wook Park. [The Film Experience]

David Poland gives Samuel L. Jackson the DP/30 treatment, and at the same time makes an FYC plea for his work in “Django Unchained” — “the home run performance in the film.” [Hot Blog] 

Adam Tschorn rounds up the supposed costume design highlights from 2012, but why are they all period films? [LA Times] 

Four key production designers from different eras of the James Bond franchise — Ken Adams, Peter Lamont, Allan Cameron and Dennis Gassner — will be honored with the Cinematic Imagery Award by the Art Directors’ Guild. [The Vote] 

Sticking with the design theme, Mark London Williams talks to art director David Klassen about his collaboration with the late Michael J. Riva on “Django Unchained.” [Below the Line]

Zach Laws talks to makeup and hair artists Howard Berger and Martin Samuels, who recently cracked the Oscar shortlist, about their work on “Hitchcock.” [Gold Derby]

Emma Thompson, whom you may remember is an Oscar-winning screenwriter, has been cleared of plagiarism charges over her script for forthcoming period drama “Effie.” [The Guardian]

Kathryn Bigelow deserves credit for many, many things about her tremendous military thriller “The Hurt Locker,” but she’d be the first — and probably the gladdest — to admit that the simple fact of her gender isn’t one of them. That didn’t stop multiple media commentators from sanctifying her as some kind of poster girl for “anything you can do, I can do better”-style feminism in Hollywood, as if a woman could only direct a stone-cold action picture as a reproach to the men who handle most such fare, and not merely because it’s what she’s good at — and has been good at for over 20 years.  

Bigelow bore this unsolicited symbolic weight with patient, if seemingly weary, grace all the way to the Oscar podium, offering multiple polite statements to the effect that she’s not so much a “woman filmmaker” as a woman who makes films, and refusing the Academy’s unspoken invitation to turn her history-making Oscar acceptance speech into a self-aggrandizing soapbox stand.

If Bigelow was ever going to express her irritation over this, it was going to be in a tacit manner — and it’s tempting to imagine that she’s done so with her quite breathtakingly proficient follow-up “Zero Dark Thirty,” in which another unflappable female professional in a male-run environment coolly shrugs off the collegial curiosity prompted by her having a vagina. Tempting, I say, though probably not correct: Bigelow, together with “Hurt Locker” writer Mark Boal, has matters of greater historical urgency and consequence on her mind in this exhaustively charted, imposingly realized procedural — matters that, if recent political outbursts over its journalistic veracity are any indication, will this time make Bigelow’s gender the secondary concern it deserves to be.

At 157 moist-palmed minutes, “Zero Dark Thirty” manages the curious feat of seeming both aggressively terse and well-nigh as long as the 10-year quest it covers: the CIA’s protracted, irregular and finally successful hunt for Osama bin Laden, led by a terrier of a female analyst whose devotion to the cause may not be entirely rational, even when ultimately rewarded. 

If the film is often daunting, even oppressive, in its academic magnification of bureaucratic nuts and bolts, that’s surely the point: every official detail that keeps us from the rattling, shattering climax we at least know is coming is equally a barrier between the protagonist and the prey she fears may never be hers. No other film since “Zodiac” has so vividly essayed the exquisite ennui of obsessive investigation; our fictionalized heroine “Maya” may reach the practical (if not psychological) closure denied Jake Gyllenhaal’s Robert Graysmith, but it’s a bleak, antisocial triumph to the last.

It’s this overriding atmosphere of nervous fatigue, occasionally dipping into threadbare despair, that makes it hard to square with detractors’ accusations that the film “glorifies” torture, even as it does impassively note the occasional effectiveness of the technique: for any audience, the early interrogation scenes are the most viscerally disquieting in a narrative where every victory is written, performed and scored with more than half a mind on its hollow center. If “Zero Dark Thirty” is glorifying any US military procedure, then why does the final raid on bin Laden’s lair, for all its pummelling technical brio, feel the precise opposite of rousing as it casts an unwavering eye over sundry cruel casualties en route to the man himself?

“Zero Dark Thirty” follows “The Hurt Locker” in attempting to portray the realities of war without politics, this time largely from the office rather than the field; as a journalist, Boal seems as interested in the means as he is in the end. Perhaps he’s written something of himself into the character of Maya, a clinically dour redhead who seems preoccupied with process and suspicious of payoff — a sister figure of sorts to James, the dispassionately adrenalin-chasing hero of “The Hurt Locker.”

As played with a milky-hard stare and a flinty drawl by the increasingly remarkable Jessica Chastain, Maya betrays no more profound emotional investment in her search for bin Laden than she seemingly would in any competitive game. She badly wants to win, and she’s neither too proud nor too polite to let her superiors know that, but if there’s a more personal stake in this revenge story — beyond the lingering national grief alluded to in the risky but respectful sonic montage of 9/11 victims’ doomed cries that opens the film — she keeps it buttoned tightly beneath her black pantsuit and impenetrable Ray-Bans.

The mostly unjudging eyes behind them serve as our own for the bulk of the film; it’s telling that even they show a flicker of doubt when first introduced to the grotesque torture methods employed by her government, as a near-defeated victim appeals to her womanly compassion; “You can help yourself by being truthful,” is her typically blunt reply. An eleventh-hour display of genuine emotional release from Maya is moving, but Boal, Bigelow and Chastain conspire to make us uncertain as to whether she’s mourning a personal or professional lack. 

“Zero Dark Thirty” may ostensibly unfold as a hardline, semi-factual procedural in the “All the President’s Men” mold, but it fascinates most as a character study of a virtual anti-character. As Maya’s cypher-like qualities are placed in ever sharper relief against more vital, vulnerable personalities like fellow agents Dan (Jason Clarke, beautifully tracing the film’s most quietly full character arc, from hothead to human ally) and Jessica (a brilliant quick-sketch characterization from Jennifer Ehle, her bruised warmth too fleeting a presence), our questions over the motivations behind her passivity continue to brew.

Bigelow, meanwhile, serves these characters best by holding them at arm’s length, often literally so as she and cinematographer Greig Fraser repeatedly strand Maya in chilly long shots. Her visual and sonic architecture here, often recalling the brooding, half-lit sleekness of “Insider”-era Michael Mann, is a long way from the propulsive, on-the-spot vigor of “The Hurt Locker.”

The alliance with Australian DP Fraser, a deft magician of daylight in such films as “Bright Star” and “Killing Them Softly,” is key to the film’s sustained, somber atmosphere: even the heart-in-mouth midnight raid, astonishingly tense as it is, takes on an elegiac quality under his lens, aided no end by the militaristic orchestral syncopations of Alexandre Desplat’s superb score, his richest and most unnerving since “Birth.” Though it seemed from a distance a return to the physical and psychological territory of “The Hurt Locker,” “Zero Dark Thirty” finds Bigelow working with bold new tools and textures, asserting herself as a masterful observer of talk and action, her gaze as keen and unblinking as that of her distant protagonist.