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.

After a break from our regularly scheduled programming last week for some top 10 shenanigans, it’s back to business today. And there is PLENTY to talk about, with a wave of critics and precursor award announcements having sped through this week. Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association crowned “The Descendants” Best Picture of the year last weekend, so we discuss that and their other winners.

The Screen Actors Guild and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association also declared nominees this week, which offered some dovetailing but mostly different takes on the race. We discuss.

With the embargo lifted on “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” we finally talk about the film. Anne is more forgiving than I am.

The embargo for “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is – kind of? – lifted, so we touch on that one, as well.

Finally, reader questions. We answer queries regarding “Bridesmaids”‘s place in the season, surprises so far and what this year means for late-breaking films.

Have a listen to the new podcast below with Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Karen O leading the way. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.

“Immigrant Song” courtesy of Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Karen O and The Null Corporation.
Music from “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” courtesy of Alexandre Desplat and Warner Bros. Records.

The Detroit Film Critics Society has joined the chorus of superlatives for “The Artist,” giving the film Best Picture and Best Director after it racked up five nominations from the group. “Take Shelter,” which led the nominees, only won as part of Jessica Chastain’s Breakthrough Artist award. Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Picture: “The Artist”

Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”

Best Actor: Michael Fassbender, “Shame”

Best Actress: Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress: Carey Mulligan, “Shame”

Best Screenplay: “Moneyball”

Breakthrough Performance: Jessica Chasain, “The Debt,” “The Help,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life”

Best Ensemble: “Carnage”

Best Documentary: “Tabloid”

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

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Guy recently called attention to top 10 season in a recent post. I tend to block all of that out until I finish my own year in review, and so now that I’ve done that (closing things down with the annual superlatives post later this morning), I’ve enjoyed perusing what other journalists and critics are chalking up as the year’s best. Roger Ebert’s list is always a good barometer of a certain demographic, I think, and its was nice to see that he recently tapped Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” as the year’s best film. Not only that, but he made room for my #1, Kenneth Lonergan’s “Margaret,” a little further down the list. I’m really hoping more and more critics are willing to go to bat for that one, but we’ll see. [Chicago Sun-Times]

Mark Olsen on the year in debut directors. [Los Angeles Times]

Brian Tallerico lists the 10 most annoying things about the Golden Globe nominations. [Hollywood Chicago]

S.T. VanAirsdale on the 10 biggest snubs and subplots of same. [Movieline]

Sasha Stone rages against the statistics. [Awards Daily]

Shailene Woodley on George Clooney in “The Descendants”: “He’s a good arguer.” [The Wrap]

Original screenplay Oscar contenders talk writing. [Envelope]

“Corman’s World” director Alex Stapleton on legendary director and documentary subject Roger Corman. [Speakeasy]

David Poland sits down with “Drive” star Albert Brooks. [Hot Blog]

Elizabeth Snead handicaps the Best Makeup race. [Fash Track]

(UPDATE: It’s been pointed out to me by the competition is open to US readers only. Sorry — I don’t make the rules.) It was clear from your response to our SAG and Globe-related open-floor posts recently that many of you can’t resist a prediction opportunity, so here’s your chance to put that urge to profitable use. HitFix is holding an Awards Pool for the upcoming Golden Globe Awards next month, inviting readers to submit their best guesses in the film and television races — with a shiny new Kindle Fire waiting for the person with the most accurate forecast. You have little to lose but your own credibility — plus, it’s the Globes, where cred hardly comes into it. Your guesses are literally as good as mine in the TV categories, but the comedy-musical film races are a walk in the park, right? Enter here. 

This year’s race for Best Animated Feature Film is a bit of a full one. After only 15 titles qualified last year (yielding just three nominees), the total number of qualifying films in the hunt this time around is 19, meaning we’ll have a set of five contenders when the nominees are announced in January.

And yet, I can barely think of five films worth being included. It’s a rather weak year in general for animation (despite two animated contenders popping up in my top 10). I’ve been pushing through the ones I’ve missed along the way, as well as those that came from the fringe. So it seems to me a good enough time to really set the field.

An interesting note on this year’s field of contenders is the presence of live action filmmakers and outsider animation teams in the mix. And two key entries in that light both come from Paramount: Gore Verbinski’s “Rango” and Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin.”

Interestingly enough, these might be considered the two frontrunners for spots in the line-up by many. But while I certainly consider “Rango” the one to beat in the category, I still have my doubts that the animators will even bring themselves to nominate “Tintin” (as wonderful as it is and as deserving as it may be in areas outside this field). The films racked up eight and five Annie Award nominations each.

Aardman’s “Arthur Christmas” did very little for me. But it’s the only film outside of “Rango” and “Tintin” to have won an award in the field this year, and it’s beautifully animated, so I expect it to have an easy enough time landing a spot (and potentially competing with “Rango” for the win). It only managed six annie nominations (where other films landed nearly twice as much), however. Maybe that’s worth noting, I don’t know.

Speaking of the Annies, the awards were dominated once again by DreamWorks Animation, which landed 11 nominations for “Kung Fu Panda 2” and nine for “Puss in Boots.” I think both are wonderfully animated (particularly the former), but I also find them quite forgettable. Nevertheless, I expect both of them are actually in. If you take the pulse, you’ll find more being rallied behind “Puss in Boots,” as I don’t think the studio expects both to make it. But I would say the odds are pretty good.

Fox’s “Rio” made a big splash earlier this year, even if it seems mostly memorable for an Angry Birds tie-in at this point. I was, again, not a big fan, but the animation was striking and its a lively, colorful film that landed eight Annie nominations, so its well-loved in the field.

Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” also scored eight Annie nods, but somehow was subbed for organization’s top award. The film isn’t as unique in the fray as it probably hoped it would be, seeing as a couple of other films, like Ignacio Ferreras’s “Arrugas (Wrinkles)” (the surprise entry of the bunch) are also the result of traditional hand-drawn animation. Nevertheless, the studio will be pushing hard on that front for recognition as a classic alternative. It’s a delightful movie, but it’s barely 70 minutes long and could register a bit thin against the competition (as could be the reasoning for its Annie miss).

Speaking of “Arrugas,” I caught the film earlier in the week and found it to be odd and mildly depressing. It’s a very humanistic story about a man taking up residence in an assisted living home. It has a lot of nice moments and is probably the most adult-oriented film of the bunch, so perhaps that could work in its favor.

Also on the fringe are two efforts from distributor GKIDS, which saw an unexpected nomination two years ago for “The Secret of Kells.” I caught the colorful “Chico & Rita” at Telluride in 2010 and thought it was a delightful blend, uniquely animated and pulsating with the spirit of music. I could easily see it finding a place, but there is a lot of stiff competition from the other alternative hopefuls.

“A Cat in Paris,” meanwhile, is a swift (65 minutes) mystery yarn animated with a colorful palette on simplistic sketches. It’s a bit lightweight to compete, I think, and certainly doesn’t have the richness of the other GKIDS entry.

Rotoscoping hasn’t really been embraced as an animation technique by the animation branch of the Academy. And it’s been there all along, going way back to the first year of the category a decade ago when “Waking Life” was eligible in 2001. Three years ago, “Waltz with Bashir” was also eligible. But neither was nominated by the branch.

So things aren’t looking good in that regard for “Alois Nebel,” which is pulling double-duty this year as it is also the foreign language film submission from the Czech Republic. The film is stark and rather beautiful in black and white, but it’s an uphill climb given the technology bias.

If you were a big fan of George Miller’s “Happy Feet,” which won this award in 2006, then I imagine you’ll be on board for “Happy Feet Two.” I, on the other hand, just could not stand the film (after being quite down on the first entry). I suppose it could find room to maneuver into the field, but it doesn’t exactly expand on the first installment.

“Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil,” “Mars Needs Moms,” “The Smurfs” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” might as well be chalked up to filler and insurance that the field will allow for five nominees, because they’re all just forgettable and not at all worthy of the other films in play. “Gnomeo & Juliet,” meanwhile, is like a step above those entries, but it doesn’t have much muscle to stand out amid the rest of the field – though I’m glad I know what Elton John as a garden gnome would look like.

I’ll close by talking about “Cars 2,” which is already infamous this season for its lowly critical assessment and accusations of being purely a merchandising play. I don’t count the film out of the race by any stretch. A Golden Globe nomination this morning doesn’t exactly mean a lot but it does keep the film alive in the season. But at the end of the day, I wouldn’t be shocked if it made it or missed, frankly.

Be sure to keep up with the Best Animated Feature Film category throughout the season via its dedicated Contenders page here. And feel free to speculate on how you see the category turning out in the comments section below.

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

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Steven Spielberg has Diane Keaton to thank for opening his eyes to the work of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. The director happened to see Keaton’s TV movie “Wildflower” in 1991 and liked the photography so much, he hired Kaminski to shoot a TV movie for his company, Gregory Hoblit’s “Class of ’61.” From there the two collaborated on 1993’s “Schindler’s List” and the rest was history.

Kaminski has shot 11 of Spielberg’s features since, working almost exclusively with the director. “War Horse” is the latest example of their combined visual eye, a sweeping epic with nods to classic cinema and a fierce reverence for the landscape it captures.

Indeed, the environment is a key element of a cinematographer’s arsenal. “An essential part of the job is to tell the story through non-verbal means,” Kaminski says. “Placing the actor within their environment is essential not just from the cinematographer’s point of view but from the storytelling point of view. So whether a character lives in Manhattan or whether he lives in Montana, it shapes him.

“If you get the guy from Montana and bring him to New York, most likely you would want to show how displaced they feel. If you think of ‘Midnight Cowboy,’ when he comes into New York, it’s a totally different life for him. The camera reflected that. Adam Holender – who happened to be Polish as well – he captured that. It’s an iconic movie from a cinematographer’s point of view because it captured New York the way nobody else did.”

With “War Horse,” though, some of the visual cues are “Gone with the Wind,” perhaps, or the cinema of John Ford. Spielberg has always held Ford in the highest esteem, and the Ford’s films were nothing if not odes to the way landscape shaped a people. That was part of the goal on “War Horse.”

“You go to Devon and it’s so beautiful and you see the landscape and you start realizing how essential that land was for farmers,” Kaminski says of the England location of the shoot. “So you start placing the actors within that landscape and what it means. You want to be wider; you want to show the beauty of the land. You want to show how ragged and rough that land is and also how beautiful the land is. You want to idealize that life to some degree, and we do, always in the movies, we idealize. Even in the movies that are totally brutal, like ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’ The land is covered in dust and hopeless. And yet it’s still amazing to look at because it shapes the lives of the people.”

In this film, which is largely pegged to World War I, it’s interesting to note Kaminski going back to war with Spielberg. The last time they did as much it was 1998 and “Saving Private Ryan” was changing perception of what war cinema could be. But things were handled differently this time around, largely because neither Kaminski nor Spielberg feel that “War Horse” ought to be considered a war film.

“It’s about a horse going through the different battlefields, but it’s about what the horse represents, this untamed spirit and the need to be alive,” Kaminski says. “The biggest difference between that and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ is the way we convey the images. In ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ you’re right there with the soldiers with a hand-held camera going through the field, going through the barbed-wire fence. Here we’re looking at the horse going at full speed across the landscape, troops moving across the field. The camera is a little bit farther back. You’re watching the war from a little bit more distance with not as much emotion involved, because the camera is not in there.”

It’s a unique approach considering the intimacy of World War I as a military conflict. Soldiers were dug in in the trenches for years, the threat of battle right there in their face. World War II was a more “fluid” war, as Spielberg has called it, with various theatres and more mobile combat. Yet he and Kaminski chose to tell that story with gritty intimacy, while treating this one with a more visually removed signature.

This being the twelfth collaboration between Kaminski and Spielberg, the relationship has naturally progressed. Kaminski says he enjoys working with the director because of how of a piece with the whole Spielberg’s films are. However different they appear from one another, there is a current of similarity to them and Kaminski likes that consistency. But also, being a craftsman, he naturally appreciates the ease of work at this stage.

“He’s a very decisive director,” Kaminski says. “He shoots what he needs. There isn’t a consortium of studio executives who suggest what needs to be done. I love his work ethics. He’s always working and in the editing room between the set-ups. He’s just a good role model for how I want to live my life.”

“War Horse” opens nationwide on Christmas Day.

NOTE: This is the first installment of this year’s Tech Support interview series. Stay tuned throughout the rest of the season for chats with several of the year’s below-the-line talent.

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

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Oh, the Globes. Whether they get things right or wrong — or both, as in this morning’s list — they never really disappoint. Those who enjoy brandishing pitchforks at the HFPA for their shameless star-whoring have plenty to work with here: Angelina Jolie nominated for Best Foreign Language Film! Madonna nominated for Best Original Song ahead of any of the Oscar-favored tunes from “The Muppets!” George Clooney breaking a Globes record with four individual nominations! And so on and so forth.

But for those who enjoy the Globes more for their taste in offbeat underdogs, there are bright spots too. I’m delighted to see Brendan Gleeson crack a comedy actor nod for his superb work in the tiny Irish black comedy “The Guard,” and not just because I predicted it. And just when you thought “A Dangerous Method” had evaporated from the season, it shows up here with a deserved supporting nod for best-in-show star Viggo Mortensen. Meanwhile, I know the many fans of “50/50” among our readers will be pleased with mentions for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the film itself.

Oddities aside, what’s the story here? Much as we expected, “The Artist” cemented its position as the season’s frontrunner with a leading haul of six nominations: they may as well give it the statuettes for Best Picture and Actor in the comedy-musical race now. Over in drama, things are considerably murkier, as a couple of would-be frontrunners took a knock.

“War Horse,” for example, managed just two nominations — and a Best Director bid for Steven Spielberg wasn’t one of them. (He can console himself with an animated feature nod for “The Adventures of Tintin.”) With three nods, “Hugo” did get a mention for Martin Scorsese, but it failed to show up in the acting or writing races. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” meanwhile, didn’t show up at all — as with yesterday’s SAG absence, you can put it down to the film’s late screening, but in the tight echo chamber that is awards season, this lack of momentum could be a problem. 

What they did like in the drama field, clearly, was “The Descendants,” which came on strong with five nominations — the same number as “The Help,” which once more scooped a trio of acting mentions, including one for Jessica Chastain. After an uncertain start, her awards season narrative has been set. But performing nearly as well, and clearly proving the HFPA’s collective crush on George Clooney, was “The Ides of March,” which was seemingly on the ropes after being blanked in multiple precursor lists. It rallied here with four nominations — three of them for Clooney himself, and one for Ryan Gosling. (Gosling, as I predicted, was a double nominee, also scoring a comedy nod for “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”)

Other points of interest: Tilda Swinton still hasn’t missed a beat in her campaign for that elusive Best Actress Oscar nomination. But the momentum slowed here for “Bridesmaids” breakout Melissa McCarthy, who was rather surprisingly snubbed in favor of another Mc: Janet McTeer, who, with “Albert Nobbs” co-star Glenn Close, consolidated yesterday’s SAG save. (Close is another double nominee: she was also recognized for the original song she contributed to the film.) After yesterday’s SAG snubs, Michael Fassbender, Albert Brooks and Shailene Woodley all recovered here, but Gary Oldman and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” sadly, continue to slip through the cracks. It now falls to the BAFTAs to rescue them. 

Anyway, that it’s for major precursors until January, when the guilds will reignite the race. Or will they? As far as I can see, it all seems to be coming very neatly together for “The Artist.” Here’s the list: 

Best Picture – Drama
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Moneyball”
“War Horse”

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“50/50”
“Midnight in Paris”
“My Week With Marilyn”

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
George Clooney, “The Ides of March”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”

Best Actor – Drama
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Ryan Gosling, “The Ides of March”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Brendan Gleeson, “The Guard”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “50/50”
Ryan Gosling, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”
Owen Wilson, “Midnight in Paris”

Best Actress – Drama
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
Jodie Foster, “Carnage”
Kristen Wiig, “Bridesmaids”
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”
Kate Winslet, “Carnage”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Viggo Mortensen, “A Dangerous Method”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Screenplay
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“The Ides of March”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball” 

Best Foreign Language Film
“The Flowers of War”
“In the Land of Blood and Honey”
“The Kid With a Bike”
“A Separation”
“The Skin I Live In”

Best Animated Feature
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Arthur Christmas”
“Cars 2”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”
Trent Reznor and Attivus Ross, “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Howard Shore, “Hugo”
John Williams, “War Horse”
Abel Korzeniowski, “W.E.”

Best Original Song
“Lay Your Head Down,” “Albert Nobbs”
“Hello Hello,” “Gnomeo and Juliet”
“The Living Proof,” “The Help”
“The Keeper,” “Machine Gun Preacher”
“Masterpiece,” “W.E.” 

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

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The SAG ensemble award is a strange beast, one that has made official nominees of such noted thespians as Gwen Stefani, Eli Roth and the RZA, sometimes at the expense of more accomplished colleagues. A quirk that causes trouble every year is their rigid but random method of determining which actors are key players in the ensemble, a screen credit issue that often leaves valued players out in the cold. This year, Corey Stoll, whose hilarious performance as Ernest Hemingway made him, for many critics, the MVP of “Midnight in Paris,” wasn”t included in the film”s ensemble nod, while Carla Bruni, perfectly fine in her bit part as a museum guide, was. Go figure. Nathaniel Rogers ponders this and other injustices, gets a diplomatic (but clearly vexed) response from Stoll, and offers a sensible solution. [Film Experience]

Armond White takes on the whole messy business of embargoes. You may find yourself agreeing with him for a change. [City Arts]

As you might expect, British journalist Sarah Hughes is upset that “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” and “Shame” were absent from yesterday’s SAG list. [The Guardian]

Speaking of which, David Poland talks to “Tinker, Tailor” director Tomas Alfredson and screenwriter Peter Straughan. [Hot Blog]

The ever-perceptive Mark Harris evaluates how the critics’ awards have (or haven’t) affected the game so far, and further nags Fox Searchlight to put “Margaret” out there. [Grantland]

Tim Robey reflects on a standout year for non-Hollywood cinema, with a particularly strong British charge. Not the award season thus far would have you know it. [The Telegraph]

Over at the same paper, novelist and screenwriter William Boyd offers a balanced appreciation of “The Artist,” converting many detractors’ issues into positives. [The Telegraph]

Jack Egan spots a cinematographer who really should be getting more attention this year: Joe Luis Alcaine for “The Skin I Live In.” [Below the Line]

Rounding up and discussing key scenes from several of this year’s Oscar hopefuls, including “The Artist,” “The Descendants,” “Moneyball” and “Coriolanus.” [LA Times] 

Larry Rohter wonders whether, like last year, both the USA’s neighbors can muscle into the foreign-language Oscar race. When it comes to “Miss Bala,” I certainly hope so. [The Carpetbagger]

Earlier this morning I had a nice sit-down with “Hugo” star Ben Kingsley. Sir Ben Kingsley, I beg your pardon. It was a nice back and forth about working with Martin Scorsese, the dynamics of acting with a child actor, being sparked creatively by the set design of the film and more. I’ll try to have that for you tomorrow or Friday, but for now, a nugget regarding Kingsley’s cinematic awakening.

“Hugo,” of course, is Scorsese’s ode to the art form, ultimately a bit of a history lesson on its earliest beginnings and a study in passion through the prism of film preservation. Kingsley recalled seeing a great many films as a school boy and admits his knowledge of film history is all the more nourished for having collaborated with Scorsese on two occasions, now, last year’s (criminally underrated) “Shutter Island” being the first.

I asked him if he could recall anything that really jumped out from those formative years where a passion for the cinema was concerned.

Here’s what he had to say:

“I wouldn’t say I was a cinephile. Nothing can compare with Marty, because he is the king, really, but I do love watching great classics. I really do. And I appreciate the journey of the cinema. As a schoolboy, we had a film society at school. It was a very good school and we had a film society and I was a member of it and we screened Eisenstein films, Fritz Lang films. You know that film ‘Freaks?’ I even saw that as a schoolboy, and it was ancient film then. It was shown to us as an ancient film. So I do have an appreciation of early film.”

“‘Ivan the Terrible.’ The music in that-who wrote that? Was it Prokofiev? The great Russian composers used to score Eisenstein”s films. Prokofiev and Shostakovich were involved in movies and I think in ‘Ivan the Terrible’ there is a lot of choral music, church music, sacred music and massive orchestral movements underneath images. And then I think it”s when the whole of Moscow comes to ask him to come back from exile, those are all people, and they go on and on and on forever.”

Check back for the full interview later this week.

“Hugo” is currently in theaters nationwide.

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

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After recently releasing a list of nominees, the San Diego Film Critics Society has announced “The Artist” as Best Picture of the year. Though the film won nothing else from the group. Nicolas Winding Refn took the Best Director honor for “Drive,” which is becoming consistent. Check out the full list of winners below.

Best Picture: “The Artist”

Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”

Best Actor: Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress: Brit Marling, “Another Earth”

Best Supporting Actor: Nick Nolte, “Warrior”

Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “Moneyball”

Best Original Screenplay: “Midnight in Paris”

Best Cinematography: “The Tree of Life”

Best Editing: “Beginners”

Best Production Design: “Hugo”

Best Score: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

Best Ensemble Performance: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

Best Animated Film: “Arthur Christmas”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Le Quattro Volte”

Best Documentary: “Project Nim”

Body of Work for 2011: Jessica Chastain

Kyle Counts Award: Lee Ann Kim, San Diego Asian Film Foundation

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

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You know the drill. We’re back to business as usual this week after last Friday’s top 10 edition of Oscar Talk. We’ll be addressing “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” as well as the week in awards announcements. Rifle off your need-to-knows aside from that and we’ll address a few on the show.

It looks like the Palm Springs International Film Festival has chosen its Oscar stallion for the year. Brad Pitt has been selected to receive the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award for his lead role in “Moneyball” and his supporting role in “The Tree of Life.”

As has oft been discussed, Palm Springs’s tendency toward predictive selections for its honorees has only increased over time. When the festival announced that Michelle Williams would be this year”s female awardee, we pointed out that the male recipient of the Desert Palm Achievement Award has gone on to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for four straight years. Will this be the fifth?

I am an admirer of Pitt”s work. I respect that he took a career that could have been vanilla ice cream and shaped it into something unique. He makes interesting choices. He has grown over time and been willing to do so. That takes a particular kind of will and character. It amazes me how often people continue to dismiss him as an actor because he happens to be an extraordinarily good-looking movie star. I would prefer to see his work in “The Tree of Life” honored this year, but I would not be surprised to see him nominated in both fields.

“Brad Pitt consistently mesmerizes audiences with the depth and versatility of his performances,” festival chairman Harold Mattzner said in the press release. “He has the rare ability to interpret and capture the most complicated facets of human nature, infusing his roles with strength and emotion.”

Pitt has already received the Best Actor award from the New York Film Critics Circle this year for his roles in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life” and Best Actor for the former from the Boston Society of Film Critics. He”s also received nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Screen Actors Guild for “Moneyball.” Meanwhile, Time”s Richard Corliss selected Pitt as the #1 movie performance of the year for his roles in “Moneyball,” “The Tree of Life” and, yes, “Happy Feet Two.”

In 2007, Pitt, along with the cast of “Babel,” received Palm Springs”s Ensemble Performance Award.  Past honorees of the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award include Jeff Bridges, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sean Penn, John Travolta and James Stewart.

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

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We offered you a space to share your Screen Actors’ Guild and Golden Globe predictions yesterday — but since the majority of you had only SAG on the brain then, here’s another chance for you to spitball the Globes list. They’re always a fun lot predict, mostly because of the comedy/musical categories: even with a stronger field of industry favorites in the running this year, there’s still plenty of room for them to throw in a star-baiting head-scratcher. Julia Roberts in “Larry Crowne?” Johnny Depp in “The Rum Diary?” Take your pick.

I’ve set the ball rolling with my own predictions across all their film categories. One doesn’t need a crystal ball to tell that “The Artist” is set to have another strong morning: I’m expecting it to top the list with six nods, while the Best Drama category looks rather modest by comparison. Will “War Horse,” “Hugo” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” bounce back after being totally blanked in today’s SAG list? And why do I have a funny feeling that “Drive” could spring a surprise here? Take a look at my best guesses after the jump, and share yours in the comments.

Best Picture – Drama
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
“Hugo”
“War Horse”

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy
“The Artist”
“Beginners”
“Bridesmaids”
“Midnight in Paris”
“The Muppets”

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Nicolas Winding Refn, “Drive”
Stephen Daldry, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Steven Spielberg, “War Horse”

Best Actor – Drama
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Ryan Gosling, “Drive”
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Paul Giamatti, “Win Win”
Brendan Gleeson, “The Guard”
Ryan Gosling, “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”
Ewan McGregor, “Beginners”

Best Actress – Drama
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Kirsten Dunst, “Melancholia”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Actress – Musical or Comedy
Cameron Diaz, “Bad Teacher”
Jodie Foster, “Carnage”
Kristen Wiig, “Bridesmaids”
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh, “My Week With Marilyn”
Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Brad Pitt, “The Tree of Life”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress
Berenice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Vanessa Redgrave, “Coriolanus”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

Best Screenplay
Michel Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, “The Descendants”
Eric Roth, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, “Moneyball”

Best Foreign Language Film
“In Darkness” 
“In the Land of Blood and Honey”
“Le Havre”
“A Separation”
“The Skin I Live In”

Best Animated Feature
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Arthur Christmas”
“Puss in Boots”
“Rango”
“Rio”

Best Original Score
Ludovic Bource, “The Artist”
Cliff Martinez, “Drive”
Alexandre Desplat, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Howard Shore, “Hugo”
John Williams, “War Horse”

Best Original Song
“Hello Hello,” “Gnomeo and Juliet”
“The Living Proof,” “The Help”
“Life is a Happy Song,” “The Muppets”
“Man or Muppet,” “The Muppets”
“Masterpiece,” “W.E.”

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

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What is there left to say about Meryl Streep at this point that someone else hasn”t said already? At the age of 62, the actress who was already earning ‘all-time greatest” citations decades earlier, has the career most of her contemporaries can only dream of.

Still in favor with critics, recently celebrated with a Kennedy Center honor and working like a demon, she is, even more remarkably, a bigger box-office draw than she ever was: pulling vast and varied audiences into the theater for such commercial juggernauts as “The Devil Wears Prada” and “Mamma Mia!,” she breaks every conceivable rule that has been established for middle-aged women in Hollywood. (One imagines Madeline Ashton, the vain, ageing, largely untalented leading lady she played nearly 20 years ago in “Death Becomes Her,” veritably seething with envy.)

She has, of course, broken her own record many times over to amass an astonishing 16 Oscar nominations: a 17th is undoubtedly on the way for her latest headlining role, as the reviled, long-serving British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd”s biopic “The Iron Lady.” The performance has already netted her a fifth New York Film Critics” Circle Award – another rare distinction in a career not short of them, and an obvious subject for another installment of The Lists.

That Streep has managed to convert only one-eighth of her Oscar bids into statuettes-the last of them nearly 29 years ago-has lead to claims in some quarters that she is “underrated” or “taken for granted,” a patently ridiculous way to describe an actress held in such high esteem by the industry that she routinely garners accolades for the kind of populist projects for which few of her peers generally receive any respect. It”s a common line on Streep (one I admit I”ve regularly taken myself in recent years) that she”s often better than the film surrounding her; admittedly, a film usually has to be rather special to keep up.

Streep rarely phones it in as an actress: she”s almost always working in a carefully thought-out stylistic register (often, as has become something of a trademark, with an elaborate and exotic accent) that occasionally divides critics, but is never dull to watch. When she fully connects with a character, as in the 10 performances selected for this week”s list, the “untouchable” claims are fully warranted – and it”s happened often enough over 34 years of big-screen work that whittling this list down was no easy process. (Not to mention small-screen work: anyone see her priceless guest turn in Lisa Kudrow”s “Web Therapy” series?)

So, take a look through our new gallery, and see what I reckon are her finest hours on screen. I imagine everyone”s list will look a little different, so please share your own favourites in the comments section below.

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

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With today’s Screen Actors Guild announcement, we’ve officially moved onto the next stage of awards season, when the industry has its say and shares the spotlight a bit with the critics. I was happy to see that a few extraneous elements of the season (Demián Bichir, Jonah Hill) got some recognition and kept things fresh, because that’s precisely why I decided to transition the annual “If I Had a Ballot” feature into something more thorough.

In its stead, The Longlists are just that: a series of lists in various categories featuring what I thought was the top echelon of each. I trotted out 10, rather than the Oscar-centric five, throughout.

If you missed it, Monday I wrote up my list of the year’s 10 best films. Friday brings a final wrap-up with year-end superlatives in the categories below as well as a few others. And soon enough, it’ll be 2012 and the year will officially be a memory. But the season will forge on.

Note: I’ve abstained from the documentary, foreign film and animated feature film categories. I haven’t seen enough docs or foreign films this year to be so definitive and there aren’t enough animated features to even warrant a “category.” Meanwhile, I’ve combined original and adapted screenplays into one “Best Screenplay” field.

Feel free to offer up your early lists in the comments section below.

Best Picture
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Drive”
“Margaret”
“Martha Marcy May Marlene”
“Rampart”
“Rango”
“A Separation”
“Shame”
“Take Shelter”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Steven Spielberg, “The Adventures of Tintin”
Nicholas Winding Refn, “Drive”
Kenneth Lonergan, “Margaret”
Sean Durkin, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Oren Moverman, “Rampart”
Asghar Farhadi, “A Separation”
Steve McQueen, “Shame”
Tomas Alfredson, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”
Lynne Ramsay, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Actor
Demian Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Ryan Gosling, “The Ides of March”
Tom Hardy, “Warrior”
Woody Harrelson, “Rampart”
Hunter McCracken, “The Tree of Life”
Peyman Moaadi, “A Separation”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Michael Shannon, “Take Shelter”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Melancholia”
Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Anna Paquin, “Margaret”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Charlize Theron, “Young Adult”
Michelle Williams, “My Week with Marilyn”

Best Supporting Actor

Albert Brooks, “Drive”
Benedict Cumberbatch, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
Ben Kingsley, “Hugo”
Ezra Miller, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Patton Oswalt, “Young Adult”
Brad Pitt, “The Tree of Life”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”
Andy Serkis, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
Corey Stoll, “Midnight in Paris”

Best Supporting Actress
Sareh Bayat, “A Separation”
Jeannie Berlin, “Margaret”
J. Smith-Cameron, “Margaret”
Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
Elle Fanning, “Super 8”
Mélanie Laurent, “Beginners”
Carey Mulligan, “Shame”
Evan Rachel Wood, “The Ides of March”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”
Robin Wright, “Rampart”

Best Screenplay
“Beginners”
“Margaret”
“Martha Marcy May Marlene”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“Rango”
“A Separation”
“Shame”
“Take Shelter”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Best Art Direction
“Anonymous”
“The Guard”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“J. Edgar”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”
“Water for Elephants”

Best Cinematography
“Drive”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Melancholia”
“Moneyball”
“Rampart”
“Shame”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“The Tree of Life”
“W.E.”

Best Costume Design
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“W.E.”
“War Horse”
“Water for Elephants”

Best Film Editing
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Contagion”
“Drive”
“The Ides of March”
“Margaret”
“Martha Marcy May Marlene”
“Moneyball”
“Rampart”
“The Tree of Life”
“We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Makeup
“Anonymous”
“The Artist”
“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Green Lantern”
“Hugo”
“The Iron Lady”
“J. Edgar”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“W.E.”
“X-Men: First Class”

Best Music (Original Score)
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Attack the Block”
“A Better Life”
“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”
“Hanna”
“Hugo”
“The Ides of March”
“Margaret”
“Moneyball”
“Rango”

Best Sound Editing
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Battle: Los Angeles”
“Drive”
“Fast Five”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Rango”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”
“War Horse”

Best Sound Mixing
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Battle: Los Angeles”
“Drive”
“Fast Five”
“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”
“Rango”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Visual Effects
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Anonymous”
“Captain America: The First Avenger”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Melancholia”
“Paul”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Ensemble
“Contagion”
“Drive”
“The Help”
“The Ides of March”
“Margaret”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“A Separation”
“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”
“The Tree of Life”

Tally:

11 – “The Tree of Life”

9 – “Margaret,” “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

8 – “Hugo”

7 – “The Adventures of Tintin,” “Drive”

6 – “Moneyball,” “Rampart,” “A Separation,” “Shame”

5 – “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” “Rango”

4 – “Anonymous,” “The Help,” “The Ides of March,” “Midnight in Paris,” “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” “Take Shelter,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

3 – “Beginners,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “W.E.,” “Warrior,” “War Horse,” “Young Adult”

2 – “The Artist,” “A Better Life,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” “J. Edgar,” “Melancholia,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” “Super 8,” “Water for Elephants”

1 – “Attack the Block,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Green Lantern,” “The Guard,” “Hanna,” “Paul,” “My Week with Marilyn,” “X-Men: First Class”

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

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Somehow the embargo on “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” ended up extending at the last minute to the post-screening Q&A that accompanied last week’s screening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a first, as far as I can recall. I couldn’t even pass along this nugget, completely unrelated to the film.

Bizarre, I know, but I’ll dig it up for you now in any case. I figure some comments made by Max von Sydow will be of some interest to cinephiles.

The line-up consisted of stars von Sydow, Thomas Horn and Sandra Bullock, as well as director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter Eric Roth. Daldry commandeered the Q&A from moderator Pete Hammond for a bit at one point and, amid discussion about where each of them were on 9/11 and considerations of grieving (ugh), he asked von Sydow about how he was able to handle the loss of long-time collaborator, mentor and friend, director Ingmar Bergman, in 2007.

Bergman, of course, directed von Sydow in a number of films, including “Wild Strawberries,” “The Virgin Spring” and a personal favorite, “The Seventh Seal.” They are rather inseparable in cinema history, one of the great tandems of all time.

Here is what the actor had to say after some deep consideration:

“I don’t know if I can talk about this, but we were personal friends for many years and worked through I don’t know how many films and theater plays together. All of these, of course, are very emotional procedures and it’s a very emotional period. We also had a similar background. His parents, my parents were probably of the same school and certain morals and religions, etc., and social habits. We understood each other. Whatever good has happened to me in my life regarding film and theater, my thanks go to him.“

Von Sydow stars in the new film as a mute older gentleman who figures mysteriously into the main character’s journey. I initially expected him to blow into the season and become an instant frontrunner, but the film betrays him. He just isn’t given enough time and his reconciliation with the main character is mismanaged. The BFCA, despite being quite kind to the film, didn’t nominate him, while the Screen Actors Guild (which saw the film, but too late to really digest, one imagines) snubbed the film entirely.

I had the pleasure of meeting von Sydow before the screening. I kind of just looked up and there he was. And I’ll tell you, there are few hands I shake that leave me trembling, but this was one of them. The freakin’ Exorcist? You kidding me? Lovely to have made his acquaintance. I wish he was given more of an opportunity in the new film.

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” opens in theaters nationwide Sunday, December 25.

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

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Things I correctly predicted in this morning’s Screen Actors’ Guild nominations list: “Midnight in Paris” and “Bridesmaids” landing nominations in an unusually comedy-heavy Best Ensemble slate; “The Help” coming out on top with four nominations, including (hurrah!) a supporting bid for multi-tasker Jessica Chastain; Glenn Close’s ailing Best Actress campaign for “Albert Nobbs” getting a boost with recognition from her fellow actors; “The Descendants” breakout Shailene Woodley getting the cold shoulder in the supporting actress category; and “Young Adult,” “Hugo,” “War Horse” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” among the films frozen out entirely.

Things I (and, as far as I can tell, everyone else) did not predict: a Best Actor nomination for Mexican veteran character actor Demián Bichir, whose performance as a hard-up immigrant worker in Chris Weitz’s indie “A Better Life” was praised to the skies by critics upon its release in June, but was widely considered to be a forgotten factor in the Oscar race. No more. By landing a nod ahead of more heavily buzzed dark horses, Michaels Fassbender and Shannon, Bichir is a new player to watch in a field that currently has only three surefire Oscar nominees. 

Also very much in the hunt, after seemingly slipping a bit since his film’s indifferently-received release, is Leonardo DiCaprio: successive nods from SAG and the BFCA in the past few days suggest many admire his methodical portrayal in Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar,” even if they’re cool on the film.

More surprisingly, the Guild also came to the rescue of his co-star Armie Hammer in the supporting category, which is especially unexpected given that current precursor leader Albert Brooks (for whom I imagined SAG members would have a lot of affection, but apparently not) missed the cut. Indeed, SAG really mixed things up in the Supporting Actor race, also tossing in a mention for fading “Moneyball” hopeful Jonah Hill, while Nick Nolte followed up his BFCA nod yesterday with another mention. Hard luck, Ben Kingsley and Patton Oswalt.

As with Best Ensemble, my predictions were five-for-five in the Best Actress category: if any group was going to stick up for Glenn Close, it was going to be this one, and they evidently liked the film enough to hand a supporting nod to Janet McTeer, too. Tilda Swinton, meanwhile, continues her good run of fortune with the precursors: if even SAG, with its mostly middlebrow tendencies, can groove to a film this prickly, she’s clearly looking good for an overdue leading Oscar nod. Many will be surprised to see Charlize Theron missing from the lineup, but I’m not: superb as she is in “Young Adult,” I sense her character’s (and film’s) lack of obvious likeability is a barrier for many voters.

The Supporting Actress race, meanwhile, is flung wide open here. Vanessa Redgrave missed the cut, though the Academy’s British voting bloc could well save her in the Oscar race; for Shailene Woodley, getting snubbed here is perhaps more of a danger sign. Following on from yesterday’s BFCA nod, Chastain’s mention here for “The Help” clearly establishes that film as her prime Oscar pony, as we suspected would be the case: she could even be a threat for the win now, but the possibility of splitting votes with co-star Octavia Spencer remains. With that in mind, could Bérénice Bejo slide through the middle on a current of love for “The Artist” (which I’m guessing will also take the ensemble prize)? I’m starting to think she might.

Finally, the nominees in the top category suggest voters were in one of their moods where they’re more concerned with honoring their favorite ensembles than with predicting the Best Picture category, and good on them. Nobody’s suddenly going to start thinking “Bridesmaids” (which also snagged yet another nod for the currently-coasting Melissa McCarthy) is a stronger Best Picture threat than “War Horse” or “Hugo,” but this apparent lack of interest from the actors does put a dent in their hopes: you have to go back to “Braveheart” in 1995 (the SAG ensemble award’s inaugural year) to find a Best Picture winner that wasn’t nominated here.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to know what to read into the absence from the list of “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”: whispers from SAG screenings is that audiences were high on both the film and young lead Thomas Horn’s performance, but none of that translated into nominations. Did the film simply screen too late to capture wider voter attention, or is something wrong? We’ll have a clearer idea when the other guilds weigh in next month.

Check out the full list of nominees below.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
“The Artist”
“Bridesmaids”
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Midnight in Paris”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “J. Edgar”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
Meryl Streep, “The Iron Lady”
Tilda Swinton, “We Need To Talk About Kevin”
Michelle Williams, “My Week With Marilyn”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Brangah, “My Week with Marilyn”
Armie Hammer, “J. Edgar”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Nick Nolte, “Warrior”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
Jassica Chastain “The Help”
Melissa McCarthy, “Bridesmaids”
Janet McTeer, “Albert Nobbs”
Octavia Spencer, “The Help”

The Phoenix Film Critics Society has announced a massive list of nominations in various categories, and as has become the trend, Michel Hazanavicius’s “The Artist” led the way with 11 mentions. Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” wasn’t far behind with 10. Check out the full list of nominees below.

Top 10 Films of 2011
“The Artist”
“The Descendants”
“Drive”
“The Help”
“Hugo”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Moneyball”
“My Week With Marilyn”
“Super 8″
“The Tree of Life”

Best Director
Woody Allen, “Midnight in Paris”
Michael Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Alexander Payne, “The Descendants”
Martin Scorsese, “Hugo”
Tate Taylor, “The Help”

Best Actor
George Clooney, “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin, “The Artist
Michael Fassbender, “Shame”
Gary Oldman, “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy”
Brad Pitt, “Moneyball”

Best Actress
Glenn Close, “Albert Nobbs”
Viola Davis, “The Help”
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”
John Hawkes, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Jonah Hill, “Moneyball”
Christopher Plummer, “Beginners”

Best Supporting Actress
“Bérénice Bejo, “The Artist”
“Bryce Dallas Howard, “The Help”
“Jessica Chastain, “The Help”
“Octavia Spencer, “The Help”
“Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Best Ensemble
“Bridesmaids”
“Contagion”
“Margin Call”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Super 8”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Descendants”
“The Help”
“Hugo”

Best Original Screenplay
“The Artist”
“Beginners”
“Midnight in Paris”

Best Cinematography
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Tree of Life”

Best Costume Design
“The Artist”
“Hugo”
“Jane Eyre”

Best Film Editing
“The Artist”
“Super 8”
“Tree of Life”

Best Original Score
“The Artist”
“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
“Moneyball”
“Super 8”

Best Original Song

“Star-Spangled Man” from “Captain America: 

The 

First Avenger”

“The Living Proof” from “The Help”

“I Believe In You” from “Johnny English Reborn”

“Life”s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”

Best Production Design
“The Artist”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″
“Hugo”

Best Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″
“Hugo”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Best Animated Film
“The Adventures of Tintin”
“Rango”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Best Documentary
“African Cats”
“The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”
“Page One: Inside the New York Times”
“Project Nim”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Incendies”
“Point Blank”
“The Skin I Live In”

Best Live Action Family Film
“Dolphin Tale”
“Hugo”
“The Muppets”
“We Bought a Zoo”

The Overlooked Film of the Year
“A Better Life”
“The Conspirator”
“Texas Killing Fields”

Best Stunts
“Drive”
“Fast Five”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

Breakthrough Performance on Camera
Elle Fanning, “Super 8″
Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
Elizabeth Olsen, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Shailene Woodley, “The Descendants”

Breakthrough Performance Behind the Camera
Sean Durkin, “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Michael Hazanavicius, “The Artist”
Tate Taylor, “The Help”

Best Performance by a Youth (Male)
Asa Butterfield, “Hugo”
Joel Courtney, “Super 8”
Thomas Horn, “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”

Best Performance by a Youth (Female)
Elle Fanning, “Super 8”
Amara Miller, “The Descendants”
Chloe Grace Moretz, “Hugo”
Saoirse Ronan, “Hanna”