TORONTO - It may seem like a silly cliche or easy hyperbole for an actor to claim their life has changed because of a role in a movie, but after looking into Jake Gyllenhaal's eyes its hard to dispute his claim.  The 31-year-old actor trained more for David Ayer's "End of Watch" than any previous role and what he went learned to play LAPD officer Brian Taylor has clearly stuck with him.

Martin Freeman is Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey."

Credit: Warner Bros.

For months, industry buzz has centered on how Warner Bros. plans on marketing Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" more to families than the previous "Lord of the Rings" films.  Of course, "Rings" drew in tons of families and fans of all ages, but New Line's campaign at the time generally centered on the novels' epic and dramatic themes.  The primary goal was for audiences to take the world of Middle Earth seriously.  The "Lord" films would take you on a grand adventure, but there were dark and serious consequences at every turn. J.R.R. Tolkien's predecessor to the "Rings" books, "The Hobbit," has its scary moments, but was a little, well, lighter.  Warner Bros., MGM and New Line released the latest and perhaps final trailer for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" this morning and that broader tone is starting to seep through.

You know the drill. Offer up your need-to-knows in the comments and we'll try to address a few questions at the end of this week's podcast. We will already be addressing Oscar's date changes, "Trouble with the Curve," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and foreign language submissions.

Is this "Argo" image foreshadowing John Goodman, Alan Arkin and Ben Affleck celebrating in tuxes on Oscar Sunday?

Credit: Warner Bros.

Yes, Oscar faithful, we're back. It's time to play another round of contenders vs. pretenders in the always entertaining awards season game.  Are you excited yet? (On second thought, don't answer that.)

The 85th Academy Awards will be Sunday, February 24

Credit: AP Photo/Nick Ut

The Academy has announced key dates in the timeline for this year's Oscars. We already knew the 85th Academy Awards were set for Sunday, February 24. Previously nominations for the Oscars were set for Tuesday, January 15, but the latest release has moved that date five days earlier to January 10. This is still nice for Sundance-goers who won't have to worry about covering the announcement while at the fest, which runs January 17 - 27. But it's also the first time they'll be announced before the Golden Globes are held (on January 13).

Polls for nominations will close on January 3, while voting begins for the second phase of the circuit on February 8, meaning there is nearly an entire month between the nominations announcement and the opening of the polls. That's a pretty long time. Usually it's no more than two weeks or so. How will that time be used for marketing purposes? That's a lot of days to fill, and a lot of time for the discussion to shift in interesting ways -- unless, of course, we're met with an undeniable this season, which is always possible.

Omar Sy and Francois Cluzet in "The Intouchables."

Credit: The Weinstein Company

Those of you who have been assuming Michael Haneke's "Amour" is in an unassailable position for this year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar shouldn't be feeling quite so confident after this morning's news of the newest entrant in the race.

The French submission is always awaited more keenly than most at this stage: with 37 nods to date, France is the most-nominated country in the category's history, even if they haven't actually taken the gold in 20 years. It's for this reason that, in any given year, the French entry tends to be regarded as a frontrunner by default -- whether they've chosen particularly wisely or not. 

Their selection committee has made some daring choices in the past: think back to 2007, when they forsook what might have been a relatively easy nomination for "La Vie en Rose" to put forth the Iranian Revolution animation "Persepolis" instead. (They didn't even crack the January shortlist.) This year, however, they have put commerce ahead of art with a strictly strategic choice: Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's feelgood box-office smash "The Intouchables."

Hugh Jackman has been confirmed as the only lead campaign for the film.

Credit: Universal Pictures

When Warner Bros. shuffled "The Great Gatsby" on to 2013, there was an opportunity for another holiday bow on December 25 opposite "Django Unchained." I had been wondering if any of the big latter-year films were going to jump on it but it started to seem like everyone was comfortable, until today, when Universal announced that it would be pushing Tom Hooper's "Les Misérables" two weeks to that date.

Meanwhile, one wonders whether the film could end up with the date all to itself (at least as far as films of this sort go). I keep wondering whether "Django Unchained," which was still shooting up until last month, will be ready in time. It surely has to be, given the revenue potential (and necessity) for The Weinstein Company. But with Quentin Tarantino working with a new editor -- Fred Raskin -- after the untimely passing of long-time collaborator Sally Menke, it might not be as fluid as usual. Of course, Raskin worked alongside Menke on the "Kill Bill" films, so he's not totally fresh, but you never can tell how these things will go.

Paul Thomas Anderson at a Toronto Film Festival press conference for "The Master"

Credit: AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Michelle Siu

The pre-release strategy for "The Master" was interesting. Unique, I guess is the word. The marketing side of this business is driven by the typical, but sometimes filmmakers chafe at having their work pitched in the usual ways. So you get someone like David Fincher or Paul Thomas Anderson who says, "Nope, we're gonna do THIS."

As far as screenings have been concerned, Anderson has clearly been all about getting it to fans first. We broke the news last month about the film's first public screening following a special showing of "The Shining" in Santa Monica, and that tactic was employed multiple times thereafter with pop-ups in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Austin, etc. And in most cases, fans were getting a look at the movie before the press.

Well, Anderson's love affair with his flock stretches even further than that and their connection with "The Master" might be deeper than they even realize. It turns out, Paul Thomas Anderson's fans may have had a significant hand in giving the film its title.

Amy Adams and Clint Eastwood in "Trouble with the Curve"

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

I guess I'm a little bit confused. After being told up one side and down the other to beware Robert Lorenz's "Trouble with the Curve," I found myself liking it just fine. It's a bit unruly in spots and amateurly conceived in others, but never to detriment. And even Clint Eastwood's grizzled performance, threatening to make good on the promise of "Gran Torino" (i.e. that he'll be in the self-parody business from here on out) didn't strike the sour chord I expected it to.

Then as the movie went along, I realized the framing -- my framing -- was all wrong. This isn't Clint Eastwood's movie. This is Amy Adams's movie. And she's great. Coupled with "The Master," her work here further shows a dynamic range for the actress, who by the way landed three Oscar nominations in just six years, for those keeping score at home. And if you're still not convinced, have a look at "On the Road," where she shows up out of nowhere and gives a unique if brief take opposite Viggo Mortensen.

Tahar Rahim and Emilie Dequenne in "Our Children," Belgium's official Oscar submission.

Credit: Peccadillo Pictures

It's been a few days since I've updated the longlist of submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar -- and, with the deadline exactly two weeks away, a few days amounts to a tall pile of new entries. I haven't yet had time to investigate the finer points of such exotic-sounding submissions as Croatia's "Cannibal Vegetarian" -- cursory research tells me it's less about cannibals than junkie gynaecologists -- but a few higher-profile possibilities have entered along with the probable filler.

Before I get to those, however: I figured that with the submissions count up to 28 (expect that to double in the next fortnight), we have enough films to begin playing with some predictions. So you'll find a highly malleable top five on the right-hand sidebar, drawn the pool of entries so far, with further rankings on the relevant Contenders page. None of it is to be taken too seriously, of course -- least of all in this eternally confounding category.