Roundup: Good and bad news for Desplat in the Oscar race

"Moonrise Kingdom"

Credit: Focus Features

Sorry for the late roundup today -- I was waylaid by SAG's dawn chorus. That's obviously the news on everyone's minds right now, but I'm going to rewind to an Oscar announcement I failed to mention yesterday: the official list of 104 films eligible for the Best Original Score award. Not a particularly newsworthy list and one I was initially going to skip -- except that, when searching for conspicuous omissions, one name came up... twice. Alexandre Desplat, one of the hardest workers in the game, may be a regular nominee these days, but he only went three-for-five with his 2012 slate -- and for my money, the two Desplat scores that missed the cut showcase his best work this year. "Moonrise Kingdom"'s interpolations of existing classical work doubtless cost it a place (furthering the case for a Best Adapted Score category), but I'm less sure why his moodily throbbing work on "Rust and Bone" isn't on the list. His Oscar hopes now rest with "Argo," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Rise of the Guardians." [AMPAS]   

Ravi Shankar, the vastly influential sitar master who received an Oscar nomination for his work on "Gandhi," has passed away at the age of 92. [LA Times]

Dave Karger launches his awards coverage at a new outlet with a simple list of predictions, though it seems there's some interesting content to come. [Fandango]

Elisabeth Rappe rounds up the 10 breakout stars of 2012, from Martin Freeman to Samantha Barks. [Film.com]

Emine Saner talks to Suraj Sharma about a screen debut rather more arduous than his high-school experience of playing a tree. [The Guardian] 

Matt Brennan on the actors who deserve credit for excelling in multiple roles this year -- a club lead, in his opinion, by Matthew McConaughey and Rachel Weisz. [Thompson on Hollywood]

Variety leads a feature spotlighting the art direction, costume design and makeup categories with a study of "Anna Karenina"'s complex staging. [Variety]

Steve Pond looks at nine Oscar records that could be broken this season, with Emmanuelle Riva and Hal Holbrook both standing a chance of taking certain "oldest ever" titles. [The Wrap] 

Another great A.O. Scott piece that I missed this week: why the various critics lamenting the supposed death of film culture are wrong. Hear, hear. [New York Times]

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Guy Lodge
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Guy Lodge is a South African-born critic and sometime screenwriter. In addition to his work at In Contention, he is a freelance contributor to Variety, Time Out, Empire and The Guardian. He lives well beyond his means in London.