In case you’d never noticed, Quentin Tarantino makes pretty snappily dressed movies. From the monochrome suits of “Reservoir Dogs” to the Bride’s mustard tracksuit in “Kill Bill,” the man knows the iconic power of a garment. The Academy’s costume branch has never shared his taste — not even, surprisingly enough, when he went all period on their asses in “Inglourious Basterds.” Chris Laverty wonders if the jazzy-looking “Django Unchained” wardrobe, designed by former nominee Sharen Davis, could finally break their resistance: he touches on her research for the project, and the relevance of the film’s narrowly pre-Civil War setting. [Clothes On Film]

Still on Tarantino, “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” will return to US cinemas for a one-night-only engagement in December, ahead of “Django”‘s release. [Huffington Post]

I missed this earlier, but Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors” took top honors at the Chicago Film Festival, as well as Best Actor for the amazing Denis Lavant. Mexico’s Oscar hopeful “After Lucia” took the runner-up prize. [THR] 

R. Kurt Osenlund considers the Oscar possibilities of “Life of Pi,” concluding that the film is a threat for technical trophies more than a Best Picture win. [The House Next Door]

Could Seth MacFarlane do double-duty at the Oscars as both host and nominee? Charles Bright considers his chances in the Best Original Song category for “Ted.” [Gold Derby]

Good news: James Cameron is planning to direct something that isn’t an “Avatar” sequel. Bad news: Only after the “Avatar” sequels, when we’re all too decrepit to go to the movies. [AV Club] 

James Franco will be honored with the Cubovision Award at next month’s Rome Film Festival for “moving continuously between different artistic languages and establishing an across-the-board dialogue between the arts.” [Variety]

Two of Nathaniel Rogers’ contributors have an in-depth conversation about Australian Oscar hopeful “Lore.” Neither is as sold as I was. [The Film Experience]

Finally, one for the multi-linguists: if you can read French, this is a rather touching interview with 85 year-old Best Actress hopeful Emmanuelle Riva. [Liberation]

The web’s favorite film story yesterday: a Nottingham cinema accidentally projected “Paranormal Activity 4” to a family audience gathered for “Madagascar 3.” [Yahoo! Movies]

On a slow news day for awards pundits, my mind got to wandering — as is the rather tragic wont of awards pundits’ minds — to matters of trivia and statistics. When a colleague asked me to provide him with a list of the 2012 Oscar nominees that can, even at this early stage, be set in stone, one of the few titles I could comfortably jot down for inclusion, of course, was “Argo.” Its current, widely perceived status as the Best Picture frontrunner isn’t unassailable, but there are no grounds on which one can doubt its nomination: critically and commercially proven, popular in the industry, with no weaknesses in sight, it’s officially in the black, as it were.

That means Ben Affleck can add at least one nomination — well, with Best Director, almost certainly two — to an Oscar record sheet that has remained unmarked since his joint screenplay win for “Good Will Hunting” 15 years ago. Win or lose, it’s a happy turn of events for a career many thought was headed for punchline status a decade ago. But he’s not the only major Hollywood star for whom an “Argo” nod would represent a milestone: some guy called George Clooney stands to make history with the film.  

Until I saw the film’s closing credits roll, it had somehow escaped my attention that Clooney was a producer on “Argo” — together with his regular producing partner, Grant Heslov, and Affleck. As his name flashed by, however, it made perfect sense that he was involved: the actor may not appear on screen, but the film’s hearty political engagement, slick patter and throwback craftsmanship make it very much of a piece with Clooney’s more prominently branded work; I’d wager it’s a better film than any he’s directed, but it’s not hard to imagine him having done the honors.

So it seems fitting rather than arbitrary that — bar some kind of finicky producers’ ruling on the Academy’s part — “Argo” is poised to land Clooney his first Best Picture nomination. (You’d be forgiven for thinking he nabbed one with “Good Night, and Good Luck.” in 2005, but Heslov was actually the sole producer on that one.) Moreover, that nomination will bring Clooney to a significant Oscar record: the first individual to score Academy Award nominations in six separate categories.

Last year saw Clooney bring the tally to five, adding a first Best Adapted Screenplay bid (for “The Ides of March”) to an Oscar résumé that already included mentions for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (“Good Night, and Good Luck.”), Best Actor (“Michael Clayton,” 2007; “Up in the Air,” 2009; “The Descendants,” 2011) and Best Supporting Actor (2005’s “Syriana,” his lone win). Coincidentally, the last Oscar race also saw British star Kenneth Branagh match the five-category record, adding a Best Supporting Actor nod for “My Week With Marilyn” to previous citations for Best Director and Best Actor (“Henry V,” 1989), Best Live-Action Short (“Swan Song,” 1992) and Best Adapted Screenplay (“Hamlet,” 1996).  

In doing so, Clooney and Branagh jointly joined a pedestal occupied by none other than Warren Beatty and John Huston. Beatty had checked off Best Picture (“Bonnie and Clyde,” 1967; “Heaven Can Wait,” 1978; “Reds,” 1981; “Bugsy,” 1991), Best Director (“Heaven Can Wait”; “Reds,” his lone win), Best Actor (“Bonnie and Clyde,” “Heaven Can Wait,” “Reds,” “Bugsy”), Best Original Screenplay (“Shampoo,” 1975; “Bulworth,” 1998) and Best Adapted Screenplay (“Heaven Can Wait,” “Reds”).

Huston, meanwhile, had reached the record first, scoring for Best Picture (“Moulin Rouge,” 1952), Best Director (“The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” 1948; “The Asphalt Jungle,” 1950; “The African Queen,” 1951; “Moulin Rouge”; “Prizzi’s Honor,” 1985); assorted renamed writing categories amounting the original and adapted, and even Best Supporting Actor (“The Cardinal,” 1963).

John Huston, Warren Beatty, George Clooney and Kenneth Branagh makes for a rather stylish quartet of joint record-holders — though spare a thought for Branagh, the only one of the four never to have won in any category. In any event, it looks to be a short-lived club, with “Argo” helping Clooney plant a new flag in a sixth category. It’ll mark his eighth nomination overall, a number all the more impressive for having been reached in only eight years. Should “Argo” win the top prize, meanwhile, he’ll become only the second person to take Oscars for both producing and acting — the first being Michael Douglas, for “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Wall Street,” respectively.

This may be little more than trivia, though it does underline how Clooney — routinely compared to Warren Beatty in the media, conveniently enough — has cultivated a reach and range of influence far beyond most of his peers in the industry. (Next stop: costume design.) “Argo” may be overwhelmingly Ben Affleck’s cause, but it does offer voters the chance to polish the crowns of two Hollywood princes.

On the one hand, it’s totally unseemly and self-serving to put one’s own article at the top of the daily roundup. On the other hand — well, there is no other hand, but I’m doing it anyway. With “Skyfall” hitting UK screens on Friday, I donned my Guardian columnist hat to look into at the film’s layered, long-haul promotional campaign, which combines stripped-down marketing materials — posters focusing chiefly on the 007 brand, scarcely mentioning the A-list names involved — with a relentless assault of brand placements and tie-ins, ranging from Heineken to Tom Ford to the Queen. (You tell me she isn’t a brand.) The approach has box office pundits expecting the biggest-ever global gross for a Bond effort — will it pay off with audiences? [The Guardian]  

Speaking of “Skyfall,” the producers are adamant Judi Dench deserves Oscar recognition for the film. I think Javier Bardem’s the one to concentrate on myself. [The Telegraph]

Steve Pond believes that “Lincoln,” “Life of Pi” and “Flight” possibly got Oscar pundits over-excited after their NYFF premieres, and advises a step back. [The Odds]

GKIDS gears up the campaign for their four animated feature contenders. I’ll be writing about this in more detail soon, but I just saw “Le Tableau” and it’s a contender to be reckoned with. [The Vote]

On that topic, the Academy has set a November 1 deadline for all entries in the Best Animated Feature race. [Thompson on Hollywood]

Charlie Lyne is not drinking the “Argo” Kool-Aid, though he believes the film would be a formidable contender for 2005’s Best Picture Oscar. [Ultraculture]

“Flight” director Robert Zemeckis will receive the Founder’s Award at the Chicago International Film Festival — the last recipient was Michel Hazanavicius for “The Artist.” [THR]

Happy news for Mike Leigh fans: the British filmmaker’s long-fostered passion project, a biopic of painter J.M.W. Turner, is finally going ahead, with Timothy Spall in the lead. [The Playlist]

Sasha Stone examines the current state of the Oscar race, with the shadow of the US presidential election hanging over her. [Awards Daily]

David Poland sits down with “Amour” writer-director — and Oscar hopeful — Michael Haneke. [Hot Blog]

The International Documentary Association Awards may be commonly labelled a precursor in the doc Oscar race, though that’s not strictly the case — as an independent-minded group, they frequently follow a very different path to the Academy’s documentary branch. Last year, for example, their top prizewinner “Nostalgia for the Light” didn’t crack the Academy’s longlist, while eventual Oscar winner “Undefeated” wasn’t tapped by the IDA. Would that more race saw this kind of divergence of opinion.

All of which is to say that the IDA’s nominations, announced this morning, aren’t any kind of harbinger of Oscar glory, though some high-profile films made the cut in their top category, including “Searching for Sugar Man” (which caught Kris’ fancy in the summer) “Queen of Versailles” and “Central Park Five” (which I reviewed out of the LFF last week).

All three have their champions, and are fancied by many to appear on the 15-title Oscar longlist next month. The Academy’s controversial new voting system has seemingly been designed to favor such relatively popular titles, though we have no idea yet how it will play out. For its part, the IDA itself leaves a critical and/or commercial favorite off its list, which is why such films as “The Imposter” and Alex Gibney’s “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” (just laurelled in London) have nothing to worry about yet.

Rounding out the Best Documentary Feature category is “The Invisible War,” a study of rape within the US military that won the Audience Award at Sundance, and the lone non-US film on the list, “Women With Cows” from Sweden.  

In the documentary short category, we have reigning Oscar champ “Saving Face,” while fellow nominees “Kings Point,” “Mondays at Racine” and “Open Heart” are all on the eight-film shortlist for this year’s Oscar in the category.

Meanwhile, glamming up the lower categories — well, maybe “glam” isn’t the word — are Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog, nominated for the Limited Series award for “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” and “On Death Row” respectively.

The IDA Awards will take place at the DGA in Los Angeles on December 7. The full list of nominees:

Best Documentary Feature
“Central Park Five”
“The Invisible War”
“Queen of Versailles”
“Searching for Sugar Man”
“Women With Cows”

Best Documentary Short
“God is the Bigger Elvis”
“Kings Point”
“Mondays at Racine”
“Open Heart”
“Saving Face”

Best Continuing Series
“American Masters”
“Independent Lens”
“POV”

Best Limited Series
“Bomb Patrol Afghanistan”
“George Harrison: Living in the Material World”
“On Death Row”
“Slavery: A 21st Century Evil”
“The Weight of the Nation”

Student Documentary Award
“The A-Word”
“La Camioneta”
“Captive Radio”
“Julian”
“Meanwhile in Mamelodi”

ABC Videosource Award
“Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story”
“Central Park Five”
“The Family”
“Harvest of Empire”
“We Are Wisconsin”

Humanitas Award
“American Experience: The Amish”
“Bitter Seeds”
“Call Me Kuchu”
“Harvest of Empire”
“The Virgin, the Copts and Me”

After a number of years partnered with VH1 for its annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, the first televised film awards show of the season, the Broadcast Film Critics Association has announced that the 18th annual telecast will be broadcast on The CW network.

Also included in the announcement is the now-official date of January 10, 2013 for the show, which, yes, is the same day as the Oscar nominations. So there ought to be some interesting, awkward heartbreak on the red carpet for the inevitable BFCA nominees who were shafted by the Academy. This is the first time the awards are being held after the Oscar nominations announcement.

”The BFCA is thrilled that our awards show has an exciting new broadcast partner that reaches the same audience that most frequently goes to the movies and will most enjoy our glamorous Hollywood party,” BFCA president Joey Berlin said via press release. “The CW is breaking out this fall and we expect ‘The Critics” Choice Movie Awards” to help continue the network”s surge. With our big event falling on the very day that Oscar nominations are announced, we know everyone is going to be watching our star-studded celebration of the biggest and best movies of the year.”

Added CW Executive Vice President of Development Thom Sherman, “As host of the ’18th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards,’ The CW gets the opportunity to throw one of the first major events of the Hollywood awards season with all of the biggest, A-list stars right here on our network. We”re working very closely with the BFCA to give this telecast a cool, current party vibe that both celebrates the year”s best films and fits perfectly with our young adult brand.”

No emcee for the show has been announced as of yet.

Ballots go out to BFCA members on December 3 and the deadline for voting is December 9. The nominees for the 18th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards will be announced on Tuesday, December 11.

If you forget the current Oscar race for a minute, and cast your mind all the way back to the start of this year, you may recall that Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias nabbed what rather surprisingly turned out to be the only below-the-line nomination for “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.”

He inevitably lost to Ludovic Bource for “The Artist,” but I wasn’t the only one who thought his moody, jazz-infused score for the British spy thriller deserved the win — and not only because his tonally contrasting, predictably unnominated work on Pedro Almodovar’s “The Skin I Live In” was equally strong.

Months later, Iglesias has received his due, winning Composer of the Year for both films (plus French thriller “The Monk”) at the World Soundtrack Awards, presented this weekend at the Ghent International Film Festival in Belgium.

Additionally, Iglesias took the individual Original Score of the Year prize for “Tinker Tailor” — beating two of his fellow 2011 nominees, John Williams for “The Adventures of Tintin” and Howard Shore for “Hugo.” Rather surprisingly, “The Artist” wasn’t even nominated, while the World Soundtrack Academy scored some hipster points by shortlisting the Oscar-disqualified “Drive” instead.

Also a double winner was Irish composer Brian Byrne: the relative newcomer took the Discovery of the Year award for his work on “Albert Nobbs,” and also shared the Best Original Song prize for that film’s theme “Lay Your Head Down.” That Sinead O’Connor-sung ballad wasn’t nominated even nominated by the Academy; here, it beat Oscar winner “Man or Muppet” to the punch. (Meanwhile, the song’s co-writer, Glenn Close, has finally claimed an actual award for her dreary passion project.) 

The Public Choice Award went to Abel Korzeniowski for “W.E.” — a film I didn’t realize any members of the public had actually seen, while lifetime achievement honors went to Pino Donaggio, best known for his longstanding collaboration with Brian DePalma.

As you’ve surely gathered, the timing of this awards ceremony means it tends to be dominated by films from the previous year, so it’s worth noting the few 2012 films to crack the nominee list. “Rust and Bone” and “Moonrise Kingdom” were folded into Alexandre Desplat’s Composer of the Year bid; ditto “Cosmopolis” and Howard Shore. Meanwhile, “Snow White and the Huntsman” nabbed a Best Original Song nod for Florence and the Machine’s “Breath of Life”; Greg Ellwood was recently wondering if the song could be Oscar-bound.

Finally, looking at the awards from the Ghent fest itself, I’m thrilled to see that Miguel Gomes’s “Tabu” — pretty much a lock for a medal in my year-end list — won their top prize. Back on the soundtrack side of things, Olivier Assayas’s “Something in the Air” won their second-highest honor for Best Music and Sound Design.

The full list of World Soundtrack Award honorees:

Best Original Score of the Year
John Williams, “The Adventures of Tintin”
Cliff Martinez, “Drive”
Howard Shore, “Hugo”
Alexandre Desplat, “The Ides of March”
Alberto Iglesias, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” (winner)

Composer of the Year
Alexandre Desplat, “The Ides of March,” “Rust and Bone,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Extreme Loud and Incredibly Close,” “A Better Life,” “Carnage”
Alberto Iglesias, “Tinker Tailor, Soldier Spy,” “The Skin I Live In,” “The Monk” (winner)
Cliff Martinez, “Drive,” “Contagion”
Howard Shore, “Hugo,” “Cosmopolis,” “A Dangerous Method”
John Williams, “The Adventures of Tintin,” “War Horse”

Best Original Song
“Lay Your Head Down” from “Albert Nobbs” (Brian Byrne, Glenn Close, Sinead O’Connor) (winner)
“The Living Proof” from “The Help” (Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman, Damon Thomas, Harvey Mason, Jr.)
“Man or Muppet” from “The Muppets” (Bret McKenzie, Jason Segel, Peter Linz)
“Breath of Life” from “Snow White and the Huntsman” (Florence Welch, Isabella Summers)
“Masterpiece” from “W.E.” (Julie Frost, James Harry, Madonna)

Discovery of the Year
Brian Byrne, “Albert Nobbs” (winner)
Fall On Your Sword, “Lola Versus,” “Nobody Walks”
Trevor Morris, “Immortals”
Lucas Vidal, “The Cold Light of Day,” “The Raven,” “Sleep Tight”
David Wingo, “Take Shelter”

Public Choice Award
Abel Korzeniowski, “W.E.”

Sabam Award for Best Young European Composer
Valentin Hadjadj

Lifetime Achievement Award
Pino Donaggio 

“Paranormal Activity 4” may have topped the box office this weekend, but the story of the chart remains “Argo” — which, by dipping just 15% to take $16.6 million, posted the strongest ever hold for a live-action film on a non-holiday weekend. Warner Bros. are said to be confident the film will reach at least $90 million domestically, which is a pretty extraordinary projection these days for a film about grown-ups in which nobody wears a cape. All of which underlines the immediate reaction I had upon finally seeing the film for myself last week: combining that strong populist appeal with old-fashioned craftsmanship, rousing political history and Hollywood insider lore, it’s unequivocally the one to beat for Best Picture. [Variety]

Speaking of “Argo,” Glenn Dunks rightly celebrates an aspect of the film that hasn’t been getting much attention: Jacqueline West’s spot-on period costumes. Could she get a surprise nod à la “Milk?” [Stale Popcorn] 

Big news for Alex Gibney and his documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa”: his film has unexpectedly found theatrical distribution in Catholic strongholds Italy and Ireland. [Screen Daily]

Sasha Stone gathers a panel of guest pundits — including yours truly — to hash out some early-season questions in her first Oscar Roundtable of the year. [Awards Daily]

Marion Cotillard talks about her “crazy year” that has included “Rust and Bone,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and learning Polish for James Gray’s “Nightingale.” Oh, and having a baby somewhere in between. [Wall Street Journal] 

Peter Labuza and Matt Zoller Seitz continue their entertaining series of Tarantino-themed video essays, this time putting “Pulp Fiction” under scrutiny. [Press Play]

Neal Gabler discusses the perception of value in Hollywood. Interesting piece, though I’m unsure why Martin Scorsese — three of whose last four films topped $100 million — is described as someone not favored by audiences. [LA Times]

“The Sessions” writer-director Ben Lewin talks about the everyday nature of the explicit, and why he could hardly help making a feelgood film. [The Film Experience]

Following the festival success of Israeli Oscar hopeful “Fill the Void,” Debra Karim looks at the small but growing band of female filmmakers in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. [New York Times]

Tom Hanks swears on national TV. Big deal. I’m more offended by the media’s continued insistence on using the idiotic term “f-bomb.” [CNN]

“Lincoln” director Steven Spielberg was featured tonight on CBS’ “60 Minutes” tonight, and the segment pretty much put the guy on the couch, digging into his family life and history in order to find a defining thread connecting all of his legendary films.

The thing they settle on is a portfolio about the outsider, with Spielberg noting everything from his long-time denial of his Judaism to a 15-year time of estrangement from a father he finally reconciled with nearly 20 years ago. They also get his parents to sit down and discuss the impact Spielberg’s early life has had on him and the impressions left, etc., but keep coming back to a sense of shattered ties ultimately informing a lot of his work over the years, right up to and including his latest.

“I saw a paternal father figure, someone who was stubbornly committed to his ideals,” he said of Abraham Lincoln, played by Daniel Day-Lewis in the film. “He was living with two agendas, both of which had to do with healing: to abolish slavery/end the war, but he also had his personal life, and I think there’s darkness there.”

He also mentioned that action filmmaking no longer attracts him and that his work as of late — films like “War Horse” and “Lincoln” — is very much about the good that has come out of reconnecting with his father and his sense that those 15 years were wasted.

Is “Lincoln,” therefore, one of his more personal films in a while? I think on some level, it is. But I’m looking forward to more people getting a look at the film so the discussion can take off. I imagine there are those with the knives out, and I’ve already found that I’m defending Spielberg’s sense of restraint to those who found the production too stagey. But I like it more the further I spin away from it. It’s not some dense thing to be unpacked, but it feels like a different shade of the director, and I like that.

Day-Lewis was interviewed for a segment featured exclusively online. “I’d never felt that depth of love for another human being that I had never met,” he said of his character, “and I think that’s probably the effect Lincoln has on most people who take the time to discover him.”

Composer John Williams was also featured in this bit, playing the famous “Jaws” theme on the piano and talking about the “mechanism of the melody” that made that score resonate so much. It’s an interesting one to discuss since that score is so notable for its simplicity, and the same can be said of his work on “Lincoln.” As I mentioned in my thoughts on the film last week, the work is incredibly restrained and judiciously used.

“John and I made a very conscious decision not to compete with the voice of Lincoln,” Spielberg said. “So I think both of us pulled back a bit and almost stood in Lincoln’s shadow.”

And there’s discussion of the authenticity of the film, as well, such as getting the Oval Office as close to its 1860s look as possible, wallpaper, books and all. But Spielberg and his sound team went a sep farther: The watch that Lincoln carries on him throughout the film, that you hear ticking sometimes, the National Museum of American History allowed the film’s sound designer to record the actual ticking of the actual watch. “So whenever you hear the ticketing, that’s the same ticking that Lincoln heard 150 years ago,” Spielberg says.

There’s more so you can read the transcript of the interview at CBS if you like, or watch the exclusive online bit via the embed below.

“Lincoln” opens in limited release on November 9.

LONDON – I mentioned last week that Jacques Audiard’s “Rust & Bone,” five months after a more divided Cannes reception, seemed to be playing well at the BFI London Film Festival. With civilians and critics alike, it was perhaps the title I heard most often in conversations about what festival titles had stood out, or indeed which ones they planned to see — egged on, perhaps, by the ubiquitous billboards for the film plastered around the British capital. Meanwhile, it earned extra, inadvertent media exposure as the site of the festival’s most tabloid-friendly incident: at its gala premiere, two patrons were ejected from the cinema for getting more than a little frisky during the film. Adjust the inevitable “thrust” and “boner” puns to taste.

More officially, however, its status as the film of the festival was sealed at last night’s festival awards ceremony, where a jury led by David Hare handed it the Star of London for Best Film over 11 other shortlisted titles. London has become a happy hunting ground for Audiard: in 2009, his film “A Prophet” took the inaugural Star, a prize that has since been handed to “How I Ended This Summer,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and now “Rust & Bone.” Four years in, and they have yet to make a dud choice.

In his preamble to presenting the award, Hare praised the also-rans, particularly noting the high standard of acting across the competition. (The festival doesn’t offer any acting prizes.) Special Mentions were handed to two Latin American films, coincidentally both in the running for the foreign-language Oscar: Pablo Larrain’s “No,” from Chile, and Michel Franco’s “After Lucia,” from Mexico. “No” I’ve already praised extensively on these pages; “After Lucia” I just saw yesterday and need some time to process, but it’s a formidable achievement.

Both would have made distinguished choices for the top honor. Ditto two shortlisted titles that were my favorite personal discoveries of the festival: Cate Shortland’s “Lore,” which I’ve already reviewed, and Francois Ozon’s tremendous storytelling study “In the House,” which may well be the best film’s of the director’s rich and varied career. I’m thrilled, however, to see “Rust & Bone” pick up its first bit of awards hardware after leaving Cannes empty-handed, and losing the French Oscar bid to “The Intouchables.” Lead actor Matthias Schoenaerts accepted the award on Audiard’s behalf, and looked decidedly pleased to do so.

The festival’s longest-running honor, the Sutherland Award for Best Debut Feature, went to a popular if hardly surprising choice: “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which only just hit UK theaters after having its LFF premiere last week. It’s the US critical darling’s latest addition to a groaning trophy cabinet that already includes the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and the Camera d’Or at Cannes — and I expect a boatload of newcomer honors will join them by the time the awards season is through. To his credit, 29 year-old director Benh Zeitlin accepted last night’s prize with such puppyish enthusiasm, you’d have thought it was his first: he expressed particular awe at being in the presence of Tim Burton, there to receive a BFI Fellowship. 

Sutherland jury president Hannah McGill described the decision as a wholly unanimous one, though Special Mentions were given to Indian film “Ship of Theseus” and the remarkable “Wadjda,” the first Saudi Arabian feature ever directed by a woman. I’d personally have preferred a fresher choice for the award — bold Brazilian suburbia thriller “Neighbouring Sounds” and crisp Scottish character study “Shell” would have been bracing picks — but there’s no denying the universal appeal of “Beasts,” a little engine that I still expect will chug its way to a Best Picture nomination at the end of the day. 

I also have high Oscar hopes for the LFF’s Grierson Award winner for Best Documentary: Alex Gibney’s superb “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” which I reviewed earlier this week. The selection was greeted with universal approval in the room: the competition, which included fellow US docs “Central Park Five” and “West of Memphis,” wasn’t exactly paltry, but documentary jury head Roger Graef implied the selection had been as clear one, describing Gibney’s searing investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as “life-changing.” The film opens in the US on 16 November, and will have its TV premiere on HBO in early 2013; if it’s not on the Academy’s documentary shortlist next month, something will have gone very wrong. (Look out for my forthcoming interview with Gibney.)

Rounding out the competitive awards, jurors Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman handed the Best British Newcomer honor to writer-director Sally El Hosaini for “My Brother the Devil,” a striking, Sundance-lauded debut feature that flips the London gangster-drama formula with fascinating details of ethnicity and sexuality. Fady Elsayed, the first-time actor who plays one of the film’s two leads, was nominated for the same award; an overwhelmed El Hosaini claimed the prize for him and all her collaborators.

Bookending the festival awards were the starriest presentations of the night, the BFI Fellowships for everyone’s favorite kooky film couple, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter. Burton, whose “Frankenweenie” opened the festival last week, was up first, but won out with the night’s coolest presenter by far: Christopher Lee, who delivered an extravagant ode to the director’s unruly imagination in tones of honeyed gravel. A subdued Burton made comparatively short work of his acceptance speech, claiming to feel particularly humbled as an American director receiving the British Film Institute’s highest honor. (“A lot of people always thought I was British… or Mexican,” he quipped.)

Naturally, LFF organizers saved Bonham Carter’s presentation for last, and she didn’t disappoint. After a gushing tribute from legendary theater director Trevor Nunn, who gave the actress her first break on stage in the 1980s and later directed her in his film adaptation of “Twelfth Night,” followed by a lengthy montage that documented her transition from English rose to Gothic goddess to something in between, she took the stage with typical gusto. All awards ceremonies really should find something to give Bonham Carter: her spacy, off-the-cuff acceptance speeches never fail to delight. “Thank you, you’ve just made my mum very happy,” she began drolly, before thanking the BFI “for making my fellow a Fellow” and closing it out with what she claimed is her dad’s mantra: “KBO: Keep Buggering On.” Long may she continue to do so.

The evening itself was a high-class affair: the awards were presented over a black-tie dinner in London’s historical Banqueting Hall on Whitehall, with cocktail receptions on either end. In addition to the aforementioned luminaries, I had the pleasure of briefly chatting to David O. Russell, whose “Silver Linings Playbook” had just had its UK premiere hours before, in the festival’s Surprise Film slot. It’s the first time I’ve missed the surprise screening since coming to London, but last night’s festivities were an elegant alternative.

The festival closes this evening with the UK premiere of Mike Newell’s adequate but uninspired new adaptation “Great Expectations”; I, meanwhile, am off to check out “Le Tableau,” a potential dark horse in the animation Oscar race. Once again, the BFI London Film Festival’s  2012 award winners are:

Best Film: “Rust & Bone,” Jacques Audiard
(Special Mentions: “No” and “After Lucia”)

Sutherland Award (Best Debut Feature): “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Benh Zeitlin
(Special Mentions: “Wadjda” and “Ship of Theseus”)

Grierson Award (Best Documentary): “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” Alex Gibney

Best British Newcomer: Sally El Hosaini, “My Brother the Devil”

LONDON – Whole vats of column ink (or the invisible online equivalent) have been spent by industry observers on the refuge Hollywood has recently sought in the humble fairytale. Whether on Red Riding Hood or the giant-slaying Jack, blockbuster millions are being lavished on reconfiguring a familiar storytelling universe that was once largely the domain of animators.

But if it’s been easy to connect this increased taste for pumped-up tradition to financially fragile US studios seeking comfort in the ultimate known quantities, we might now have to amend that copy a bit: “Blancanieves” a lush, lively new Sevillian spin on “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” that carries Spain’s hopes in this year’s Oscar race, takes the trend to the international arthouse. “Snow White,” of course, currently leads the charge in fairytale revisionism, having already yielded two contrasting English-language adaptations this year: Tarsem’s larkish, cupcake-colored delight “Mirror Mirror” and Rupert Sanders’ older-skewing and considerably dourer Gothic take “Snow White and the Huntsman.”

Directed by Pablo Berger, whose last film was the mild porn satire “Torremolinos 73,” “Blancanieves” — which recently had its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival — targets a discerning audience that likely went to neither of those films, though it sits about halfway between them tonally, sharing the former’s playful sensibility while taking the root of the story at least half as seriously as the latter – which is to say, about the right amount.

It differs from both, meanwhile, in shooting for starry-eyed romanticism to a greater extent than even Disney’s 1937 benchmark version, and does so partially by framing one nostalgia trip in the cinematic language of another. Picking up, presumably coincidentally, where “The Artist” left off, “Blancanieves” is another full-tilt homage to silent cinema: shot in glistening monochrome, encased in the cosy Academy ratio and outfitted with crafty sonic and technical anachronisms that only underline its otherwise loving adherence to the principles of narrative cinema’s early pioneers.

Though its meticulous pastiche of obsolete (or so we thought) cinematic form makes it seem more of an antique novelty than either of the other 2012 Snow Whites, “Blancanieves” is actually the most overtly modernized of the bunch, updating the action to 1920s Spain, injecting wicked notes of media satire into the action and – most innovatively – stripping the tale of all its supernatural elements. There’s no magic mirror here, just a full-length one that sufficiently reflects the vanity of a wicked stepmother without needing to answer back.

You’ll have no trouble recognizing the familiar development of the story beneath the flavorful cultural accoutrements of fizzy maracas and matador bling. Snow White here takes the name of Carmencita, a raven-haired tyke (the irresistible Sofia Oria) born into tragedy when her mother, Spain’s leading flamenco dancer, dies in labor, sending her father – neatly enough, Spain’s leading bullfighter – into irretrievable shock.

Enter the fabulously malevolent Encarna (Maribel Verdu, of “Y tu Mama Tambien” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” fame), who bewitches Carmencita’s enfeebled pa and makes her stepdaughter’s life a living, if attractively lensed, hell. When the girl grows up and tumbles into the merry shelter of a sideshow band of mini-matadors, you more or less know where this is going, until you don’t: someday no prince will come, but one of the dwarfs is eager to double up, while the resolution strikes a note of tragic compromise more in keeping with the macabre adult leanings of early fairytales than Disney-model happy endings.

After a buoyant first act that Berger himself seems reluctant to leave, the air leaks out of the soufflé a little as our suntanned Snow White (later played by the bright-eyed but less engaging Macarena Garcia) reaches adulthood. As the dwarfs never quite cohere as an entity, any screen time not handed to a gloriously vampy Verdu feels ill-spent: attired in a series of progressively outlandish Art Deco creations that pitch her halfway between Garbo and Mommie Dearest (costume designer Paco Delgado, whose threads are soon to be seen in “Les Miserables,” is clearly having a ball), Encarna isn’t cinema’s first villain to swallow the heroine whole, but when she finally proffers the poisoned apple, my silent cheer of “You go, girl!” probably wasn’t the most appropriate response.

With that said, “Blancanieves” is entirely too gorgeous for such quibbles to take center stage. Kiko de la Rica’s camera takes some kinetic options that definitely weren’t available to cinematographers in the 1920s, but also knows when to just stay put and marvel at the film’s ostentatious design, while Alfonso de la Vilallonga’s clever, clattering, ethnically-infused score is more loyal to its period than that of “The Artist,” though in one key scene, Berger breaks the code by allowing the rumble of fireworks to intrude on its soundtrack. Whether the Academy agrees or not remains to be seen, but there’s enough practical magic here to excuse the self-celebration.

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 first awards show of the season has declared nominations as the Gotham Independent Spirit Awards have announced. We discuss.

“Flight” closed out the New York Film Festival last weekend and we finally have the chance to discuss it on the podcast. I like it a bit more than Anne but we both agree it’s not necessarily an Oscar slam dunk.

One film that is unequivocally an Oscar slam dunk, though, is Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” which popped up as a “secret” screening at NYFF and which we both found striking and, ultimately, surprising.

Another week, another category as we move on into the extremely lacking Best Supporting Actress field.

And finally, reader questions. We address queries regarding the potential for overkill in Oscar marketing and perceptions of screenwriting vis a vis movie musicals.

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.

Chances are Seth MacFarlane’s hosting gig will remain the biggest win for “Ted” at February’s Oscar ceremony, but the raunchy teddy-bear comedy had its own taste of awards glory at the Hollywood Reporter Key Art Awards, which recognize the industry’s top achievements in movie marketing, “Ted” won the night’s top award, for best overall campaign. Top of the trailer heap, meanwhile, was “Shame,” which took gold in the audio-visual category for its striking red-band “Subway” trailer. Other films recognized included “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Prometheus” (though not for Most Over-Marketed Film of the Year, surprisingly enough) and the upcoming “Man of Steel.” [THR] 

The New York Film Critics’ Circle will announce their award winners on December 3 — slightly later than last year, though they’ll still be first. [The Envelope]

Over at the Gold Derby prediction charts, “Argo” has drawn level with “Les Mis” in the Best Picture category. I’ve joined the “Argo” brigade and tell Tom O’Neil why. [Gold Derby]

The superb cinematographer Greig Fraser (“Bright Star”) discusses the 1970s-textured grit he brought to Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly.” [American Cinematographer]

“Life of Pi” won the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival, while “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Sessions” and “Rise of the Guardians” also took home prizes. [Screen Daily]

A taste of the wonders of the V&A Museum’s massive Hollywood Costume exhibition in London. Can’t wait for this. [Design Week]

Xan Brooks delves into the mysteries of “Room 237,” the upcoming documentary that deconstructs “The Shining” to bold new levels in geekery. [The Guardian]

Sasha Stone is in love with “Lincoln,” and waxes lyrical about what Steven Spielberg has “brought not just to American film but to our culture.” [Awards Daily]

From Terrence Malick to Christopher Nolan, Kyle Buchanan looks at the A-list directors who are best as keeping their projects under wraps. [Vulture]

Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel — best known to a generation of adoring male viewers as “Emmanuelle” — passed away on Wednesday, aged just 60. Bruce Weber pays tribute. [New York Times] 

LONDON — There’s a temptation at film festivals to imagine cinematic trends based on certain likenesses between films screened in close proximity – though when those films drift away from each other out in the real world, those initial overlaps don’t always seem so resonant. So I’m not going to point to something in the air after watching three standout US documentaries at the London Film Festival – “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” “Central Park Five” and “West of Memphis” – that chronicle a range of young individuals failed in various ways by American authorities.

Even so, their shared spirit of measured fury is striking: each film documents a long night’s journey into day of sorts, as a severe human infraction is brought to rights – or at least partial correction – over the course of years, or even decades. The inequities of the United States justice system come under scrutiny in “Central Park Five” and “West of Memphis,” while “Mea Maxima Culpa” puts the Catholic Church atop its target list. Considered distrust of the social systems designed to protect us, however, courses through all of them, making for a powerful American collective in a touchy election year.

Perhaps the most ambitious of the three, “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God” (B+) is typically methodical and level-headed work from Oscar-winning docmaker Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”), but that’s not to suggest it’s any way cautious. The grave subject it takes on – the alarming global proliferation of uncovered sexual abuse in the Catholic Church – isn’t untouched on screen; Amy Berg’s Oscar-nominated “Deliver Us From Evil” took on the issue in 2006. But Gibney has delivered the most far-reaching and internationally engaged film yet on the scandal. That he’s done this while deftly relating a more intimate, and distinctly unusual, community narrative amid the larger institutional excoriation is quite remarkable. 

The unique perspective showcased in Gibney’s film is that shared by four deaf, middle-aged Milwaukee men, all former classmates at a local Catholic academy for the deaf – and all profoundly scarred by years of sexual molestation at the hands of a kindly-seeming priest who, it turns out, similarly violated over 200 other boys over a 25-year stint at the school. Together, the four boys took the first steps to militant action against the abuse – heroically distributing awareness flyers to the community – in the face of crushing indifference from the police and the law.

This story alone is heady documentary material, but Gibney is determined to further peel back the root of this widespread moral travesty – and is willing to go all the way to the Vatican to prove his point, as an informed cadre of expert talking heads, some from within the Church itself, detail the Catholic power heads’ longtime awareness of, and complicity in, the crisis, with Pope Benedict XVI chief among the silent guardians of the truth. (The Vatican, shockingly enough, turned down all Gibney’s interview requests.)

This is fragile territory, but Gibney is a listener more he is a polemicist. Himself a lapsed Catholic, he delicately but crucially keeps notions of Church and faith separate in the conversation, and the resulting film is impassioned without ever sounding shrill or inflammatory. (Some, however, may question to wisdom of soft-focus reconstructions of behind-closed-doors that, while inexplicit, have a deliberate horror-film tint.)

Most commendable of all, meanwhile, is the calibrated grace with which Gibney and editor Sloane Klevin balance the character narrative of the deaf men (given distinctive voices in their to-camera interviews, from such actors as John Slattery and Ethan Hawke) against his more expansive investigations, never condescending to them even as the film’s finale serves up a surge of lump-in-the-throat defiance. You’ll leave the cinema rightfully angry, yet still not half as much as they are.

That the less ornately titled but similarly spider-shaped “Central Park Five” (B+) shares with Gibney’s film a kind of academic reserve and rationalized anger is unsurprising when you consider that it’s co-directed by leading American documentarian Ken Burns (“The Civil War”), whose work is distinguished by its archival fine-tooth combing. His exhaustive research skills (here working in conjunction with his daughter and son-in-law, Sarah Burns and David McMahon) are invaluable in bringing to screen a scandal that can invite hotter heads – and has, many times over.

It’s a story with which you may already be familiar, or at least believe yourself to be so. When the film first popped up at Cannes in the spring, the words ‘Central Park Five’ struck a match in my brain: in the summer of 1989, I was six years old and living across the river from New York City, where the media noise over the alleged gang rape and near-murder of a female jogger in the city’s famous green lung was most deafening. I scarcely understood what it meant, but I saw the news and read enough headlines absorb the basic narrative: five African-American and Hispanic teenagers confessed to the crime and, after a loudly protracted trial, were locked up for seven to 12 years. Justice served. Done.

Where’s the story, then? Well, the fact that they didn’t do it, for starters. This will come as the film’s principal revelation for many, given that the disproving and eventual overturning of the men’s convictions 10 years ago was a far quieter news story. Though a riveting indictment of the ladders of legal and judicial corruption that destroyed the lives of five innocent children, “Central Park Five” is no less grave a critique of the irresponsible media that egged on the accusers by stirring up racially-based hysteria likened by more than one commentator here to Jim Crow-era persecution.

Pragmatically constructed from jaw-dropping archive finds and candid talking heads – four of the titular Five appear on screen, while the fifth supplies off-camera testimony – the film has no need for voiceover or editorializing as it builds a propulsive procedural drama around this misbegotten case; the first-hand evidence is galvanizing enough.

Burns’ trump card is sharing the complete video-recorded ‘confessions’ of three of the punch-drunk boys, complete with blatantly coercive interjections from the detectives and public prosecutor, all of which wind up contradicting each other on every key detail. That these were considered incriminating in court is sobering evidence of the susceptibility of power structures to overriding public sentiment. This otherwise immaculately thorough study arguably falters only in either failing or refusing to uncover the boys’ actual alibi for the crime, which evidence suggests may have been lesser criminal activity: the knowledge may be irrelevant to miscarriage of justice under trial here, but could further enrich the moral authority of a fascinating film.

If the aforementioned Amy Berg’s “West of Memphis” (B-) feels a little less invigorating than “Central Park Five” in its own breakdown of a devastasting wrongful conviction, that’s because it’s following in the still-wet footprints of the “Paradise Lost” trilogy, which reached its Oscar-nominated conclusion only last year. Berg’s polished, subject-authorized new take has the most to offer to audiences unfamiliar with the story of the West Memphis Three – a trio of teenagers unjustly imprisoned for the murder of three younger boys – but it’s not entirely redundant, expanding on the third “Paradise Lost” film’s theory on an alternative suspect, and offering heartfelt personal reflections from the recently released men.

To that end, it’s significant if not necessarily advantageous that one of the Three, Damien Echols, co-produced “West of Memphis”; the producers’ names that you’re likeliest to see on the poster, however, are those of Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, two of the many famous entertainment-industry figures who joined the media protests over the case’s tragically farcical handling. Walsh, in particular, befriended Echols’s wife, writing her any number of motivational letters. Their correspondence is related in voiceover, providing some stickily self-aggrandizing moments in a film whose few other tonal miscalculations include too much lurid lingering on the murder victims’ grotesque injuries.

Jackson and Walsh’s presence isn’t the only reason “West of Memphis” feels a little like the blockbuster counterpart to the “Paradise Lost” films. Emphatically redemptive, grippingly linear (150 minutes veritably fly by) and graced with a directly emotive score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, it’s easy to imagine it as the precursor to a full-scale Hollywood biopic of the West Memphis Three. With this particular injustice still a raw wound in the supposed land of the free, it’s hardly a story that can be told too many times.

Look out for my interview with “Mea Maxima Culpa” director Alex Gibney soon. Our London Film Festival coverage will continue with more foreign-language Oscar contenders from Spain, The Netherlands and Mexico.

The Academy has taken another big step toward establishing its long-in-the-making motion picture museum right in the heart of Los Angeles. The organization announced today that it has reached its initial goal of $100 million toward a $250 capital campaign to fund the project, which will be housed within the former Wilshire May Company building on the southwest corner of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s campus on Wilshire Blvd.

Concurrently, the Academy also unveiled its vision for the museum, which is designed by architects Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali and set to open in 2016. The non-profit enterprise “will be a landmark that both our industry and our city can be immensely proud of,” Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said via press release, and indeed, it’s a bold and unique undertaking that comes at a crucial time for the preservation of film and continued cinema history education.

The campaign to fund the museum was launched earlier this year by chair Bob Iger and co-chairs Annette Bening and Tom Hanks. Private donations have brought them to the $100 million mark and so the nearly 300,000 square-foot facility — which will also revitalize the historic Wilshire May Company building that has been vacant or underutilized for two decades — has a huge wind in its sails.

The $100 million includes significant commitments from the chairs and their families, Academy Governors and other brass — from Bill Condon and Sid Ganis to Jim Gianopulos and John Lasseter to Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall — as well as corporate partners such as Dolby Laboratories and Technicolor. Film studios and guilds are also in the fold, making the entire undertaking one of the most significant collective industry efforts in history.

The design of the museum, the Academy announced, fully restores the Wilshire and Fairfax street-front facades and includes a spherical glass addition at the back of the original building. It is “designed to represent the marriage of art and technology,” the press release reads, and will include a state-of-the-art theater, naturally.

The facility will also feature immersive exhibitions and galleries, special screening rooms and an interactive education center with demonstration labs. The Academy’s extensive archives, including 140,000 films, 10 million photographs, 42,000 original film posters and 10,000 production drawings, costumes, props and movie-making equipment will also be thoroughly tapped

“I am very inspired by the Academy”s name and mission,” Piano said in the release, “the idea of the arts and sciences working together to create films. Our design will preserve the May Company building”s historic public profile while simultaneously signaling that the building is taking on a new life that celebrates both the industry and art form that this city created and gave to the world.”

They even got the mayor to chime in on the undertaking. “Hollywood has played an unparalleled role in bringing American art, culture and creativity to people around the world,” Antonio Villaraigosa said in the release. The Academy Museum will be a remarkable resource for L.A.”

It’s a big project and a vital one, and it seems to be moving along faster than many would have expected. If you’re looking to contribute in some way to a major moment int he world of film, you could do a lot worse than this. Here are some details on what you can do.

Every year, it seems as though summer blockbusters try to outdo each other in the realm of visual effects. The rise of 3D has made visual effects even more of a selling point for many films, with two of the last three winners in this category (“Hugo” and “Avatar”) employing such technology.

The Academy Award for Best Visual Effects awards up to four of the hundreds of individuals who create the these elements. More than any other category, being a blockbuster that has made a lot of money helps immensely (though largely that’s because blockbusters that make a lot of money tend to be effects-heavy). That said, being a Best Picture nominee certainly helps. And, as I pointed out last year, it helps even more at the win stage.

Until a few years ago, there were only three nominees in this category, chosen from a pre-announced list of seven finalists. This practice was changed effective 2009, and now there are 10 pre-announced finalists, from which five nominees are chosen.

A summer blockbuster — or two or three — is nominated in this category every year. Even so, I”m uncertain about what film is best placed to do that this year.

Everyone knew “The Avengers” was going to be a hit. Few predicted just how dominant the film would be among this year”s summer onslaught. Complete with 3D and multiple major superheroes, the film was a visual effects extravaganza. Despite a plethora of competition, I”d be surprised if it didn”t make the final five, and also expect Erik Nash and Daniel Sudick, who have six nominations to date between them, to be in contention for the win. My only reservation lies in the fact that “Iron Man” is the only one of the four base franchises of this film to have previously made the cut in this category.

“The Dark Knight Rises” may not have lived up to the impossibly high expectations set by its predecessor but had it done so, it would have been a miracle. Nolan continues his preference for having everything possible done by actual camerawork and while that may decrease the showiness of the effects, and be a particular obstacle when it comes to the race for the win, I still think the film is more likely than not to receive a nomination. Nolan has reunited his Oscar-winning crew from “Inception” of Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Pete Bebb and Andrew Lockley.

“The Amazing Spider-Man” attempted to repeat what “Batman Begins” did seven years ago, by rebooting a franchise based around a popular character. The effects were impressive and the crew is anchored by veteran winners John Frazier and Jim Rygiel. That said, the film”s reception was underwhelming. Granted, the obligation of all voters to see bake-off effects reels from all the nominees may eliminate this problem but I think “The Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises” are the likelier nominees in this category from the summer.

“Prometheus” looked back on a classic franchise and gave us a prequel of sorts. Ridley Scott”s film impressed different people in different ways. And some weren”t impressed at all. Even so, the effects were top notch and a nomination is certainly possible. Despite having a massive crew, I do not believe that any of the supervisors have been nominated to date.

Moving out of the summer, “Looper” is a rare example of a science-fiction/action movie that has got critics very excited. It is probably going down in film history with its high concept premise and group of rabid fans. It does not have a crew that has experienced AMPAS love to date, though that shouldn”t be viewed as a death knell in any way. The film has been extremely well-received by critics and audiences, and Rian Johnson and especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt are hot commodities these days.

Robert Zemickis”s “Flight” will try to bring Denzel Washington back into Oscar contention after more than a decade away. I”m not sure what sort of contender this will actually be, though it”s worth noting that Michael Lantieri has a long and established history with Oscar – five nominations, including a win. And the plane crash at the center of the film is a major set piece.

“Skyfall” has pulled out quite the cast and crew to bring James Bond back to us. Now, this series is frequently shortlisted for visual effects honors but seldom makes the final cut. And Chris Corbould is in contention already this year for both “The Dark Knight Rises” and “John Carter.”  Even so, I wouldn”t rule this title out, particularly with all the glowing, “best-of-the-series” notices.

On the note of “John Carter,” the effects were incredible and the crew was massive. So despite the massive bomb status, I wouldn”t dismiss it entirely. (“The Golden Compass,” anyone?)  That said, most of the crew (Corbould aside) is from Pixar and not the sort of people who are necessarily entrenched in this branch.

Ang Lee”s “Life of Pi” was always going to sink or swim in light of its visual effects. The sea, to say nothing of animals, will undoubtedly be very effects-based and/or complemented. By all accounts the film swims (so to speak). Bill Westenhof won this award for “The Golden Compass” and was nominated for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and that only increases its chances in my view.

“Life of Pi” is not the only film this year where the water will play an integral part. “The Impossible” features a massive tsunami at the center of its plot. No members of this largely Spanish crew have been nominated to date. Even so, that did not stop “Hereafter” from earning a nomination in this category three years ago for a much briefer tsunami sequence. That film was nowhere near as well received and also earned no other nominations. Admittedly, 2009 didn”t have as many strong contenders as 2012 appears to. Even so, I”d say Pau Costa and Javier Garcia should without question be considered in the conversation.

As for a December film I am confident will make the cut sight unseen? Peter Jackson”s return to Middle Earth in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” which will reunite Jackson with both J.R.R. Tolkien and the WETA visual effects workshop in an effects-heavy spectacle complete with trolls, hobbits and, of course, Gollum. While most of this has been done before, no one does it better than Jackson. I think the decision to divide this book into three films is madness. Even so, assuming the film receives at least a respectable reception, I”d be shocked if it didn”t score here. Then again, maybe it will be an epic failure.

Another epic adaptation is, of course, “Cloud Atlas.” And the Wachowskis, like Jackson, have directed a past winner in this category: “The Matrix.”  This category seems pretty competitive. Even so, the work that will be required in this film”s many fantastical scenes seems the sort that could result in a second Wachowski film finding a home here. Senior visual effects supervisor Dan Glass (“The Tree of Life,” “Batman Begins,” the latter two “Matrix” movies) is long overdue for a first nomination.

Those are the top dozen contenders as I see them from this vantage point. What do you see coming?

The awards season is “officially” under way today as the first awards show of the season has announced its list of nominees. The Gotham Independent Film Awards are typically good for establishing certain independent films in the race early on, films that hope to maintain a profile throughout the season as the bigger titles do battle. Beneficiaries of Gotham recognition have included “Beginners,” “The Tree of Life,” “The Descendants,” “Winter’s Bone,” “Black Swan,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The Hurt Locker” and “A Serious Man” in recent years.

The 22nd annual slate could prove helpful to a film like Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” which picked up two nominations including Best Feature, as the film looks to turn summer release goodwill into a Best Picture Oscar nomination. (It landed on DVD/Blu-ray yesterday, which also helps.) Richard Linklater’s “Bernie,” meanwhile, also nominated for Best Feature, can ride an early wave like this and perhaps more voters will put in the screener and give it a look. This after Millennium Entertainment brought Linklater and star Jack Black to New York and Los Angeles for a few soirées to get the engine humming.

Another film that can ride this early tide nicely is “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” It was passed over in the Best Feature field but still managed two nods in the breakthrough categories (director Benh Zeitlin and actress Quevenzhané Wallis). “Silver Linings Playbook” also managed to be recognized, in the Best Ensemble category.

And still other films, like “The Sessions” or particularly “Arbitrage,” really could have used some attention here. Alas, they were snubbed.

Filling out the Best Feature field was “The Loneliest Planet,” “The Master” (its only nod) and “Middle of Nowhere.”

Check out the full list of nominees below. The 22nd annual Gotham Independent Film Awards will be held on November 26 at Cipriani in New York.

Best Feature
“Bernie”
“The Loneliest Planet”
“The Master”
“Middle of Nowhere”
“Moonrise Kingdom”

Best Documentary
“Detropia”
“How to Survive a Plague”
“Marina Abramavi?: The Artist is Present”
“Room 237”
“The Waiting Room”

Best Ensemble Performance
“Bernie”
“Moonrise Kingdom”
“Safety Not Guaranteed”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Your Sister’s Sister”

Breakthrough Director
Antonio Méndez Esparza, “Aquí y Allá (Here and There)”
Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Brian M. Cassidey, Melanie Shatzky, “Francine”
Jason Corlund, Julia Halperin, “Now, Forager”
Zal Batmanglij, “Sound of My Voice”

Breakthrough Actor
Mike Birbiglia, “Sleepwalk with Me”
Emayatzy Corinealdi, “Middle of Nowhere”
Thure Lindhardt, “Keep the Lights On”
Melanie Lynskey, “Hello, I Must Be Going”
Quevenzhané Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
“Kid-Thing”
“An Oversimplification of Her Beauty”
“Red Flag”
“Sun Don’t Shine”
“Tiger Tall in Blue”

There may still be a question mark over how well “The Master” goes over with the Academy, but there’s little doubt that Joaquin Phoenix is primed for a nomination (at least) for his blazing performance in it. When he gets it, however, it’ll be without any help from the actor himself, who has made it quite clear he has no interest in the whole ritual of awards season whatsoever. His interview with Elvis Mitchell touches on many interesting areas, but here are his thoughts on the Oscar-chasing business: “I think it’s total, utter bullshit, and I don’t want to be a part of it. I don’t believe in it… Pitting people against each other . . . It’s the stupidest thing in the whole world. It was one of the most uncomfortable periods of my life when ‘Walk the Line’ was going through all the awards stuff and all that. I never want to have that experience again.” Guess he won’t be coming to the ceremony, then. [Interview] 

The cinephile world is morning the loss of veteran Japanese director Koji Wakamatsu, whose last film premiered at Venice in September. [Fandor] 

Having seen “Rise of the Guardians,” Scott Feinberg believes it’s the film to beat for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. I’m still struck by just how ugly it looks. [The Race]

Dave Karger looks at how some of this year’s Best Picture contenders fall into proven Oscar themes and patterns. Not sure how “Django Unchained” is a “little movie that could,” though. [USA Today]

Oscar-nominated sound designer Erik Aadahl talks about creating a soundscape for the tension-fuelled “Argo.” [Below the Line]

Sam Mendes talks to Dave Calhoun about making James Bond his own, and why he’s willing to do it all over again. [Time Out London]

Mourning the loss of Harris SAvides, Jason Bailey lists his 10 favorite working cinematographers. To each his own, of course, but I’d say the list is incomplete without Robbie Ryan. [Flavorwire]

Ezra Miller and “Les Mis” newcomer Samantha Barks are among the rising stars due to receive Spotlight Awards at the Hollywood Film Awards. [LA Times]

Promoting his directorial debut “Quartet,” Dustin Hoffman gave a tearful on-stage interview at BAFTA in London. [Screen]

Jon Weisman doesn’t think the addition of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will make much of a difference to the Golden Globes’ ratings. [Variety]

While Guy is shrewdly noting the potential for British voting contingents to rally behind this or that (particularly “Les Misérables”) in this year’s Oscar race, I’ve just emerged from what is undeniably one of the most quintessentially American efforts of the year: Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln.” Though the irony of the fact that the titular Commander-in-Chief and the leader of the Union army are portrayed by Brits in the film is not lost on me, I assure you.

Nevertheless, the film — which has seen a staggered press screening roll-out since its “surprise” New York Film Festival bow last week — pumps with the blood of a nation and one of its darkest chapters. It’s Spielberg’s most performance-heavy work to date, and indeed, features a cross-section of character actors and star-caliber players all spouting off dialogue thick with the drama of the moment. Every inch of the frame feels heavy with Importance (with a capital “I”), and for good reason. It’s a crucial moment and the need to emboss that fact is never lost on Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner.

Speaking of Kushner, there is a nimbleness to the proceedings and it’s every bit owed to his stage background. Much of “Lincoln” feels like a play, dramatic exchanges immaculately staged, blocking the actors as crucial to the drama as what they’re saying. But his words, and the characters he’s molded from history and the work of Doris Kearns Goodwin, also gives the ensemble plenty to play with throughout. Which brings me right back to the cast.

You name it: Walton Goggins, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jackie Earle Haley, Jared Harris, David Strathairn, Adam Driver, Bruce McGill, Hal Holbrook, Tim Blake Nelson, S. Epatha Merkerson, John Hawkes, Julie White, David Costabile — character actors who have lit up TV and cinema for years just smother this thing. All of them get their moment and together make for a massive, organic ensemble. Some star wattage in Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as Lincoln’s oldest son Robert) is a nice accent, but everything yields to the tide. Having said that, outside of Day-Lewis, who I’ll get to in a moment, I think there are three performances worth spotlighting.

First, Sally Field. In the role of Mary Todd, Field has a lot to chew on, scared for the safety of a son eager to prove himself in war, weary for a husband haunted by his duty, proud for the noble administration he represents and a sufferer of no fools who’d see otherwise. She delivers and never flies off the hinges when her character’s hysterics in some instances could have allowed for it.

Second, James Spader. It’s a shame he isn’t in the film enough to get some serious awards traction, because his charismatic WN Bilbo — who helped Lincoln procure the extraneous Democratic votes he needed to pass the 13th Amendment — was a big highlight for me.

Finally, Tommy Lee Jones. His passionate Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens is a reminder of how far a political party has fallen from days of just and noble concerns, but that notion aside, his performance is one of his best in years. And his big moment is fascinating for being one of compromise rather than heel-dug idealism, but it’s equally moving.

In many ways, that’s the theme of the film. It’s a story about manipulation for the good of man and magnanimous politicking. It reveals Lincoln the artist, the politician, and all through a prism of love and consideration for the law. In other words, this isn’t a man looking to exact his will but to bear it out carefully and with great respect for the integrity of the thing. As Stevens says in the third act, “The greatest measure of the 19th century. Passed by corruption, aided and abetted by the purest man in America.” That’s the movie in one line, in my opinion, and, indeed, the country.

So, let’s get to Day-Lewis. He’s a fine Lincoln, every bit as committed to the embodiment of this warm and forthright leader as he was Daniel Plainview and Bill Cutter, the ruthlessly ambitious figures at the center of “There Will Be Blood” and “Gangs of New York” respectively. It’s a consistent soothing presence, and when, inevitably, that presence is gone, the hole left seems impossible to fill. (Though the choice to deal with that mostly off-screen, as well as the litany of endings the film presents, was a bit unfortunate.)

Is he a sure-fire Oscar nominee? You bet he is. Will he be a three-time Oscar winner? We’ll have to wait and see on that. Don’t let anyone tell you this race is over, because while Day-Lewis is aiming for his third trophy, so is Denzel Washington. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Hawkes and Joaquin Phoenix — respected for years — are looking for their first, as is Hugh Jackman. And who knows how happy the Academy will be to see Anthony Hopkins back in the hunt — perhaps so happy they give him a second, for taking on one of the cinema’s most cherished figures? There’s still some road left, that’s all I’m saying.

The crafts on display are refined as ever, and particularly I was struck by how judiciously John Williams’s original score is implemented throughout. Moments I’d often expect to be slathered with his emotional cues are surprisingly silent, allowing performance and voice, whether lofty rhetoric or idle (but meaningful) discourse, to stand out.

Janusz Kaminski’s photography is also intriguingly reserved. It’s still beautiful, mind, and produces countless striking images that are immaculately lit. But the overall look of the film feels less mannered than some of his other collaborations with Spielberg.

And the design, from Rick Carter’s sets to Joanna Johnston’s costumes, is detailed and gorgeous, while Michael Kahn’s film editing is non-intrusive, making for decent pacing throughout, and the makeup effects used to achieve realistic depictions is exemplary.

So if you’re keeping score, nominations for Picture, Director, Actor (Day-Lewis), Supporting Actor (Jones), Supporting Actress (Field), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Makeup/Hairstyling, Original Score and Production Design all seem likely. It’s possible the sound branch responds to the handling of aural elements but I think those 12 are the best bets. And who’s going to sneeze at 12 Oscar nominations?

We’ll see if the film gets them all.

“Lincoln” opens in limited release on November 9.