 For a while, I really doubted that Martin Scorsese was ever going to get around to making Silence, a longtime dream project of his that’s always seemed to be the “next” film that he wants to do, only to have one more movie jump to the head of the line (he’s even had casting somewhat set up, notably including Daniel Day-Lewis, Benecio Del Toro, and Gael Garcia Bernal headlining).
Most recently, that happened to the flick with The Wolf of Wall Street, even leading to lawsuits, but in the last few days Scorsese himself has actually declared this to really be his next film. He plans to shoot it next year, which means it most likely will be a 2015 awards contender, but you never know there. For those who don’t remember or know, Silence is an adaptation of a novel by Shusaku Endo that deals with 17th century Jesuits who risk their lives to try to bring Christianity to Japan. Scorsese himself penned the adaptation with Jay Cocks, so this is one that could really be something special. After the jump you can see what the book is about in slightly more detail, but stay tuned for more on this one as Marty might be at Cannes to talk more about it. Fingers crossed that he can get his original cast of Day-Lewis, Del Toro, and Bernal back together for it.
Read more on Martin Scorsese finally making his long passion project ‘Silence’…
 With earlier this week marking the start of Passover for 2013, I wanted to tie in one of my favorite family holidays (I’m not a fan of the religious aspect, but I do love the food assorted shenanigans with people I only see once a year) and one of my favorite things overall…analyzing Oscar races! This time out, I decided to look back and see what 2012 contenders for Academy Awards were “passed over” by voters when all was said and done. I only included movies that were completely snubbed and didn’t receive a single Oscar nomination. I also separated those 20 flicks into two categories…one of which deals with films that were thought to be in the running for at least one nod but wound up being left out in the cold on nomination morning, while the other deals with movies that were never close to being honored in the end but deserved a nom for quality alone. I tried to make this as all-encompassing as possible, but if I left one out, be sure to let me know in the comments. For now though, on with a look back at what voters “passed over” last year.
Read more on Some “Passed Over” Films from 2012…
 With the first domino of the Cannes Film Festival having just fallen and The Great Gatsby debuting, why not ponder what else could play at the fest? I’ve done that since the announcement, and while it’s truly a fool’s errand to try to accurately predict what will actually unspool at Cannes, I’ve opted to take a crack at it anyway. It’s something I actually do every year around this time. It’ll be a bit until the official word comes down on what movies are tapped, but until then we can play the guessing game while hoping that an Oscar player winds up making a grand entrance over in France. With that in mind, here’s what I’ve come up with…
First of all, there apparently will be no debuting of Pedro Almodovar’s new movie I’m So Excited or Lars Von Trier’s potentially pornographic Nymphomaniac, so I haven’t included them in the list below. Instead, here are ten films that have decently good odds of winding up at Cannes. Behold:
Here’s what I’m thinking, in alphabetical order:
- All Is Lost (directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Robert Redford)
- The Bling Ring (directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Emma Watson)
- Goodbye To Language (directed by the legendaryJean-Luc Godard)
- Inside Llewelyn Davis (written by the Coen Brothers and starring Oscar Isaac)
- Lowlife (directed by James Gray and starring Marion Cotillard)
- Nebraska (directed by Alexander Payne and starring Bruce Dern)
- Only God Forgives (directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and starring Ryan Gosling)
- Only Lovers Left Alive (directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Tilda Swinton)
- The Past (directed by AsgharFarhadi and starring BéréniceBejo)
- Twelve Years a Slave (directed by Steve McQueen and starring ChiwetelEjiofor).
Read more on Contemplating Potential Cannes Film Festival Showings…
 Potentially previewing tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, Silver Linings Playbook had an excellent showing at the Independent Spirit Awards. Winning in all but one of the categories that it was nominated for, there’s clearly some love for David O. Russell’s film. You can take issue with the way the Spirit Awards handles its business (including this year giving Best First Feature to someone who’s already made a film, but I digress), but overall they honored a solid crop of winners. I even did much better than I was expecting with my predictions, going 9 out of 13, though if you include my alternate selections, I managed to get them all. Take a gander at the winners below…
BEST FEATURE:
“Silver Linings Playbook”
BEST DIRECTOR
David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”
BEST SCREENPLAY
“Silver Linings Playbook”
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
Read more on ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ nearly sweeps the Independent Spirit Awards!…
 I’ve often said that my favorite awards show each year usually winds up being the Independent Spirit Awards. Part of that has to do with how the nominees often reflect my tastes more so than many other awards, but also I just really enjoy how unpredictable they can be. It’s not a total love affair though, as there’s an odd commercialism that’s at play and runs counter to the supposed indie spirit of it all. Filmmaker Vincent Pereira actually commented on a Facebook post I did stating that I was finishing this piece and his thoughts on the show only reminded me more about the sort of false independence on display. Still, any show that once upon a time gave Kevin Smith an award can’t be all bad in my book. As is always the case right before the Oscars, I’m here to preview the Spirit Awards. My predictions are usually way off, though this year I may actually do better here than with the Academy Awards…go figure. Anyway, I know you all are mostly interested in this piece for the predictions, so I’ll shut up and get right to it. Enjoy this spin off of the Will Win/Should Win series focused on the Spirit Awards!
Read more on Previewing the Independent Spirit Awards!…
(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)
An annual tradition at The Awards Circuit, I once again humbly present to you my picks for who/what Will Win as well as who/what Should Win at the Oscars. Before we get started though, a few quick thoughts. This was obviously perhaps the most wide open race in history until a few weeks ago, so I’ve actually never been less confident in my predictions than I am currently. I was literally up all night second guessing myself. So many possibilities ran through my mind, but below you can see what I came up with. We’re going to find out in a few days who actually wins, but for now, here’s my yearly contribution to our Will Win/Should Win series!
Read more on Oscar 2013 Will Win/Should Win Selections (Joey Magidson)…
 More years than not, at least one or two films from the Sundance Film Festival manage to wind up in the awards season conversation. This past year, we had contenders like Beasts of the Southern Wild and The Sessions make it into the Oscar race, while something like Smashed ultimately came up short, from the mountains of Park City. I’m personally thinking that there aren’t any solid Oscar players from the fest this year, but time will ultimately tell in that regard. Below I’ve compiled the ten most likely films that could see some sort of attention shined on them during the precursor season.
Read more on Oscar Possibilites from the Sundance Film Festival…
 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:
Adam and Dog (Director Minkyu Lee)
Fresh Guacamole (Director Adam Pesapane)
Head Over Heels (Director Timothy Reckart)
Maggie Simpson in ‘The Longest Daycare’ (Director David Silverman)
Paperman (Director John Kahrs)
While the Animated Feature films each year often get the most attention, some years actually feature the best animation being done in the short film. In my humble opinion, 2012 was just such a year, so it was very pleasing to see the Best Animated Short category as stacked as it is this year. A pair of the five nominated shorts are better than any of the feature animated flicks that got nominated, and honestly better than any that were released last year. The category itself isn’t easy to predict, but I’m going to be taking a crack at it anyway. Lets get started and begin by getting to know the nominated works!
Read more on Oscar Circuit: Best Animated Short…
 For those who don’t follow or don’t remember, in Best Picture I’ll be looking at essentially what the next 10 films could have been for the Academy. It’s partially just for fun (and keep in mind…this isn’t how I would have preferred things to have gone, or else the lists below would be quite different), but I’ve always felt that it also shines an interesting light on what the Oscar nominations could have looked like…for better or worse. Some of these choices are rather obvious, while others are just guesses. Either way, this is nothing if not a good conversation starter, so be sure to let me know what you think the Alternate nominations would have been like. For now though, let’s get started and see what the next level down of Oscar nominees would look like!
Read more on The Alternate Oscar Nominations!…
 In a matter of days now, the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards will be revealed. Some of us will be thrilled at the films and performances cited, while others will be disappointed. The thing to remember though, which I mentioned on the latest Power Hour, is that we all won as film lovers in 2012. However the nominations turn out, the ones truly being honored were audiences. People in my position spend countless hours pouring over what might happen, but we rarely stop to smell the roses. Honestly, a lot of that has to do with not having reason to, but this past year of movies is a horse of a different color. I’ve done months of prognostication, but for a moment on nearly the eve of the Oscar nominations, I want to do a little bit of appreciating for a change. I may not have loved every movie, and I downright hated a group of them, but for my money this was the best year movie fans have had in some time, and that remains the case even when just thinking about likely awards contenders. Talk about a rare year!
Read more on However the nominations turn out, audiences won in 2012!…
 If you have been on Facebook or Twitter in the past two days, you may have noticed a few FYC ads popping up on the staff’s pages. That’s because for the first time ever, the Awards Circuit staff will be throwing their name into the ring of the critics groups that host their own awards! While you can see our intrepid editor’s choices coming together right now, you’ll soon be able to see what the staff collectively has to offer. The Awards Circuit Staff Awards nominations will be announced on Jan 20th and the winners will be announced on Jan 28.
In addition to the staff awards, the ACCA awards that gives you, the loyal readers, the chance to voice your own opinions about the film year, will open for voting on January 14th.
If you have anything you want the staff to consider before our voting closes (Jan 18) please share in the comments! until then take a look at some of the fun FYC ads designed solely by the staff (and their friends *cough Mark and Joey cough*) after the jump!
Read more on Coming Soon…ACCA and the Awards Circuit Staff Awards!…
 On Monday I was able to conduct a couple of ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ interviews on behalf of The Awards Circuit. Today I’m bringing you my chat with editors William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor. Both gentlemen are Oscar nominated craftsmen who rank in the top tier of their field. Collaborating on ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, they’re each having standout years and deserve all of the accolades being thrown their way. The guys were kind enough to speak to me by phone during the Los Angeles based Craft Junket for the film, and the transcript of our chat can be found below. Enjoy!
Read more on In the Editing room with William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor!…
 The fantasy epic. Full of beautiful vistas, big sequences involving CGI, and usually a large than life score to emphasize how grand the proceedings are. Today’s Spotlight on Scores will focus on two adapted epics, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Cloud Atlas. If this is your first time reading this series, I’ve tried grouping each score with another one similar to it and there will also be links (if available) to Youtube playlists so you can peruse the score on your own, and links to iTunes and Amazon if you want to purchase it. Let’s take a closer look! Read more on Spotlight on Scores: ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ and ‘Cloud Atlas’…
Categories: Article Tags: Best Original Score, book adaptation, Cloud Atlas, howard shore, Johnny Klimek, Oscar hopeful, Oscar hopefuls, Reinhold Heil, Spotlight on Scores, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack, Tom Tykwer
 Though already scheduled, the people behind ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ had amazing timing in assembling a group of industry insiders and Oscar pundits to break bread last Thursday only days after the film had picked up the first two precursor awards of the season. Essentially a luncheon to celebrate the film and main players Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Jessica Chastain, and Jason Clarke, this was a mellow little event that served as a reminder that this flick is going for it all in 2012. Earlier in the movie had its press junket (which also featured supporting player Kyle Chandler, who wasn’t at this more intimate event), so we’re all going to be very familiar with those ladies and gentlemen before all is said and done.
Read more on Luncheon with Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Jessica Chastain, and Jason Clarke!…
 We’re coming to the end of the Sizing Up series at The Awards Circuit, which is of course the making of early groupings of the hopefuls for each major Oscar category, in case somehow you forgot. This is the second to last and tackles the Best Adapted Screenplay race. For now though, we’ll focus here on the category at hand. I admit that my success rate is still to be determined with this year’s crop of articles, but that kind of comes with the territory of Oscar prognostication, and I’m feeling good about my picks so far. Perhaps I’m getting wiser with age, but then again…maybe not. Both this screenplay article and the next one tackling Original Screenplay will be a tad lighter than usual, not in terms of the number of films/scripts but in the number of big time contenders held within, mainly because they’re the only categories that really limit what you can work off of, so it’s a little harder to not be top-heavy. I did my best though, so I think I deserve a bit of credit for that! I think most of you will be happy with these rankings, but that ultimately remains to be seen, I suppose.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Adapted Screenplay…
The Sizing Up Series continues with a look at the slate of Best Supporting Actress contenders. As always, this is as large a grouping of the hopefuls as possible (excluding some no shot contenders and members of bigger ensembles…or else this could have 50 or more people in the article), categorizing them by their assumed likelihood of a nomination come the big morning. Oftentimes, more than a few of the Best Picture nominees wind up with some form of representation here, and this year I think there will be more than a little correlation, but of course absolutely anything is possible with the Academy. We shall see what happens in the end, but enough talk for the time being. I know what you’re all here for, so let’s go right ahead and take a look at the contenders for Best Supporting Actress and size up the field! Read more on Sizing Up: Best Supporting Actress…
Categories: Article Tags: Alicia Vikander, Amanda Seyfried, Amy Adams, analysis, Anne Hathaway, Annette Bening, Bella Heathcoate, Best Supporting Actress, Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, Cody Horn, Elizabeth Olsen, Emily Blunt, Emma Watson, Helen Hunt, Isabelle Hupert, judi dench, Julia Stiles, Kerry Bishe, Lorraine Toussaint, Marion Cotillard, olivia colman, Olivia Williams, Oscar hopefuls, Ruby Sparks, Sally Field, Scarlett Johansson, Sizing up, Sizing Up series
 Press junkets are a strange animal, to say the least. Sometimes they’re a lot of fun, but sometimes they can frankly be a mess. Luckily, late last week I was privy to one of the good ones, a morning in New York City spent in an upscale hotel interview just about everyone involved with the new film ‘Hitchcock’. I gave the film my thumbs up in a recent review (found here), but I freely admit that it’s not perfect, so I was interested in seeing why some of the talent made the choices that they did. The day consisted of several 1 on 1 interviews as well as a live press conference with a number of people, plus a video press conference with Anthony Hopkins. The interviews I conducted were with director Sacha Gervasi, stars James D’Arcy, Michael Stuhlbarg, Toni Collette, and Danny Huston, along with writer John McLaughlin, costume designer Julie Weiss, and production designer Judy Becker. Gervasi, D’Arcy, Stuhlbarg, Collette, and Huston were joined for the press conference by Helen Mirren and Jessica Biel, with Hopkins coming last. I didn’t get the chance to talk personally with Biel or Mirren, but I did wind up having Hopkins talk with me. That’s a funny story, and I’ll get to it momentarily, but for now sit back and enjoy the highlights of my ‘Hitchcock’ press junket coverage! I may wind up posting the entire interviews at a later date, but at the moment I’ve got a collection of the choice remarks from each individual. The time was very short with each one, but I’ll try and give a sense of what we talked about in those brief periods. Here we go.
Read more on Morning spent with the cast and crew of ‘Hitchcock’…
Categories: Article, Interview Tags: Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Hopkins, Biopic, book adaptation, Danny Huston, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, James D'Arcy, Jessica Biel, John McLaughlin, Judy Becker, Julie Weiss, Junket, late press, Michael Stuhlbarg, Oscar hopefuls, Sacha Gervasi, Toni Collette
 Now that the Presidential election and race for the White House is thankfully behind us (at least for another 4 years that is), even more speculation and analysis can be applied to the race for Oscars and mainly Best Picture! We’re at a critical juncture, in my opinion, as only a very small amount of contenders have yet to be seen, so there’s an almost complete portrait of the year to gaze at. I’ve been looking at it pretty hard lately, and from this angle, it appears that Ben Affleck’s film ‘Argo’ is still sitting in the pole position for Best Picture. There’s no shortage of challengers, but outside of the unseen ones like ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Promised Land’, and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, the main films hoping to unseat Ben’s flick all have a long road ahead, and likely only ‘Lincoln’ stands a shot at taking the title from those already in release. There’s also films like ‘Hitchcock’, ‘Life of Pi’, and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ that aren’t yet out but have been seen by a decent number of Oscar pundits, and none of them feel like winners to me either. Yes, I’m a big ‘Argo’ fan, but first and foremost I’m an Oscar prognosticator, so this is just my take on how things are shaping up. The race can and likely will change, but right now this is how it looks to me.
Read more on Why ‘Argo’ is still in the driver’s seat for Best Picture…
Categories: Article Tags: analysis, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ben Affleck, best picture, hitchcock, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Oscar hopefuls, Promised Land, Silver Linings Playbook, the dark knight rises, The Master, Zero Dark Thirty
 We’re into the Supporting categories now, and this one is a decently large scale grouping of the hopefuls for Best Supporting Actor, excluding of course some no shot contenders and certain members of bigger ensembles, or else this could have had 40 or 50 people in the article. I’m categorizing them by their assumed likelihood of a nomination come nomination day, but that shouldn’t surprise you by now. A couple of things to keep an eye for this category specifically is that it has a decent amount to do with which films get nominated for Best Picture ultimately, and this is also the place where comedy can actually make a dent in the race, not to mention overlooked/veteran actors, though neither could be a factor this year, oddly. Quite often, more than a few of the Best Picture nominees wind up with some form of representation here. For 2012, I think absolutely anything is possible.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Supporting Actor…
 I’m back once again ladies and gentlemen to do some more Sizing Up! This time around I’m going to be tackling the somewhat slight Best Actress field. For many, this is the worst category of the majors this year and for some the hardest to figure out, especially in terms of a victor. The ultimate winner won’t be of my concern too much now, but I’m seeking to try and make sense of the category and see which ladies can actually get to the final 5. Lots can change between now and the nominations, but this is where I think things currently stand, and it’s certainly a rather fluid list now. At the very least, it’ll be interesting to see how this matches up to the eventual slate of nominees, since so much is sort of guesswork with Best Actress.
Read more on Sizing Up: Best Actress…
Categories: Article Tags: Amy Adams, analysis, Aubrey Plaza, Best Actress, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, elle fanning, Emmanuelle Riva, Entertainment/Culture, Frances Ha, Greta Gerwig, Helen Mirren, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Jesus Henry Christ, judi dench, Julie Delpy, Kathleen Turner, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Leslie Mann, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marion Cotillard, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, melanie lynskey, melissa leo, Meryl Streep, Michelle Williams, naomi watts, New York City, Oscar hopefuls, Rashida Jones, Sizing up, Sizing Up series, Toni Collette, Viola Davis, Zoe Kazan
 The 2012 New York Film Festival is now in the books ladies and gentleman, so there’s no better time to double back and take a look at what the 50th installment of the festival was actually like. This was my first time covering a festival of any sort. I saw some fantastic films, some very odd ones, and almost no terrible ones, so that’s a great success in my book. Overall I saw 28 of the films shown at the fest, though one I saw at an outside screening…though I’m counting it anyway. Of course I saw the big ones like the trio of ‘Flight’, ‘Life of Pi’, and ‘Not Fade Away’, along with the other high profile titles like ‘Amour’, ‘Frances Ha’, and ‘The Paperboy’, plus of course the “secret” screening this year, which turned out to be ‘Lincoln’. I’m going to start with the 10 best films that were screened at the fest, at least in my eyes.
Read more on Wrapping up the 50th New York Film Festival!…
Categories: Article Tags: Barry Levinson, David Chase, Entertainment/Culture, Frances Ha, John Goodman, Lincoln, lists, Michael Haneke, New York Film Festival diaries, Not Fade Away, Oscar, Oscar hopefuls, Robert Zemeckis, The 2012 New York Film Festival, the 50th New York Film Festival
 As with any category that has a long list we can sort of pour over and analyze, the Best Foreign Language Feature category at the Oscars is an interesting one to try and predict. We seemingly get more help than in other categories, but rarely are our predictions ever that accurate. It never ceases to fascinate me. Anyway, this year looks to have a record 68 film fighting it out for those 5 slots, and after the jump you can exactly which ones each country has submitted for consideration. I’ve seen a handful of them, but this is a great guide to trying to see all the contenders. Read on below for more…
Read more on 68 films have been submitted for the Best Foreign Language Feature long list!…
 We already know that Amy Adams is going to be feted with the Hollywood Supporting Actress Award at the 16th Hollywood Film Awards for her work in ‘The Master’, but word has steadily been leaking out about who else the first real precursor of the season is going to be honoring. The latest name to be uncovered is Quentin Tarantino, who’s being given the Hollywood Screenwriting Award for his ‘Django Unchained’ script. It’s no secret that Adams is looking good for a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars, but could this citation help Tarantino score a Best Original Screenplay nod? Time will tell, but after the jump I’ll let you know who else has already been tipped for awards love at the precursor. You can find those names below…
Read more on Quentin Tarantino will be among those honored at the 16th annual Hollywood Film Awards!…
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