There were more than a few surprises this morning when the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced their nominations. Among the biggest surprises were the inclusions of Rooney Mara in the Best Actress category for “Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and “Tree of Life” for Best Actress. Leonardo DiCaprio (J Edgar) and Albert Brooks (Drive) were among those who were overlooked for nominations. The full list is below:

There are plenty of questions heading into Tuesday’s announcement of this year’s Academy Award nominations. How many nominations will “The Artist” get? How many Best Picture nominees will there be? Can “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” garner nominations for Picture, Director, and Actress, or will it be deemed too edgy for the Academy’s tastes? We forsee one big surprise in the Best Picture category and a lot of conventional wisdom throughout the other selections. Here are our predictions in the main categories:

Best Picture:

The Artist

The Descendants

The Ides of March

The Help…
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Tonight may be the most critical night in the entire Best Picture race. The Producer’s Guild is the first major guild to vote and their Best Picture race adopts the same preferential ballot used by the Academy. Historically, the Producer’s Guild, along with the Director’s Guild have dictated the Best Picture winner more than any other group or organization. There is no better illustration than the last two years. In 2010, “Avatar” had just won the Golden Globe for Best Picture drama and was soaring at the box office. Most pundits were predicting that Cameron would saunter off with his…
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“The Artist,” continues to impress, racking up three Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture Musical/Comedy and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. But “The Descendants” is right on its heels, thanks to wins for Best Picture Drama and Clooney nabbing Best Actor. In a minor surprise, neither Payne or Hazanavicius won Best Director. It went to the beloved Martin Scorsese instead. Streep’s win for Best Actress Drama was no surprise, since she is well liked by the Hollywood Foreign Press. It sets up a three way contest for the Oscar with her, Michelle Williams, and Viola Davis. Meanwhile, it looks like…
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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) weighs in tonight with their annual awards ceremony. Over the last few years, the Globes have had less of an influence in the Best Picture race and more in the acting categories. Past Best Picture drama winners “The Social Network,” “Avatar,” and “Atonement” all failed to win the Oscar. However, tonight could go a long way to cementing the frontrunners in the acting categories should the winners from the Broadcast Critics Awards triumph again. On particular interest are the Best Actor and Actress Drama categories where George Clooney faces off against his good friend…
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Can anyone stop “The Artist” now?  The French indie hit racked up four Broadcast Film Awards including Best Picture, Director, and Score. Having won the top prize at Cannes, along with the New York Film Critics Award and now this, “The Artist” is your undisputed frontrunner. Still, as illustrated by last year, when “The Social Network” won everything in sight, then lost the Oscar, anything can happen. In the acting categories, George Clooney and Viola Davis solidified their frontrunner statuses with victories and moving speeches, especially on the part of Davis. They will be hard to beat, particularly because their…
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This Friday, things really heat up as the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) holds their annual awards ceremony. This is the first major awards show of the season which will be televised on VH-1. Winners of the Best Picture, Actor, and Actress awards have often gone on to win the Academy Award. In fact, BFCA matches us with the Academy much better than the Golden Globes. Past winners of the Best Picture award include The Departed, Sideways, The Hurt Locker, Slumdog Millionaire, No Country For Old Men, and The Social Network. Here are our predictions for this year:

Best…
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Now and then you go to a movie and you find yourself cheering for the hero or heroine. You fall in love with a character (a dog for instance), and you leave the theater wondering why it all happened so fast because you want to be back in the darkness–living with those characters up on the screen one more time. . . or maybe two more times or maybe even forever. Woody Allen was on to some of that when he made The Purple Rose of Cairo–that idea of being transfixed by the cinema, of somehow making the leap through…
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As expected, “The Artist” keeps on rolling, racking up a leading six Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay, and Score. “Descendants” also fared well with five nominations. “The Ides of March” resurrected its Oscar chances with surprise nominations for Best Picture Drama and Clooney for Best Director. Awards Frenzy correctly predicted four of the six Best Picture Drama nominees and three of the five Best Picture Musical/Comedy nominees.  Here is the complete list:

Best Picture
The Descendants
The Help
Hugo
The Ides of March
Moneyball
War Horse

Best Picture Comedy or Musical
50/50
The Artist…
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