Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman in "Moonrise Kingdom."

Credit: Focus Features

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Just yesterday, I was talking about the likelihood of 8 year-old Quvenzhane Wallis becoming the youngest Best Actress nominee on record -- but she's not the only child actor making waves this year. TV critic Mary McNamara goes so far as to label 2012 "the year of the kid," citing a number of young small-screen talents, alongside Wallis and "Moonrise Kingdom" leads Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward, as proving the universal storytelling power of "the shared experience of childhood." Not mentioned in her piece, but tying into her argument are Best Actor hopeful Tom Holland from "The Impossible," and two young standouts from foreign Oscar contenders: Berlinale Best Actress winner Rachel Mwanza in "War Witch" and Kacey Mott Klein in "Sister." What others? [LA Times] 

Steve Pond gets a few more soundbites out of newly appointed Oscar host Seth MacFarlane, who assures us that his not going to turn the ceremony into "Family Guy." Thank God for that. [The Odds]  

Josh L. Dickey on how one-time plucky upstart Lionsgate has, thanks to such golden eggs as the "Hunger Games" franchise, become the seventh major studio in Hollywood. [Variety]

Kristin Hohenadal talks to one of the greatest living cinematographers, Agnès Godard, about switching to digital for Switzerland's superb Oscar mission, "Sister," which opens Friday. [New York Times]

Speaking of foreign Oscar submissions, Nathaniel Rogers has fallen hard for the Philippines' entry, "Bwakaw," at the New York fest This field just keeps getting deeper. [The Film Experience] 

Geoffrey Macnab talks to Dustin Hoffman about making his belated directorial debut with golden-years drama "Quartet." [The Independent]

Music critic Neill McCormick listens to Adele's leaked "Skyfall" theme, and declares it "a Bond theme that actually stirs the heart." [The Telegraph]

Peter Knegt joins the Oscar-predicting masses. No alarms and no surprises here, but it's nice to have him in the mix. [IndieWire]

India's Oscar submission, "Barfi!," has drawn criticism in some quarters for its unapologetic cribbing of Hollywood movies; Mayasnk Shekhar and Heather Timons looks into the country's complicated Oscar history. [New York Times]

Good news for UK film lovers: "The Master" will be getting a 70mm release exclusively in London's largest cinema -- usually given over to multiplex fodder -- for two weeks in November, before going on general release. [ScreenGeek]

Guy Lodge
Critic

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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.