And the nominees are:
Amour – Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – Ang Lee
Lincoln – Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Director…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: Amour, AMPAS, ang lee, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, Best Director, Best Director Oscar, David O. Russell, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Michael Haneke, oscar predictions, Oscars, Silver Linings Playbook, Steven Spielberg
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each  writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
The calendar year for most people runs January through December, but for such Oscar-obsessed people as you will find writing here at The Awards Circuit the year ends with Oscar Sunday. Everything we do at this site leads to and culminates in the big ceremony. We’ve spent countless hours going back and forth trying to figure out just where the pieces fit best into the jigsaw puzzle that the Academy Awards race has become, and I have to tell you, I have never seen a year quite like this.
Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Mark Johnson)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, AMPAS, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, oscar predictions, Oscars, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty
 As I kicked off some juice this past Monday and started some heated discussion, we’re looking at all the possible angles for any film to get love on Oscar night. We took a look a scenario where Silver Linings Playbook would fall in line with Mike Nichols’ The Graduate (1967). Ang Lee’s Life of Pi could join a very small pool of Oscar Best Picture Winners if it triumphed over Affleck’s Argo and Spielberg’s Lincoln. It would become just the 12th film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations to back it up. The most recent film to have this honor was Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire (2008) when it won eight Oscars. Before that, the most rewarded film in Oscar history took home eleven Oscars and tied with Titanic and Ben-Hur. That film was Peter Jackson’s epic conclusion The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003). Many have cited this possibility and it seems highly unlikely at this juncture unless it creates a new record that would be either tied or previously held by Cabaret (1972). Any guess what that could be? Read more on 2013 Oscar Scenarios – Lee Becomes Fosse…
Can Argo cross the finish line?
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
The most wide-open and unpredictable Oscar season in modern history is set to twilight in less than 100 hours and perhaps the biggest surprise Oscar has in store for us is that there will be no surprises. An anti-climactic ending would be fitting to a season that, for one year at least, has rewritten so many of the hard and fast rules we Oscar pundits and prognosticators have come to rely on in making our predictions.
Read more on Oscar 2013: Will Win/Should Win (Mike)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Buzkashi Boys, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Mondays At Racine, Paperman, Searching for Sugar Man, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
It’s here, the Big One. The Oscars are finally upon us, generating a frenzy of excitement and a torrent of ever-changing predictions in its path to the big stage on Sunday. This is the highly anticipated annual organized free-for-all when ideals shatter, frustrations bubble over, and sometimes (though not often) pleasant surprises challenge the odds. The final results could go any which way, and especially in such a quality-loaded year, it’s been a dizzying process trying to peg the sway of Academy Voters. Finally dashing aside unrealistically hopeful designs of one candidate over another, I’ve joined my Awards Circuit colleagues in settling on the probable winners, though not without putting up a fight for my preferred winners. In the spirit of the games, here are my “Win Will/Should Win” Oscar Selections: Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Melkonian)…
Categories: Article Tags: Argo, Bradley Cooper, Brave, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Disney, Jacki Weaver, Jennifer Lawrence, Joaquin Phoenix, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Mark Boal, oscar predictions, Paul Thomas Anderson, Prometheus, Quentin Tarantino, Robert De Niro, Roman Coppola, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Steven Spielberg, the dark knight rises, The Secret World of Arietty, Wes Anderson, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
On late Saturday night, the Cinema Audio Society (CAS) handed out their prizes for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing, awarding Les Misérables with their award for a live action film. This probably puts Les Misérables as the frontrunner for the Sound Mixing Oscar (if it wasn’t already), especially on the heels of last weekend’s victory with BAFTA in the same category. Meanwhile, they handed out their award for an animated film to Pixar’s Brave, who gained a lot of momentum this weekend taking both CAS and the ACE Eddie.
Read more on CAS and MPSE Guilds Sound Off…
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Young)…
Categories: Article Tags: Amour, ang lee, Anna Karenina, Anna Young, Anne Hathaway, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Brave, Chris Terrio, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Django Unchained, Emmanuelle Riva, End of Watch, Holy Motors, Inglourious Basterds, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, John Goodman, John Hawkes, Joss Whedon, kathryn bigelow, Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Logan Lerman, Mark Boal, Moonrise Kingdom, oscar predictions, Oscar snubs, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Quentin Tarantino, Robert DeNiro, Samantha Barks, Samuel L. Jackson, Searching for Sugarman, Silver Linings Playbook, Skyfall, Stephen Chbosky, Steven Speilberg, The Academy Awards, the avengers, the dark knight rises, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Impossible, The Sessions, Tommy Lee Jones, Will Win/Should Win, Wreck-It Ralph, Zero Dark Thirty
 2012 has been a great year for movie music, therefore it would be no surprise that the nominees for the International Film Music Awards would be pretty good. Lincoln and Life of Pi lead the nominated field with 4 nominations, including citations for their composers in Film Composer of the Year, John Williams and Mychael Danna, respectively. Cloud Atlas also managed 3 nominations including Score of the Year, Best Original Score for a Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Film, and Composition of the Year for Cloud Atlas Sextet. The International Film Music Critics Association will announce the winners of the 9th IFMCA Awards on February 21, 2013. By now, everyone has seen a million of these posts, so I thought it’d be fun to add a little bit of commentary along with the categories, so check it out after the jump!
Read more on International Film Music Award Nominations highlight ‘Cloud Atlas’ and ‘Life of Pi’…
Categories: News Tags: alexandre desplat, Brave, Cloud Atlas, danny elfman, International Film Music Award, John Williams, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Looper, Mychael Danna, Nathan Johnson, news, ParaNorman, Sinister, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Impossible
 Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
- Argo - John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
- Les Miserables - Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
- Life of Pi - Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
- Lincoln - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
- Skyfall - Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Arguably one of the most competitive years in Oscar history, the Sound Mixing category follows the same suit where any of the five nominated films can win. While there are some nominations that are questionable, there’s no denying the multitude and passion these mixers have for their craft. As many eyes that read this article can easily name the stars of Argo, the person who played Mary Todd Lincoln, not many, I dare to say any, can name any Sound Mixers besides the ones that follow in line with Oscar. If there are unsung heroes of cinema, a Sound craftsman (or woman) is near the top of the list. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Sound Mixing…
 Original Score is one of the most interesting categories year in and year out, with the list of films that were disqualified being almost as good of a list as the nominees. This year was not only a great year for film but film music, with the 5 nominees beating out many worthy adversaries to make it in the Oscar lineup.
The nominees are:
Anna Karenina – Dario Marinelli
Argo – Alexandre Desalt
Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
Lincoln – John Williams
Skyfall – Thomas Newman
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Original Score…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: alexandre desplat, Anna Karenina, Argo, Dario Marinelli, Film, John Williams, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Mychael Danna, Oscar, Oscar hopeful, Oscar hopefuls, oscar predictions, Oscars, Skyfall, Thomas Newman
And the nominees are:
Argo – William Goldenberg
Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
Lincoln – Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Film Editing…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: AMPAS, Argo, Dylan Tichenor, Film Editing, Film Editing Oscar, Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Michael Kahn, Oscar Circuit, Oscar Circuit: Film Editing, oscar predictions, Oscars, Silver Linings Playbook, Tim Squyres, William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
I think if you asked the staff to guarantee one win on Oscar night, we might all unanimously agree on the visual effects team for Life of Pi being triumphant. Heck, we might have all agreed on that before nominations were even announced. Well it seems thee Visual Effects Society (VES) has confirmed what we already knew, as they handed out four prizes – including the most important: Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Motion Picture – to Ang Lee’s film. To top things off, Lee was honored by the VES as he received the Society’s Visionary Award. Pixar’s Brave also received a boost from the VES. Check out the full list of winners after the jump.
Read more on No Surprise: ‘Life of Pi’ Dominates the Visual Effects Society Awards…
Saturday night was a big night for handing out awards. Along with the DGA, the Annies and the Art Directors Guild (ADG) handed out their own best of the year honors. The ADG hands out prizes to films in three separate categories: period, fantasy, and contemporary. It wasn’t much of a surprise to see the Oscar frontrunner for this category (now retitled “Production Design”) come out on top in the Period category, as Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer won for their work on Anna Karenina.
Read more on Art Directors Guild Honors ‘Karenina,’ ‘Pi,’ and ‘Skyfall’…
 New name. Same Category. The Academy Award for Best Production Design celebrates the best in art direction and set design. Production designers have an incredibly difficult role in the making of film. Whether it’s a fantasy film set in far off world or a recreation of a historical building, production designers create the physical building blocks that allow us into the world of the film. Last year this award (called the Academy Award for Art Direction), went to Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for Hugo.
And the 2012 Nominees are…
Sarah Greenwood – Anna Karenina
Dan Hennah – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Eve Stewart – Les Miserables
David Gropman – Life of Pi
Rick Carter, Jim Erickson, and Peter T. Frank – Lincoln Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Production Design…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: Anna Karenina, Dan Hennah, David Gropman, Eve Stewart, Jim Erickson, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Oscar, Oscar Circuit, Rick Carter, Sarah Greenwood, Terence Johnson, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
 And the Nominees are…
The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Daniel Sudick, Jeff White, and Guy Williams
Oscar Scene: Hulk smashing
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – David Clayton, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, and R. Christopher White
Oscar Scene: The introduction to Gollum
Life of Pi – Erik De Boer, Donald Elliott, Guillaume Rocheron, and Bill Westenhofer
Oscar Scene: Any involving Richard Parker
Prometheus – Charley Henley, Martin Hill, Richard Stammers, and Trevor Wood
Oscar Scene: The Opening Scene
Snow White and the Huntsman – Phil Brennan, Neil Corbould, Michael Dawson, and Cedric Nicolas-Troyan
Oscar Scene: The Mirror Man
A category often filled with summer blockbusters, it’s not every day that the Best Visual Effects field has a Best Picture nominee contained within it. That alone makes it one of the more interesting categories, but it’s hardly the only reason for that. Many of the other tech categories are harder for layman to comprehend and as such feel a bit exclusionary (Film Editing or Sound Mixing, for example), whereas this category is a lot simpler to wrap your brain around. This year, happen to have a bit of mix between high octane and low key contenders, which I find unique. Of the 5 nominees, it seems like more or less a 2 horse race. Which are they, you ask? Well, lets dive right in and find out!
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Visual Effects…
Every year, The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) selects one lucky artist to create posters for the films nominated for their awards. This year, Jonathan Franks of handsomefrank.com was chosen, and the work is quite impressive. Have a look at the beautiful images after the jump or click the gallery below.
Read more on Incredible Looking Posters for the BAFTA Nominated Films…
Faithfully and successfully adapting an original source into a workable feature film screenplay often poses itself as a daunting task to even the most seasoned writers. Combined with the constant concern of providing a captivating narrative to drive a story, the added pressure of doing justice to the source increases expectations. Ranging from a stage play to best-selling novels to a sweeping biopic, this year’s nominees tackle their adaptations with the vigor and mastery to propel their respective films into the life-affirming endzone, out of a hostage crisis, within safe distance from ancient aurochs, out of a morally-divisive Civil War, and into a colorful voyage of survival.
The Nominees are:
- Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell
- Argo – Chris Terrio
- Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar, Benh, Zeitlin
- Lincoln – Tony Kushner
- Life of Pi – David Magee
In his adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel, David O. Russell provides his Silver Linings Playbook cast with the necessary ammunition to fire off at one another with the electric energy that’s the lifeblood of this human comedy. As one of only two director-writer combos in this category, he exerts a masterful command over the material his actors deliver, coaxing a natural chemistry between them. This marks the first time the three-time nominee–including Best Director for The Fighter in 2011 and this year for director and adapted screenplay– has been in contention for a writing award with the Academy. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Adapted Screenplay…
And the nominees are:
Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty – Paul N.J. Ottosson
When it comes to the Oscars, one of the questions I hear most often is what the heck is the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing? So I figured I would start with explaining their differences first, before diving into the nominees for Best Sound Editing.
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Sound Editing…
 And the Nominees Are:
- Roger Deakins, Skyfall
- Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
- Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
- Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina
- Robert Richardson, Django Unchained
Few realize how integral cinematography is to the film experience. Without the technical prowess of “the man behind the camera,” we are lost, the magic of movies disappears, and our eyes are left to gaze at nothing more than an amateur home video caught on tape. A cinematographer is the visual liaison between the viewer and the film’s universe. To understand and wholly appreciate a director’s vision, the cinematographer must literally point us in the right direction. At the best of times, those “directional paths” almost eclipse the film itself thanks to a cinematographer’s artistic imprint that leaves an impression that stands in equal measure to all the quality elements that make a film great. Such work is usually rewarded in the form of an Oscar® nomination, and this year five heroic men of their great craft have been honored. Below, I will break down each contender, their film and their chances of winning an Academy Award at the 2013 Oscar® ceremony. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Cinematography…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: Anna Karenina, Best Cinematography, Claudio Miranda, Django Unchained, Janusz Kaminski, Life of Pi, Lincoln, oscars 2013, Robert Richardson, Roger Deakins, Skyfall
 Since Oscar nominations, everyone is trying to get their heads around what each nomination means and which films are building momentum after the Critics Choice Movie Awards and Golden Globe Awards. On January 27, the Screen Actors Guild Awards will weigh in on their choices for the best of 2012 and then four weeks will go by until the Oscar ceremony. The only thing in between that time will the BAFTA on February 10 with Oscar ballots due nine days later.
The leading nomination tally for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and Ang Lee’s Life of Pi puts them in a prime position to battle it out for the rest of the season however, Ben Affleck’s Argo, a film without a Best Director nomination attached, has done exceedingly well in the televised award shows. Could Argo become the first film since Driving Miss Daisy to win the top award without a directing nomination? Argo has won the Critics Choice and the Golden Globe Awards which many are calling the kiss of death since only two films in the last ten years have gone on to win the Oscar. Read more on Oscar Updates Begin – Could ‘Argo’ pull it off?…
The American Cinema Editors (ACE) nominations used to be announced prior to the Oscar nominations, and would be a good bellwether towards the eventual Oscar outcome. But with AMPAS moving up their date to turn in ballots, and ACE sticking firmly to their normal procedures, their noms ended up coming in after the fact. The ACE Eddies award excellence in Film Editing in four categories: Drama, Comedy/Musical, Animated, and Documentary. All five Oscar noms are recognized by ACE. The 63rd annual ACE Eddie Awards will be held on February 16, have a look at the full slate of nominees after the jump.
Read more on ACE Eddie Nominations: Round Up The Usual Suspects…
The nominees for the 27th annual American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) awards have been announced, and the  Oscar frontrunners – Life of Pi, Skyfall, and Lincoln – are present as expected. Rounding out the field are Les Miserables and Anna Karenina, who most likely edged out other expected contenders such as The Master and Zero Dark Thirty. Wait, what? The Master missed on another guild? At this point, the biggest shock to me on Thursday morning would be to see that film in the Best Picture lineup. The ASC awards will be handed out on February 10th, and you can have a look at the full nominee list after the jump.
Read more on The American Society of Cinematographers Honor ‘Pi,’ ‘Lincoln,’ and ‘Skyfall’…
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced their nominees for the VES Awards, and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey leads the pack with seven nominations. Life of Pi (presumed by many to be the favorite come Oscar time) and The Avengers are right behind the furry-footed hobbits with six nods. We’ll have to wait until February 5th to find out who wins, but you can have a look at the entire slate of nominees after the jump.
Read more on 2013 Visual Effects Society Nominees Announced…
 Who knew that a giant tsunami and being shipwrecked with a tiger would inspire such great music? Given that the world is supposed to be ending on Friday, now seemed like an interesting time to look at survival epics. So this entry of Spotlight on Scores will analyze two scores that made me want to quit life but gave me hope to carry on as well, The Impossible and Life of Pi. As usual, the links to Youtube playlists, iTunes and Amazon are provided. Let’s take a closer look! Read more on Spotlight on Scores: ‘The Impossible’ and ‘Life of Pi’…
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