"The Invisible War"

Credit: Cinedigm

Chuck Hagel weathered quite the storm from his fellow Republicans during his confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense. But part of the debate strewn about in those eight hours pertained to something very much at the fore of discussion in this year's documentary feature race.

Robert De Niro in "Silver Linings Playbook."

Credit: The Weinstein Company

For an actor who hasn't courted much publicity in recent years, Robert De Niro suddenly appears to be everywhere at once. Yesterday, in addition to attending the Academy's official nominees luncheon, he showed up at Grauman's Chinese Theater to have his hands and footprints cast in the ceremonial cement of many a Hollywood legend. That evening, meanwhile, the American Cinematheque kicked off a three-day restrospective of De Niro's work with a screening of his current nomination vehicle, "Silver Linings Playbook" -- followed by a Q&A with the actor, introduced by Harvey Weinstein himself.

"Fresh Guacamole"

Credit: PES Productions

(Welcome to the Oscar Guide, your chaperone through the Academy’s 24 categories awarding excellence in film.  A new installment will hit every weekday in the run-up to the Oscars on February 24, with the Best Picture finale on Friday, February 22.)

There is a key change in the way the Best Animated and Live Action Shorts, as well as the Best Documentary Feature categories will be decided. Members will receive screeners of all nominees and the voting will be opened up to the entire membership, and the honor system will be used, as it is with every other category, as to members actually seeing the films in play and voting accordingly. No more showing up at special screenings and proving you saw them by signing in, at least with these categories.

This could be huge in a category like Best Animated Short, where big studio productions often lose out to smaller, more artful fare because those voting are usually animators very interested in the product. This is why it's been a while since Pixar has won here, for instance, and this year, it'll be all the more crucial, because three of the nominees are involved with big companies.

The nominees are…

Howard Berger applies makeup to "Hitchcock" star Anthony Hopkins.

Credit: Fox Searchlight Pictures

The ever-adventurous Makeup and Hairstyling branch once again showed independence in its choice of nominees this year. While many people assumed transforming Daniel Day-Lewis into Abraham Lincoln would yield a nod for “Lincoln,” it was turning Anthony Hopkins into Alfred Hitchcock that tickled the branch’s fancy as Sacha Gervasi’s film managed to score its sole nomination in the category.

Howard Berger, Oscar winner for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” shares this nomination with co-special makeup effects artist Peter Montagna and hair stylist Martin Samuel. But a little over a year ago, in November 2011, he was getting ready to wrap up shooting of “Oz: The Great and Powerful” when Gervasi called him to say the project had been given the green light.

Convincing the audience that Anthony Hopkins was Alfred Hitchcock was always going to be a daunting task. “We had a very little amount of time and money but I wanted to take that time and money and use it towards testing,” Berger says. “We were able to get six different makeup tests to see what was and was not going to work on Tony.”

Best Actress winner Andrea Riseborough at last night's Evening Standard Film Awards.

Credit: AP Photo/Joel Ryan

Determined as they are by a small jury of London print critics, the Evening Standard British Film Awards -- which are limited to British cinema, as well as British artists in international films -- tend to occupy the independent end of the spectrum. Recent winners of their Best Film award include such small-scale critical favorites as "We Need to Talk About Kevin," "Neds," "Fish Tank," "Hunger" and "Control."

So it represents a significant deviation from the norm that the winner of the top prize last night was a blockbuster franchise entry that has become the highest-grossing film in UK box office history. But "Skyfall" has itself been something of an anomaly in the way it has curried critical and audience favor to an extent that the James Bond series has never previously managed in 50 years of trying. I had thought that BAFTA would be keen to recognize the achievement of Sam Mendes's slick, savvy spy game, but they somehow resisted nominating it for Best Film; instead, it fell to a generally highbrow critics' award to give 007 the first Best Film win of his long career.

"The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

Credit: Sony Pictures

(Welcome to the Oscar Guide, your chaperone through the Academy’s 24 categories awarding excellence in film.  A new installment will hit every weekday in the run-up to the Oscars on February 24, with the Best Picture finale on Friday, February 22.)

This year's race for Best Animated Feature Film was as competitive as it's ever been. There were a boatload of qualifying contenders (21) and many of them had an angle on a nomination. And after last year's one-two punch from GKIDS, many wondered whether the usual studio product would be laced with indie players, or whether an atypically quality slate of Hollywood toons would dominate the list.

As it turned out, it was the latter, as none of the four GKIDS hopefuls this year found room. But while studios were out in force in the category, one in particularly was tellingly left out of the conversation: DreamWorks Animation's "Rise of the Guardians" failed to land a nod after turning out to be a critical and financial disappointment. It was instead replaced by a surprise nominee from a highly respected animation studio.

The nominees are…

"Django Unchained"

Credit: The Weinstein Company

The great Frank Rich has weighed in on the Oscar race with what is sure to remain one of the best pieces of the season, in which he celebrates what he sees as the Academy's return to relevance: "Whatever the explanation—and little in show business happens by design—the movie industry has reconnected with the country. It has produced no fewer than four movies that have provoked animated, often rancorous public debate: 'Zero Dark Thirty,' 'Argo,' 'Lincoln,' and 'Django Unchained,' a film that pushes so many hot buttons you can’t quite believe it was made." He goes on to make the case for why "Django" deserves the Best Picture award, and even if you disagree -- I certainly do -- it's an essential, exuberant read. [New York]

A plethora of famous faces attended the Academy's annual Oscar luncheon this afternoon in Beverly Hills and that means yet another annual "class of" nominees photograph. This year's group shot finds Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis in the center of the image right in front of the Oscar statue (and also right next to best actor nominee Bradley Cooper). Can you find your favorite nominee in the crowd and, more importantly, who's missing?

For a larger version of the photo click here.

Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

The Beverly Hilton Hotel was awash in A-list stars on Monday afternoon for the official 2013 Oscar nominees luncheon, with first-time nominees including Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables") and 9-year-old "Beasts of the Southern Wild" star Quvenzhane Wallis rubbing shoulders with awards-season vets like Robert De Niro ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Steven Spielberg ("Lincoln") and Amy Adams ("The Master") for a day filled with hobnobbing and perhaps more than a few forced smiles (something "Lincoln" nominee Tommy Lee Jones clearly can't be bothered with).

Check out all the star-studded pics in the gallery below.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards airs on Feb. 24 with host Seth MacFarlane.
 

Daniel Craig in "Skyfall"

Credit: Sony Pictures

(Welcome to the Oscar Guide, your chaperone through the Academy’s 24 categories awarding excellence in film.  A new installment will hit every weekday in the run-up to the Oscars on February 24, with the Best Picture finale on Friday, February 22.)

Best Original Score, are you ever predictable. This year’s nominees are not diverse in terms of being films not cited in other categories – Best Picture nominees took three of the spots, while the other two contenders are from films that have nine nominations between them. Also predictably, only one first-time nominee is in the mix. Diversity was nonetheless made up for in the nationalities of the composers (four countries represented) and the locales of the nominated films – the nominees are set on three different continents and the movies’ themes resulted in Russian, Indian and Persian influences, among others, on the music.

To most of us watching this race, there were four very predictable nominees and all came through. The fifth spot was always up in the air so there were no shocking omissions. That said, I think three titles could reasonably considered “snubbed”: “Cloud Atlas” and “The Master” both received notable precursor attention. It’s also somewhat odd that “Beasts of the Southern Wild”’s great score by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer couldn’t score even with the film’s four big nominations. The branch kept up its tradition of only nominating one new composer.

The nominees are…