Well, yesterday’s WGA predictions weren’t far off at all. Sub in “Young Adult” for “Contagion” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” for “The Ides of March” and there you have it.

We’ve been very clear that ineligibilities were always going to limit the scope of these nominations. So don’t expect this to be the Oscar line-up. The Academy could spring for a foreign entry, like “A Separation,” or an animated one, like “Rango.” Neither was eligible here. Meanwhile, others that weren’t eligible here but that could get a decent amount of votes from the Academy’s writers branch include “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” “Drive,” “Margin Call” and “Beginners.”

And, just like “The King’s Speech” last year, expect “The Artist” (which wasn’t eligible here) to slide right on in to the Best Original Screenplay field. It’s not hurt at all by missing here. “War Horse,” on the other hand (which I expected to miss with WGA on nothing more than a hunch) could be in an iffy spot. Check out the full list of narrative and documentary nominees below.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

“The Descendants”

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

“The Help”

“Hugo”

“Moneyball”

Best Original Screenplay:

“Bridesmaids”

“50/50”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Win Win”

“Young Adult”

Best Documentary Screenplay:

“Better This World”

“If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front”

“Nostalgia for the Light”

“Pina”

“Position Among the Stars”

“Senna“

Be sure to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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I’m always interested to see who lands on the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s Oscar-themed issue. While their picks are hardly influential, they can be a good indication of where popular opinion lies — something that becomes less clear when you cover this beat too thoroughly. Last year, they anticipated one winner by placing Natalie Portman and James Franco front and center; this year, they seem to feel they have two, declaring Viola Davis and George Clooney “frontrunners.” (I say they’ve still got one out of two there.) It’s a nice pairing, not only because the two actors are firm friends, but because Davis is the kind of minority character actress who deserves more magazines covers of her own; as she pointedly reminds EW, she stands to become only the second black actress to score a second Oscar nomination. [Entertainment Weekly]

David Poland studies a collation of nearly 200 critics’ Top 10 lists, and wonders how much it’ll overlap with the Academy’s picks. [Hot Blog]  

Tom Shone asks an interesting question: why do fewer Best Picture winners these days also win for their lead actors? [Taking Barack To The Movies]

In case you hadn’t heard, J. Hoberman has been laid off by the Village Voice, and American film criticism is a poorer place for it. Matt Singer reflects on what he’s taught us. [IFC]

With many prominent 2011 films touching on gay issues, Ramin Setoodeh wonders why Hollywood is still afraid of gay sex. [Daily Beast]

Charlize Theron talks to Nathaniel Rogers. And is generally awesome. [The Film Experience]

Tom Brueggemann on how “Midnight in Paris” could win the Best Picture Oscar. “In a parallel universe” is not one of the answers. [Gold Derby]

Melena Ryzik gathers quotes from some of this year’s Oscar-tipped actresses, including Meryl Streep and Rooney Mara, about the process behind their performances. [New York Times] 

Emily Rome discusses a strong short-film Oscar contender, “Sailcloth,” starring John Hurt. [LA Times]

With the critics’ awards largely played out and the industry awards beginning to idly rev their engines, we’re at that point in the season — a point prematurely frazzled Oscar pundits might call the halfway mark, surprising sane laymen who think the race hasn’t even started yet — when certain terms start flying around the blogosphere with all-too-casual abandon. “Overrated” (translation: “I don’t personally think it deserves as many awards as it’s getting”) is one. “Underrated” (translation: “Forget critical reception, it’s not winning enough awards for my liking”) is another. And somewhere in between lies the Oscar-watcher’s favorite alarm word for loosening semi-cemented races, if only in their own imaginations: yes, the trusty old “backlash.”

A “backlash,” you understand, can describe anything from perceptible public resistance to a once-favored film or artist (the post-“sugar tits” Mel Gibson, say) to a strategized protest from a concentrated political or cultural faction with a sizable audience (the conservative anti-“Brokeback Mountain” bloc, say) to bored journalists and bloggers talking about how too many people are talking about a certain popular phenomenon — and it’s this last, most tenuous and tail-eating, form that “backlashes” in the realm of awards analysis usually take.

Never mind that a film hasn’t yet been seen by enough audiences for a real-world diminishment of standing to take place. Never mind that those responsible for dishing out awards show no sign of tempering their enthusiasm. If enough voices in the media have grown either weary or nervous of a contender’s success — usually, of course, because it’s “overrated” — a supposed backlash, however contained or specialized in its visibility, can take root. The backlash need not have a direct effect on the awards race to be deemed permanent: milquetoast favorite “The King’s Speech” may have won last year’s Best Picture Oscar, and may still be treasured by a great many viewers, but for the comparatively small number of blogosphere agnostics, it is forever tarnished by its own success, by the lasting appeal of certain sexier films it beat.

With no retractions on the cards from the Academy, their ultimate reward is to fudge the historical record: I’m frequently amazed by the number of casual Oscar flashbacks I read that describe “Dances With Wolves” as having unaccountably “upset” “GoodFellas” 21 years ago, as if the result had been anything but a foregone conclusion at the time. Whether such a widely held perception is the work of a backlash or simply the films’ own variable wear-and-tear is entirely debatable. Rather like greatness, some films are born forgettable, some achieve forgettability and others have forgettability thrust upon them.

Leading the backlash game in this year’s race, if only because it currently leads this year’s race overall, is “The Artist,” a film whose spirited novelty was destined to attract detractors from the day of its Cannes premiere — and immediately did, even if their protests were drowned out, then as now, by the dominant chorus of critical approval. If the film’s awards-season potential was evident to some of us as long ago as May, some effortfully independent-minded critics seem to feel blindsided, betrayed even, by its progression from surprise Competition entry to oddball European discovery to Weinstein-steered crossover arthouse monster: a none-too-gradual shifting of goalposts that they might allow to alter their own relationship to the film, setting an individual backlash in motion.

The other end of the backlash, perceived or otherwise, is held up by those who didn’t see it at Cannes, those who skipped the surprise stage and met it as a half-grown phenomenon, and found it somehow less revelatory than the discovery they’d been promised — a test endured by all festival-grown hits, particularly ones with fewer brand names involved to which viewers can attach and adjust expectations. The punchline in “The Artist”‘s case has been the fact that less clued-in observers now refer to it as “Oscar bait” — as if the film is defined by its adoptive (and notoriously publicity-savvy) American distributor, as if independent French silent black-and-white cinema rules the Oscar roost year after year.

Ironically, it’s a backlash maneuver that serves both the film and its detractors. The latter can hold awards-season success as proof positive that the film was always too middlebrow to be regarded seriously, while the former can bask in the obvious benefits of an Oscar-bait disguise: not just winning stuff, which is always nice too, but securing more eyeballs and interest in its participants’ futures than it would have on its own eccentric terms. The “backlash” may be fabricated — the raft of reviews that greeted its release was as glowing as the initial Cannes reception, after all — but then so, to some extent, is the film’s public identity as a feel-good prestige Goliath, so nobody’s really getting hurt.

Of course, nearly two months remain for the race to grow and shift and potentially switch track entirely, and plenty of films are ready and waiting to cultivate backlashes of their own. Following the film’s unexpected degree of precursor success, there’s already a faction willing to cut down “Bridesmaids” if it gets a little too big for its boots (cries of “overrated” are currently circling it like vultures), while “The Descendants” has already weathered some online pushback from critics (myself included, admittedly) and looks little the worse for it. Even “The Help,” which hardly had a pristine critical record to begin with, can expect to hear a wealth of resurrected political and aesthetic arguments against it as its Oscar berth looks ever more certain; the more months a film has been exposed, after all, the more times the cycle can rinse and repeat.

Whatever film takes home the gold at the end of the day — probably “The Artist,” possibly “Hugo” or “War Horse,” and certainly nothing that somebody, somewhere doesn’t think is overrated — they’d do well to remember that a film’s real-world standing hinges as little on tunnel-vision backlashes as on the Oscar itself.

The Contenders section has been updated throughout by Kris and myself. Meanwhile, my own prediction update can be found here.

For more views on movies, awards season and other pursuits, follow @GuyLodge on Twitter.

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The Oscar race for Best Visual Effects currently seems to have more rounds of elimination than “American Idol”: rarely has a nomination seemed more like the reward. Last month, a longlist of 15 titles was announced; today, that was cut down to 10, from which the eventual five nominees will be selected.

It’s neat enough mathematically, I suppose, and seems less harsh than the previous bake-off system, which saw only seven films shortlisted, meaning a mere two got rather prominently ditched. At least this way, the losers have more company with which to commiserate.

Today’s cull brings few surprises: all the long-predicted contenders are still in the running, from “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” to “Hugo” to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” to “The Tree of Life” — the latter still something of a lone arthouse wolf in a sea of multiplex fare.

The five titles that have been booted were never serious threats for a nomination: it’s a goodbye-and-thanks-for-playing to “Cowboys and Aliens,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” “Sucker Punch,” “Super 8” and “Thor.” Eight of the Top 10 titles listed in our Contenders section made the cut; frankly, the order below fifth place had been rather randomly assembled anyway.

This remains, to my eyes, a three-film race. Based on the work alone, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” would appear to have the edge in terms of wow factor, but we’ve seen time and again how Academy members can sometimes let their regard for the films themselves sway their vote — on that basis, I would not be surprised to see “Hugo”‘s probable Best Picture nomination carry it to a win. Meanwhile, if there’s enough end-of-series affection for the “Harry Potter” franchise in the Academy, this would be an obvious place to reward it.

I’ll update the Contenders page for the category in due course; my predicted five, however, remain unchanged. Here’s the shortlist:

“Captain America: The First Avenger”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

“Hugo”

“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

“Real Steel”

“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”

“The Tree of Life”

“X-Men: First Class”  

For more views on movies, awards season and other pursuits, follow @GuyLodge on Twitter.

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Rather like Meryl Streep, who has been racking up career honors of late, it’s all but impossible to argue with any kind of lifetime achievement award for Martin Scorsese: in addition to his own deathless body of work, his efforts in the fields of film preservation and documentation make him one of the medium’s greatest servants. So the news that he is to receive BAFTA’s highest honor, the Fellowship, at the British Academy’s awards ceremony next month is neither unexpected nor unwelcome.

I can’t help wondering, however, why they’ve chosen to honor him in this way in a year when he will most likely be in the regular BAFTA race for “Hugo.” On the one hand, BAFTA voters may feel that the Fellowship is a sufficient reward for one year, and feel disinclined to vote for him in competitive categories. If they don’t, and Scorsese were to win Best Director and/or Best Film into the bargain, it could come across as overkill — particularly given that the Fellowship is traditionally the last presentation of the BAFTA ceremony. Why not wait, and spread the love by picking a worthy luminary who isn’t already getting honored in other departments this year? Just my take.

Anyway, if the timing strikes me as questionable, the gesture certainly doesn’t. Scorsese will join such filmmakers as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Federico Fellini, Woody Allen, Billy Wilder and Stanley Kubrick on the list of BAFTA Fellows; he’s well due to join their ranks. This will be his fourth BAFTA overall, having won the trifecta of Best Film, Director and Adapted Screenplay for “GoodFellas” in 1990. (“Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “The Aviator” also won Best Film in their respective years, though Scorsese himself missed out.)

The BAFTA ceremony will take place on February 12. Press release as follows: 

On Sunday 12 February, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will present Martin Scorsese with the Academy Fellowship at the Orange British Academy Film Awards ceremony, at London”s Royal Opera House. Awarded annually by BAFTA, the Fellowship is the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual in recognition of an outstanding and exceptional contribution to film.

Previously honoured Fellows include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Sean Connery, Elizabeth Taylor, Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Judi Dench and Vanessa Redgrave. Christopher Lee received the Fellowship at the Film Awards last February.

Tim Corrie, Chairman of BAFTA, said: “Martin Scorsese is a legend in his lifetime; a true inspiration to all young directors the world over. We are delighted to honour his contribution to cinema history and look forward to paying tribute to him in London on 12 February.”

Martin Scorsese added: “It is a great honour to be recognized by the British Academy and to join the ranks of such an esteemed group of industry colleagues and friends.”

With a celebrated career now spanning six decades, Martin Scorsese is one of the most influential filmmakers in cinema history. The acclaimed director, producer and screenwriter has been nominated by BAFTA no fewer than nine times, garnering three wins in 1991 for Goodfellas. A cinematic master, his works also include Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Casino, Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed.

He has continued to delight critics and audiences alike with his most recent work, Hugo, a film that not only marks the director”s first foray into 3D but is also his first adventure film for all the family. Scorsese has also made a number of ground-breaking documentaries including celebrated music films No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Shine a Light and George Harrison: Living in the Material World.

Demonstrating his passion for film preservation, Scorsese is the founder and chair of two non-profit organizations dedicated to the preservation and protection of motion picture history: The Film Foundation and the World Cinema Foundation.

In December 2010, Scorsese was the subject of a ‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures” event, where he shared personal insights into his career and his craft and gave invaluable advice to newcomers to the industry. These videos are now available to view on www.bafta.org/guru.

Tomorrow the Writers Guild of America (WGA) announces its narrative feature and documentary nominees. Something to remember is that a number of this year’s Oscar-contending screenplays are ineligible for the award due to membership or signatory issues, meaning this is just an opportunity for other films that wouldn’t normally have much room to get into the awards conversation.

The list of ineligibilities seems longer than normal this year. Or maybe it just seemed like there were more Oscar possibilities on that list than normal. In any case, you can count films like “The Artist,” “Drive,” “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Shame,” “My Week with Marilyn,” “Rango,” “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and more out.

So what does that leave? Well, there are some options. But the ultimate list of nominees here won’t do a whole lot to clear up the Oscar race, both as a result of the above and the fact that the Academy’s writers branch can often stray from the expected path a bit.

Speaking of which, oh how I would love for the Academy to jump on Team “Margaret” (which was finally sent to the membership and surely speaks to writers). A guy can dream. We’ve seen some go-their-own-way picks in the past, such as with “In the Loop,” “In Bruges” and “The Barbarian Invasions.”

On the latter, foreign films rarely qualify for WGA but can show up with the Academy. That’s why the year’s best reviewed film, “A Separation,” shouldn’t be counted out of the Oscar race.

Getting back to the WGA, this could mark four out of four guild citations for “The Descendants,” “The Help,” and “Bridesmaids.” That will change course on Monday when the DGA speaks up, of course.

Alright, enough talk. Here’s what I’m predicting:

Best Adapted Screenplay:

“The Descendants”

“The Help”

“Hugo”

“The Ides of March”

“Moneyball”

Best Original Screenplay:

“Bridesmaids”

“Contagion”

“50/50”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Win Win”

Other possibilities for each include “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “Super 8” and “Warrior.”

What are your picks?

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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I may have said this a few times before, but Clothes On Film is one of the smartest film blogs out there. Viewing and analyzing cinema from a sartorial perspective, Chris Laverty understands that there’s more to great costume design than lavish corsets and hoop skirts, and his round-up of 2011’s collected cinematic wardrobe is a case in point. Alongside appreciations of awards-bound threads from “Hugo” and “The Artist,” Laverty is no less intrigued by the non-period work in such films as “Source Code” and “Drive”: not only Ryan Gosling’s already-iconic satin jacket, but his simple, dirty Henley tee, “reinvent[ing] the uniform of the protector.” The Academy’s costumers’ branch could do worse than take a look at this piece for ideas. [Clothes on Film]

Get past the traffic-grabbing repetition of the words “Keira Knightley’s vagina,” and this is a thoughtful piece on the actress’s “unwhitening” in “A Dangerous Method.” [The New Inquiry]

On the parallels between four East Asian entries in the hunt for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. [The Carpetbagger]

Andrew O’Hehir champions “Pariah,” “Pina” and (really?) “Albert Nobbs” as alternatives to “overwrought and overrated Oscar bait.” [Salon]

Is Woody Allen America’s answer to Chekhov? A lovely appreciation by Tim Robey. [The Telegraph]

Pete Hammond on the starriest (and sexiest) Best Actor race in memory. [Deadline]

Steve Pond talks to Ben Kingsley about “under-acting” in “Hugo.” [Reuters]

The Berlinale has announced its curtain-raiser: French costume drama “Farewell My Queen,” starring Diane Kruger. [Variety]

In case you were wondering, Jeff Wells still doesn’t care for “The Artist,” and calls this “an awards season to forget.” (Unless, of course, you like “The Artist.”) [Hollywood Elsewhere]

The Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild separately make for two fun announcements during the awards season, because by dividing their nominations into three categories (period, fantasy and contemporary), they make room for films that might not otherwise share in the kudos spotlight.

The former announced its slate of nominees this evening, and the surprises were few and far between. I half expected “Hugo” to be chalked up as a fantasy film (it wasn’t) in order to make way for some of the many other period films, among them “J. Edgar,” “Midnight in Paris” (which also could have gone fantasy) and “War Horse.”

Yes, Steven Spielberg’s war epic was snubbed by the group, but oddly, his other effort, “The Adventures of Tintin,” was chalked up in the fantasy film category. Elsewhere, I was pleased to see “Anonymous” get its due here, a stellar below-the-line showcase.

on the contemporary side of things, “Bridesmaids” kept its industry goodwill going, while “Drive” finally got some love outside of the critics circles. I was hoping, though, that “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” would get some attention there. All that tech and gadgetry and whatnot, very creative and served the story quite well. Alas.

I kind of glossed over that “War Horse” snub, but it’s pretty strange. Maybe it’ll show up for the costumers, and surely Janusz Kaminski will get a notice from the ASC, but how it missed here, I don’t know. Maybe, again, it’s owed to the bevy of quality period films. But it’ll be interesting to watch how the industry reacts to the films in play as the guild circuit forges ahead. It can be incredibly telling.

Check out the nominees for the 16th annual Art Directors Guild Awards below.

Excellence in production design for a PERIOD FILM:

“Anonymous”

“The Artist”

“The Help”

“Hugo”

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Excellence in production design for a FANTASY FILM:

“The Adventures of Tintin”

“Captain America: The First Avenger”

“Cowboys & Aliens”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Excellence in production design for a CONTEMPORARY FILM:

“Bridesmaids”

“The Descendants”

“Drive”

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

Be sure to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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FilmDistrict has announced plans to re-release “Drive” at the Arclight Hollywood for an exclusive one-week engagement, beginning this Friday, January 6th. Albert Brooks will be in attendance for a Q&A on opening night. Though “Drive” has received a significant number of nominations and wins throughout the precursor season (including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director BFCA nominations), Brooks”s Golden Globes nod solidifies him as the film”s strongest Oscar contender (despite a SAG snub).

It is not out of the realm of possibility, however, for Christopher Plummer to steal Best Supporting Actor for his work in “Beginners” (which would be a first-time win for a long and distinguished career). This is not to detract from the other deserving players on the field, it is simply to note that the Academy does take the overall picture into account when it comes time to cast their ballots.

The engagement’s purpose is likely to persuade voters to see “Drive” on the big screen where they can witness some if its other achievements. If you are an LA local and were not able to see “Drive” during its initial release, you may want to do so now. The press release is (naturally) a bit effusive when it states that “the film is an electrifying piece of blazing neon color, elegant Los Angeles locations, and swooning electropop sounds,” but it is also accurate.

This is one that is well worth the cost of the cinema as its strengths are defined and enhanced by the theatrical experience. Refn communicates primarily via his visual signatures and secondarily with his musical selections and cues (though some may feel that the order is the reverse). Of course the dialogue supports the plot, but those who have seen it well know, this is not a pithy, language-rich film. You will also have the pleasure of witnessing one of the finest pieces of counter-intuitive casting this year, which no doubt has helped Brooks’s play on the season so far.

As a reminder, the Arclight will also be hosting a six-film retrospective of Gary Oldman favorites from January 9-11, concluding with an in-person Q&A with the actor following a screening of Focus Features”s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” at 8pm on Wednesday, January 11. One of those evenings may just spell the ideal double or triple feature date night.

You can purchase your tickets for “Drive” on the Arclight website. The Oldman retrospective tickets were available for free at www.OldmanRSVP.com. Hopefully you acted fast on those.

For year-round entertainment news and commentary follow @JRothC on Twitter.

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Last week, I began this year’s round of First-Half FYC columns, wherein we aim to respectfully draw attention to worthy Oscar alternatives from the first six months of the U.S. release calendar — a response to the annual domination of the awards by year-end prestige fare. With our supporting performance picks out of the way, we turn this week to the screenplay categories.

The writing branch of the Academy routinely select the most adventurous and considered nominees of the bunch, but they can be as vulnerable as any other to the attractions of newer, more loudly-hyped contenders, so I’ve combed through the list of January-to-June titles to find a few titles that have unjustly slipped from the conversation — if, indeed, they were ever in it. Interestingly, for an industry so commercially dominated by existing properties, it was the Original Screenplay category which came far more quickly into focus: at least two of my picks are seriously in the Oscar hunt already (while one slam-dunk nominee, “Midnight in Paris,” didn’t make my own five).

Adapted Screenplay, however, proved far more troublesome: by the time I was reduced to considering the likes of “Limitless” and “The Adjustment Bureau,” it became clear why, even with an extra six months of releases to choose from, this looks far the most flaccid of the major Oscar categories this year. Once again, many of my first choices in both categories — including the likes of “Poetry,” “Cold Weather,” “How I Ended This Summer” and “The Arbor” — had to be nixed because they don’t appear in the official list of 256 Oscar-eligible titles. That some of the year’s best films can’t even be considered for inclusion, while “Dream House” can, is just one of the infinite injustices of this season.

With that, consider these five original screenplays:

“BEGINNERS,” Mike Mills
A viable dark horse for an Oscar nod, Mike Mills’s tearily wry second feature, an autumnal comng-out and coming-to-terms tale, was a shade too precious for my taste, but that’s not to deny the elegant construction and emotional intelligence of its non-linear script, drawn extensively and affectingly from the director’s own personal experience.

“BRIDESMAIDS,” Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo
The laugh-heavy screenplay for the summer’s breakout comedy hit looks an increasingly good bet for Oscar attention, and that’s fine by me, even if I think they drops the ball in a protracted third act: it’s the messiness of its frayed female characters that deserves celebration here. (Also, consider this a consolation prize for the Best Actress nomination Wiig deserves, but inevitably won’t receive.) 

“CERTIFIED COPY,” Abbas Kiarostami
Forget the first half: Kiarostami’s refracted reflection on what may or may not be the dissolution of what may or may not be a marriage could be the most searching, ingenious screenplay of the whole year, wrapping reams of sneakily cutting dialogue around the loose poetic logic of its premise.

“MEEK’S CUTOFF,” Jonathan Raymond
So elemental is Raymond’s word-light screenplay for Kelly Reichardt’s morally inquisitive semi-western, so entrenched is it in deeply-grooved trails of American mythology, that I keep having to remind myself that it’s an original work: this tale of distrust and disorientation on the Oregon Trail has the ring of long-accepted lore.

“RANGO,” John Logan, Gore Verbinski and James Ward Byrkit
There appears to be an unwritten rule in recent Oscar-watching that animated films may only be considered for writing awards if they come with the pre-approved stamp of Pixar. Which is a shame, since Logan (twice nominated for live-action work) has fashioned something more extravagantly, enticingly strange with this loopy genre collage than many a Pixar nominee. (Or, indeed, Logan’s own “Hugo.”)

And over in the adapted category:

“EVERYTHING MUST GO,” Dan Rush
Admittedly, Rush’s low-key adaptation of Raymond Carver’s story “Why Don’t You Dance” scarcely attempts to scale the structural or philosophical heights of “Short Cuts” or “Jindabyne,” but there’s a shuffling, mournful charm to his update of this tale of middle-aged male disenfranchisement that fits smartly into the current economic climate.

“JANE EYRE,” Moira Buffini
Well-received as Cary Fukunaga’s fresh-yet-classical interpretation of the oft-filmed Brontë chestnut has been, not nearly enough of the praise has centered on Buffini’s superbly economical adaptation, which takes more structural liberties with the novel than many may realize, subtly emphasizing its proto-feminist core without straining its motions toward contemporary resonance.

“THE LINCOLN LAWYER,” John Romano
Okay, I’ll admit that I’m reaching a little here: the first six months of 2011 didn’t exactly offer a surfeit of quality adaptations to choose from. But there’s something to be said for adapting glossy airport trash and remaining entertainingly loyal to its spirit: I’ll take the hidden, efficient craft of an engrossing Michael Connelly potboiler over any number of embalmed prestige properties in the Oscar conversation.

“POTICHE,” François Ozon
Ozon’s adaptation of a dated French stage curio takes an unlikely route to success: it avoids mustiness precisely by embracing the creakiness of the source, suspending the whole silly bauble in a state of postmodern camp just tart enough not to outstay its welcome, and sincerely funny enough not to collapse under its own nudge-nudge cleverness.

“SUBMARINE,” Richard Ayoade
Winner of the British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay, Ayoade’s adaptation of Joe Dunthorne’s novel is heavily laced with the British comedian’s own brand of zonked deadpan wit, but not so much that it overwhelms the sweetly wistful coming-of-age tale at its center: Wes Anderson comparisons are inevitable, but not undeserved.

There you go — I won’t pretend I’m advocating each and every one of these choices as award-worthy, but collectively, they’re still an indication of the areas I’d like Academy members to investigate a little further. (Plus, I’d rather any one of them won an Oscar than “The Descendants.”) Next week: Best Actor and Actress. Meanwhile, share your own thoughts and favorites below. 

For more views on movies, awards season and other pursuits, follow @GuyLodge on Twitter.

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The 2011 film year and the experiences we had at the multiplex are officially memories. But 2012 brings the promise of new experiences and new memories in the dark of a crowded theater, so naturally, we should join the chorus and offer up our personal anticipations.

HitFix has already offered up a lengthy, well-considered (though overly populist) list along these lines. It features a lot of the usual stuff, but while a number of the films on our list show up there, a few do not.

I asked Guy, Gerard and Roth to send me their top 10s, combined them with my own and came up with what we are collectively looking forward to at theaters in the new year. The result was an interesting mesh of the usual and the not-so-usual, both on the various lists and on the eventual combined collective.

Two films that ranked rather high on HitFix’s list, I was surprised to see, didn’t even register on ours: Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” and Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” The latter, in fact, only showed up on one of the lists submitted by the four of us, which is REALLY surprising, though perhaps indicative of the fact that the film kind of looks like more of the big-screen Middle Earth that we’ve already seen.

Just missing the list were Pixar’s “Brave,” David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” Neill Blomkamp’s “District 9” follow-up “Elysium” and Rian Johnson’s “Looper.” Meanwhile, films that were mentioned here and there but not high enough or in bulk enough to register on the full list included Wes Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom,” Laurent Cantet’s “Foxfire,” Kathryn Bigelow’s tentatively-titled “Kill Bin Laden,” Terrence Malick’s “Voyage of Time,” Derek Cianfrance’s “The Place Beyond the Pines,” Oliver Stone’s “Savages,” François Ozon’s “Dans la maison” and Andrew Dominik’s “Cogan’s Trade.”

So what does that leave? Well, check out our new gallery for the answer. Not all of the films chalked up will make it to release in 2012, I’d wager, but for now, they all seem to be in the clear. Hopefully.

Feel free to offer up your own list in the comments section below.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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The Producers Guild of America has announced its list of 10 films competing for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award as well as the animated feature nominees that will compete separately. The group announced documentary nominees last month.

The surprises included two Sony films — “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “The Ides of March” — making the cut, while the rest of the field was pretty much as expected.

These nominations are key in that the PGA, like the Academy, uses the preferential balloting system. So it gives you an idea of how a large group of industry types sees the year. But like I mentioned yesterday, the balloting phase was December 5 through January 2. We’ve only just entered the Academy’s balloting phase and now is the time when things can shift.

It’s heartening to see “The Ides of March” stick in there, even if it’s probably going to be one of the films on the PGA list that doesn’t translate to an Oscar nod. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is a real eyebrow-raiser for me. Adoration for Scott Rudin? It’s a very un-PGA-like nomination, despite my feelings on the film.

None of the critically acclaimed blockbusters made the cut, so no “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” or “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Pity. This is where films like that would have had a real chance at some industry recognition.

The endurance of “Bridesmaids” this season is becoming, well, annoying. And I love the movie. But if any place makes sense for it to find some love, I guess this is that place. The film was successful financially and the PGA loves to recognize that kind of excellence. It will soon get a WGA nomination to go along with its SAG ensemble bid, meaning many will be foaming at the mouth to declare it a sure-fire Best Picture nominee at the Oscars. They will, of course, willfully ignore the fact that it won’t get a DGA nomination for Paul Feig.

And that’s the slate that will really help clear things up, next Monday’s DGA announcement. For now, though, I feel fairly confidant that our Best Picture nominees are all represented in the list below. As I explained yesterday, the PGA was going to stick to 10, whereas the Academy this year will end up with anywhere from five to 10 depending on how the passion falls.

The seven films I’m currently predicting in our Best Picture Contenders section are all represented, so I’m sticking with them.

Check out the full list of nominees below.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures:

“The Artist”

“Bridesmaids”

“The Descendants”

“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

“The Help”

“Hugo”

“The Ides of March”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Moneyball”

“War Horse”

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures:

“The Adventures of Tintin”

“Cars 2”

“Kung Fu Panda 2”

“Puss in Boots”

“Rango”

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures:

“Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest”

“Bill Cunningham New York”

“Project Nim”

“Senna”

“The Union”

Be sure to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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There’s a remarkable stat in Phil Hoad’s interesting Guardian reflection on the global box office in 2011, and it’s not a reassuring one. Looking down the list of the year’s top grossers internationally, you have to go all the way down to 21st place to find a film made outside the Hollywood system: and if you haven’t heard of “Intouchables,” that’d be because it grossed its impressive $133.2 million inside its home country of France. (That said, it has been snapped up by The Weinstein Company.) Hoad wonders what can be done to bring a little more diversity to the international box office charts, and doesn’t come up with many answers — though he does suggest the crossover marketing appeal of projects like China’s Christian Bale starrer “The Flowers of War” as one potential way forward. [The Guardian] 

As a pre-Guild palate cleanser, Erik Childress sorts the certainties from the wannabes in the Best Picture race. [Movies.com]

Want to see what the Academy’s Best Picture ballot form looks like? Wonder no more. [Gold Derby]

Ebert correspondent Omer S. Mozaffer celebrates “Young Adult,” describing it as Diablo Cody’s answer to “A Woman Under the Influence.” [Chicago Sun-Times]

For those still in a reflective mood, I absolutely love this: Dan Kois’s Top 10 reasons to make Top 10 lists. [New York Times]

Paul Mazursky loses his heart to Meryl Streep in “The Iron Lady.” [Vanity Fair]

David Poland video-interviews Wim Wenders about his foreign-language and documentary Oscar contender, “Pina.” [Hot Blog]

Scott Feinberg tries to find precedents for the roles played by this year’s Oscar hopefuls. Felicity Huffman was a “woman who passes as a man” in “Transamerica?” News to me. [Hollywood Reporter]

With “Pariah” and “The Help” acting as rare exceptions, Allison Samuels mourns the lack of substantial roles for African-American actresses. [Daily Beast]

Ali Gray gives the posters of 2012’s upcoming trash treats a prestige-film makeover. For some reason, the “Titanic 3D” one makes me laugh out loud repeatedly. [The Shiznit]

Warner Bros. has put the full weight of its impressive resources behind an Oscar campaign for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” As the last in the franchise, the film represents the final opportunity for Potter and friends to receive a non-crafts nomination (the series has received nine Oscar nods throughout the crafts categories with no wins to date). “For Your Consideration” billboards recommending the film for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography have sprung up all over Los Angeles, while producer David Heyman and director David Yates have dug in for fresh media rounds over the last several months.

Recently it seems that the studio has shifted its focus slightly to pin a last minute Oscar hope on Alan Rickman in the Best Supporting Actor field. Rickman”s character, Professor Severus Snape, is the most inherently conflicted in the adaptation and Rickman has embraced Snape”s nuanced motivations with increasing depth as the cinematic depictions have evolved. He understood what followers of J.K. Rowling”s creation have always known: as the kids age, the themes, content and severity of the stakes evolve. There were always layers present, but Rickman”s portrayal culminated in what was, for me, the most emotionally evocative sequence in the final film: the reveal of Snape”s role as a double agent, his tortured, unrequited and steadfast love for Harry Potter”s mother Lily and ultimately, his demise.

In a sense, Rickman was playing a character that for a long period of time even the producers and directors didn”t fully comprehend. “I was always aware of my place in the story even as others around me were not,” the actor said in a recent interview with the LA Times Hero Complex. Author J.K. Rowling made a rare confidant of Rickman at an early stage in the cinematic adaptations when she revealed the scope and scale of Snape”s role in the larger tale in order to give Rickman the necessary tools to create an accurate portrait. “It was quite amusing, too, because there were times when a director would tell Alan what to do in a scene and he would say something like, ‘No I can”t do that – I know what is going to happen and you don”t,”” said producer David Heyman in the same interview.

For Potter lovers it is a fascinating exercise to go back and re-watch the films with the knowledge of Rickman”s foresight in mind. You will likely find new meanings in the variance of his expression and the bewildering nature of both his and Dumbledore”s choices and respective responses to Harry.

There is certainly a case to be made for a Best Supporting Actor nod for Rickman. For some, Ralph Fiennes”s Voldemort was the showstopper. But there are two moments that left an indelible impression on me in the penultimate and closing installments. The first provided the clearest sense of Yates”s directorial voice: Harry and Hermione dancing in the tent (a bittersweet, quiet act of rebellion and willful embrace of life and the present); the second is the aforementioned disclosure of Snape”s purpose and identity.

Rickman, in some ways, had more to dig into than any other cast member (other than perhaps Dumbledore, had they chosen to highlight the harsh lessons of his misguided youth). More than that, Rickman never gave the impression that he knew he was in a children”s film, or that he was particularly concerned with the genre. Snape evolved as the story needed him to, becoming richer, ever more heartbreaking and stronger, even as his frailties were unveiled.

However, as much as I love Rowling”s novels, and though I have a deep affection for the films, they never really rose to the level of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, as the current marketing campaign would indicate. The cinematic prowess and ingenuity involved in Peter Jackson’s films was both groundbreaking and astounding, the tone far more adult throughout and the endeavor intensely ambitious.

Now, full disclosure: I have a time-turner in my possession. I truly am a “Potter” appreciator, and as I believe I have said, remain convinced that if Joseph Campbell was alive today, Bill Moyers would be conducting several hour-long specials with him on “Harry Potter” as it relates to the hero”s journey and other mythological, cross-cultural archetypes.

Having said that, the context of the film can and will affect a performer”s chances come Oscar time. Jonah Hill is at his absolute best in “Moneyball,” but the quality of the film itself heightens his chances for a real bid. Viggo Mortensen delivers a fine performance in “A Dangerous Method,” but the lukewarm response to the project on the whole may have undercut his impact. Context is key (other than when it”s a veiled lifetime achievement award or popularity contest). I do not believe the Academy is prepared to take “Potter” seriously as an Oscar contender, which will absolutely affect the interpretation and response to the performances.

With several other dark horse contenders vying for a spot, Nick Nolte (“Warrior”), Armie Hammer (“J. Edgar”) Patton Oswalt (“Young Adult”) and Andy Serkis (“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”) among them, Rickman”s chances are a bit diminished. The fact that he has received almost no precursor attention fairly seals the deal. Though I for one would be delighted to see him in the hunt.

Oscar seems to be the elusive golden snitch for the “Potter” franchise. On the craft end of the spectrum, it could be argued that these last two films have been the strongest. But “The Deathly Hallows: Part Two” is facing fierce competition from several other players, including “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” for visual effects (which is no real contest). In terms of the flashier fields, it would be a grand upset for the film to receive a nomination in any major category at this time. The studio may do better to reserve this kind of blockbuster as Oscar campaign for another film. Of course there is no way to predict, but perhaps “The Dark Knight Rises?”

For year-round entertainment news and commentary follow @JRothC on Twitter.

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The Vancouver Film Critics Circle has joined the chorus with a list of nominees (mostly three in each category). “The Artist” led the way with four mentions. Melissa McCarthy made it in for “Bridesmaids” despite it being a trimmed-down category. Check out the full list of nominees below.

Best Film
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”

Best Actor
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week with Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Jessica Chastain, “The Tree of Life”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Screenplay
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”

Best Documentary
“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”
“The Interrupters”
“Nostalgia for the Light”
“Project Nim”
“Surviving Progress”

Best Foreign Language Film
“The Kid with a Bike”
“Poetry”
“A Separation”

Remember to keep track of the ups and downs of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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If you’ve caught a screening of “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” you likely noted the new animated logo celebrating the studio’s 100th anniversary. It’s a grand occasion for any company to hit that kind of a mark, and Paramount will be wasting no time heralding the occasion later this month with a planned exhibition of Technicolor’s restoration of 1927’s first-ever Best Picture winner “Wings.”

Meanwhile, the studio has launched a new app for the iPad that also celebrates the landmark year. The 100 Years of Movie Magic app “is an exploration of the studio”s incredibly rich and storied history,” the iTunes blurb reads. “From Paramount”s modest beginning in 1912 with ‘Queen Elizabeth’ to ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,’ the app provides a fresh and innovative opportunity to experience your favorite films by flipping through never-before-seen photos, watching memorable film clips, and listening to timeless music scores.”

This is the kind of thing an iPad app can excel at. There is a wonderful (pricey) app dedicated to T.S. Eliot’s “The Waste Land,” for instance, which draws in a boatload of interactive features related to the famed poem, all taking advantage of the iPad’s components. I downloaded the Paramount app (it’s free) and just a moment ago started digging through the bells and whistles myself.

Included is a forward from studio CEO Brad Grey, photos charting the studio’s journey from its earliest days (when much of the surrounding area was yet unspoiled), a detailed history of Paramount’s many films (with smartly tied-in purchasing options, natch) — it might even be ALL the studio’s films, and much more. Images from “Wings,” “Terms of Endearment,” “Forrest Gump,” “Braveheart,” “The Lost Weekend,” “The Greatest Show on Earth,” “The Godfather” and “Ordinary People,” among others, flash by, reminding of a rich legacy.

Quite applicable to our purposes here is an Academy Awards section, which goes through each year that saw Oscar recognition in the form of a nomination or an actual statue for Paramount films. Very cool stuff. I wish every studio would do something like this.

It’s well worth it to kill a little time diving into the history. You can download the app at iTunes or on your iPad.

What are some of your favorite Paramount films over the years? Naturally I have to speak up for “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” (as I’m sure you all would). The 1970s weren’t too bad for the studio, actually, with others like “Harold and Maude,” “Serpico,” “The Conversation,” “Chinatown,” “Nashville,” “Days of Heaven” and “Heaven Can Wait” spread throughout.

Obviously, “Once Upon a Time in the West” ranks up there for me. “Double Indemnity” and “Metropolis” are also personal all-time favorites. “Hud,” “Sullivan’s Travels,” the Indiana Jones trilogy (what fourth one?), “The Untouchables,” “The Truman Show,” entertainments like “Top Gun,” “Coming to America,” and “Tropic Thunder,” recent favorites like “School of Rock,” “Mean Girls,” “Hustle & Flow,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Up in the Air,” “Shutter Island.” So much to note.

And since the holidays just passed, I might as well mention “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “Scrooged,” too.

This year, of course, Paramount has another healthy crop of films, including “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Hugo,” “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” the aforementioned “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Paranormal Activity 3,” “Super 8,” “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and “Young Adult.” And “Hugo” looks to be the studio’s 62nd film nominated for Best Picture. (Note: Paramount includes “No Country for Old Men” as one of its films. The studio shared the film with Miramax Films in 2007.)

Here is my Oscar Talk colleague Anne Thompson on the studio topping the domestic market share in 2011.

It’s a big year for the crew on Melrose. Congratulations to them. And here’s to 100 more. Oh, and have a look at that celebratory logo in action (with new fanfare courtesy of “Super 8” and “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol” composer Michael Giacchino) below.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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The New York Film Critics’ Circle award may be the only significant trophy Meryl Streep has claimed so far this season, but she’s certainly keeping her end up in terms of career honors. On the heels of an elaborate tribute to the actress at the Kennedy Center Honors comes news of a similar award on the other side of the ocean: Streep will be presented with an Honorary Golden Bear at next month’s Berlin International Film Festival.

A screening of “The Iron Lady” will accompany the presentation of the Honorary Golden Bear, though I presume not as part of the official festival lineup. Other Streep films to be screened as part of the festival’s Streep homage include “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Out of Africa,” “Sophie’s Choice,” “The Bridges of Madison County” and (six years after it premiered at the Berlinale) “A Prairie Home Companion.”

Streep is the first American actor to receive this accolade since Kirk Douglas in 2001; other past recipients range from James Stewart to Catherine Deneuve to Robert Altman. She’s certainly the highest-profile honoree in several years — last year’s recipient was Armin Mueller Stahl — and will add a healthy shot of star power to the wintry festival, which I’ll be covering for the third time this year.

It’s actually Streep’s third Berlinale honor: in 2003, she shared the festival’s Best Actress prize with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman for “The Hours,” and won a Berlinale Camera in 1999. (Don’t ask me what the latter award means; something similar to this year’s, I’m guessing.) Anyway, no lifetime achievement award for Streep can really be argued with, and I’m eager to see the presentation on February 14. (She’ll presumably be in that part of the world following the BAFTAs two days before.)

For more views on movies, awards season and other pursuits, follow @GuyLodge on Twitter.

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This year’s PGA nominees (announced tomorrow) will do little to clear up the Best Picture scenario at the Oscars. Why? Because the guild will be chalking up a full slate of 10 nominees once again, despite the fact that the Academy’s final line-up could be anywhere from five to 10.

The PGA made the shift to 10 the same year the Academy did, playing follow the leader. Those two years were incredibly close to the ultimate Oscar slate, though. In 2009, the guild’s nominees “Invictus” and “Star Trek” were replaced by “The Blind Side” and “A Serious Man” at the Oscars, while in 2010, “The Town” was replaced by “Winter’s Bone.”

I don’t think there’s much of a pattern there worth considering, though films like “A Serious Man” and “Winter’s Bone” certainly represent the kind of concentrated passion plays that are needed to register with the Academy. But it’s entirely probable that neither would have made the cut under the new rules. The point being: we’re likely to see all the Oscar nominees in tomorrow’s PGA announcement. The trick will be sussing out which ones they are.

The other guild announcements this month will help — a little — but the Academy race is a fickle thing that can change with the wind. And the wind is blowing right now.

PGA polls opened on December 5 and close today. (That’s right, they go all the way up to the day before the announcement.) So these will be largely reflective of where the race stood throughout last month. Late-breaking efforts screened for the group, of course, but never had a chance to build the kind of buzz needed to register. Then again, this year’s late-breaking titles (“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”) never hit a considerable buzz stride, anyway.

The last two years have also seen the eventual Pixar entry slotted by the PGA, both in the Best Picture field and in the Best Animated Feature field. But there is no Pixar entry this time around, and the closest potential match, “Rango,” doesn’t have the laurels “Up” and “Toy Story 3” did.

So what will be nominated?

Well, first of all, in case you missed it, the documentary nominees were announced last month. And assuming three animated feature nominees again, I’ll go with “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Kung Fu Panda 2” and “Rango.” Additionally, Steven Spielberg has already been tapped for this year’s David O. Selznick Award, while Angelina Jolie’s “In the Land of Blood and Honey” will receive the group’s Stanley Kramer Award.

In the big category, I think if this year’s Oscar race were reduced to the usual five contenders, “The Artist,” “The Descendants,” “The Help,” “Hugo” and “War Horse” would be those five. If any of them misses tomorrow: uh-oh.

After that, we have the usual handful of films that look like Best Picture possibilities this year, but there are three blockbusters/entertainments in the mix that could easily pop up here: “Bridesmaids,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” This group tends to be more welcoming of that kind of thing, so I expect at least one of them, quite possibly two to make it in.

Alright, enough talk. Here is my bet:

“The Artist”

“Bridesmaids”

“The Descendants”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

“The Help”

“Hugo”

“Midnight in Paris”

“Moneyball”

“The Tree of Life”

“War Horse”

And on the outside, “J. Edgar,” which could prove the allegiance to Clint Eastwood once and for all this year. “The Tree of Life” might be the weak spot, but we’ll see. And “Drive” is a film I’d love to see pop up here, and maybe it’ll happen, but it seems like too cool a move for the group to make.

Maybe a surprise like “Super 8” could happen. Maybe “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and/or “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” spoke to the group after all. Maybe “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” can finally register. But those are my predictions.

What are yours?

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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