The Holograph did pretty well in predicting the winners of this year's Academy Awards -- we missed only one technical award (the tie in sound editing!) and only two of the top 8 awards (supporting actor and original screenplay). We totally blanked in all three short categories, even though we dutifully saw every one of the nominees. So, out of 24 categories, we correctly guessed 18 awards. Not bad, but we've done better in past years.

Argo completed a remarkable run with its best picture win, adding the Oscar to its Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Broadcast Film Critics Association awards for best picture, as well as 12 regional critics and association awards. It also took guild awards from the DGA, PGA, ACE, and WGA (the last three mirroring the three Oscars it won for picture, editing and screenplay). SAG awarded the film its best ensemble award, and the USC Libraries Scripter Award went to Chris Terrio and the authors of the original source material (Joshuah Bearman and Antonio Mendez).

Ang Lee's best director win over Steven Spielberg made sense in the end, since Life of Pi took the largest haul of Oscars for the evening. Winning a total of three technical Oscars--cinematography, musical score, visual effects--the visual and aural splendor of the film (not to mention the difficulty of getting what was considered an unadaptable source on screen) was nicely rewarded.

Although Lincoln had 12 nominations -- the most going into the ceremony of all nominated pictures -- it won Daniel Day-Lewis an unprecedented third best actor Oscar. And Rick Carter and Jim Erickson's very meticulous production design also won the prize in a hotly contested category. And who knows if the scuffle over the facts about the Connecticut vote, as represented in Tony Kushner's script, took the steam off its momentum -- we'll never know, but it represents one of Spielberg's finer efforts.

Christoph Waltz took his second Oscar in four years for Django Unchained for yet another Quentin Tarantino film -- preventing Robert DeNiro from getting a third Oscar. And Mr. Tarantino won his second screenplay award (having won for Pulp Fiction in 1994). All nominees in this category were former Oscar winners -- another first in Academy history.

Les Misérables managed to nab three Oscars, with Anne Hathaway's best supporting actress win the only slam dunk. Its makeup and sound mixing awards were not as assured going into the awards night.

Adele's title tune for Skyfall (written with Paul Epworth) became the first James Bond song to be awarded an Oscar. And it was great to see Shirley Bassey sing "Goldfinger," which wasn't even nominated back in 1964. Skyfall's tie with Zero Dark Thirty in the best sound editing category was the only the sixth tie in the Academy's history -- and totally unprecedented in the technical categories.

It would have been wonderful to see Amour's Emmanuelle Riva win the best actress Oscar on her 87th birthday, but Silver Lining Playbook's Jennifer Lawrence was clearly the one to beat here. Even though she tripped on her Dior gown as she ascended the steps to the microphone, she was still fresh and funny ... and deserving. Amour did win for best foreign-language film, and its director Michael Haneke was nominated in two other categories (director and screenplay).

Anna Karenina took a sole award for its gorgeous costumes, and Disney's Brave beat guild winner Wreck-It Ralph (another Disney toon). Brave becomes the seventh Pixar production to win in the best animated feature category. The only best picture nominee to come away empty-handed was Beasts of the Southern Wild. Beast's youngest best actress nominee, Quvenzhané Wallis, may have been consoled by Sunday's announcement that she has been cast as Annie in the film remake due during the 2014 holiday season.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Here's looking forward to a whole slew of films for 2013 that will be next year's Oscar nominees -- and ultimately winners.

Yesterday, the Holograph looked at the director, acting, and screenplay categories. Today, we'll look at all the rest.

RECAP OF YESTERDAY'S PREDICTIONS
- Best Director:  Ang Lee, Life of Pi
- Best Actor:  Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
- Best Actress:  Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
- Best Supporting Actor:  Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
- Best Supporting Actress:  Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
- Best Original Screenplay:  Amour
- Best Adapted Screenplay:  Argo

Best Picture. Let's just get this out of the way right at the top. Argo has mowed down nearly every contest it's competed in (see 2/17/13 blog entry) since award season began. Lincoln is respected and has the most nominations coming into tonight's award ceremony, and Silver Linings Playbook has been increasing in popularity all season with a well-strategized Oscar campaign. With seven of the nine nominees crossing the $100 million mark for the first time in the Academy's history, it's a splendid group of box office winners and good pictures. The omission of Ben Affleck from the Academy's directing nominees has either led to an enormous sympathy vote -- or, they really just like him (and of course his film, Argo).

• Prediction:  Argo. Anything else will be an upset.

Best Foreign-Language Film. Three of the films have already been released in the United States -- Austria's Amour, Chile's No, and Denmark's A Royal Affair. The other two are much lauded in their respective countries: Kon-Tiki from Norway and War Witch from Canada. But the universal appreciation, festival awards, and accolades for the aging French couple who must confront how to live with each other when one has a stroke can't really be denied when it has nominations in four other categories, including best director.

• Prediction:  Amour. In most cinephile circles, it's already seen as a master class in performance and screenplay writing. (And it never goes out of the confines of a Parisian apartment.)

Best Animated Featue Film. Five films, all with specific styles and characterizations, not to mention individual appeal -- so, how do you pick the one that will attract a mostly over-60 Academy membership (assuming they even watched the screeners!). The most successful one here on the awards circuit is Wreck-It Ralph. But the more classically handled animation might be the Pixar entry (Brave), while the other three might specifically be seen as interesting and quirky (Tim Burton's Frankenweenie; ParaNorman; and The Pirates! Band of Misfits).

• Prediction:  Brave -- Pixar has won here six times before. And Disney has done a good job promoting it. (Somehow, I feel Ralph, um, Wrecking this predicition.)
  

TECHNICAL AWARDS
Cinematography. For my money, Roger Deakins' lensing in Skyfall is superior. (I won't mention that he's been nominated 9 times before and has never won.) But the smart money is probably on beautiful, CGI-manipulated colors of the story about the tiger and the boy on the boat. I also really liked Janusz Kaminski's work in Lincoln. I thought Robert Richardson's camerawork in Django Unchained was on the overly bright side, and I wasn't as impressed by Seamus McGarvey's decent work in Anna Karenina.

• Prediction:  Life of Pi (Claudio Miranda). Pretty is what usually wins here, and pretty is what pretty does.

Costume Design. There is impeccable work across the board here -- Anna Karenina, Les Misérables, Lincoln, Mirror Mirror (from Eiko Ishioka, who died last year), and Snow White and the Huntsman (from 3-time Oscar winner Coleen Atwood). Atwood's stunning, edgy combination of materials and design is award-worthy, but I'm going to go with the one that seems drop-dead gorgeous and, um, fluffier.

• Prediction:  Anna Karenina (Jacqueline Durran). Let's just say that Keira Knightley gives good frock.

Film Editing. This is between two pictures that rely on tension and pacing, and both just happen to have the same editor involved in each: Argo and Zero Dark Thirty (that editor, William Goldenberg, co-edited ZDT with Dyland Tichenor). I believe that Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Silver Linings Playbook are simply along for the ride on this one. Some critics might contend that ZDT's editing was more skillful, especially during the raid scene that concludes the film, but even if that's so, I think it's lost its momentum with the controversy from Washington, DC, about getting the facts straight regarding water torturing.

• Prediction:  Argo (William Goldenberg). I was on the edge of my seat during much of this film, even during a second viewing.
  

Makeup and Hairstyling: This is usually easy to call based on the outrageous or bizarre quality of the makeup or simply superb aging makeup (witness last year's winner, The Iron Lady). I thought Lincoln would be an easy winner here, but it wasn't even nominated. So, instead we have Hitchcock, The Hobbit, or Les Misérables to choose from. The hairy Middle Earth characters with all the prosthetics have won here twice before for the first and third installments of the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- there's not much that's new since then, although the work is fine. But the film only received two other nominations. Hitchcock wasn't as masterful as it could have been (and this is the film's only nomination), which leaves us with the musical that has 8 nominations, including best picture.

• Prediction:  Les Misérables (Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell). Haircuts, wigs, and aging -- all more subtle than what usually wins in this category, but I'm sticking with it.

Best Music: Original Score and Original Song. The one sure category tonight is best original song, and an international superstar songstress will handle the vocals for the presumed winner. The other four nominees are a mixed bag. Two of the song nominees come from best original score nominees, which may or may not be an advantage. I've listened to the five scores frequently, and they all possess superb craft -- particularly Dario Marianelli's music for Anna Karenina. But that film is not as widely embraced by the AMPAS membership. 10-time nominee, yet-to-win Thomas Newman's score for Skyfall is pretty terrific, too, and combines musical elements/sounds perhaps not heard before in typical James Bond scores. The other three, however, are also best picture candidates: Argo, Life of Pi, and Lincoln. The scores are all well-matched to their respective films, but one of them has won most of the music awards this season and has a less conventional appeal (which has been a trend in this category recently).

• Prediction - Original Song:  "Skyfall" from Skyfall (music and lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth). Tonight's show will feature a tribute to the Bond franchise, which will only make this win sweeter.

• Prediction - Original Score:  Life of Pi (Mychael Danna). Even the International Film Music Critics Association called it the best score of the year; curiously, though, it lost in that organization's race for best dramatic score  to John Williams' Lincoln.

Production Design. This used to be known as "art direction and set decoration," but the new name makes a lot of sense -- and this is probably the most difficult category to call tonight. I didn't like the work in Les Misérables, but there are many who see this as the winner. Life of Pi is designed well, too, but much of seemed to be computer-driven (not that that's not okay). I think highly of the detail in Lincoln and thought much of The Hobbit was breathtaking (I saw it on an IMAX screen in New York). Anna Karenina had some great set pieces, but I wasn't drawn overall to the look of the film.

• Prediction: Lincoln (Rick Carter and Jim Erickson). Two Spielberg films have won in this category before: Raiders of the Lost Ark and Schindler's List.

Sound: Editing and Mixing:  Argo, Life of Pi, and Skyfall are nominated in both categories. Django Unchained and Zero Dark Thirty are nominated for sound editing, and Argo and Les Misérables each have sound mixing nominations. These categories often are won by a film that is nominated for both, e.g., Hugo, Inception, The Hurt Locker, The Bourne Ultimatum, King Kong, etc., but I don't think that will happen this year.  Musicals are often rewarded in the mixing category, and pictures with overt sound effects usually capture the sound editing slot.

• Predction - Sound Editing:  Life of Pi -- Richard Parker wouldn't be as splendid as he is without the handiwork of the sound editing team of Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton, who created the myriad effects in the film.
• Prediction - Sound Mixing:  Les Misérables -- how can it lose given all the publicity about how the singing was recorded live on set, which had to be mixed with everything else (including an orchestra that was mixed in later)?

   Visual Effects. This is probably the only other slam-dunk in the technical categories tonight. While the work in The Hobbit, Marvel's The Avengers, Prometheus, and Snow White and the Huntsman is fine, only one of the five nominees is a best picture contender -- and it's known for its creation of spectacular looking animals that live and breathe like nothing we've seen before.

• Prediction:  Life of PI -- Okay, so 20% of the shots incorporate a real tiger. So sue me.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AND SHORTS

• Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man
• Documentary Short Subject:  Mondays at Racine
• Animated Short Film:  Adam and Dog
• Live Action Short Film:  Asad

2012 was filled with high quality films, and it seems likely that this year's Academy Awards will be spread around rather than going to a single film. In one of the most unpredictable years on record, Sunday's Oscar ceremonies may yield a number of surprise winners.

Director.
With Argo the presumed frontrunner for best picture, the best director category holds perhaps the most fascination since DGA winner, Ben Affleck, is not one of the five nominees. In fact, only two of the DGA nominees are among AMPAS nominees for best director: Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee. The other three -- Michael lHaneke (Amour), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) -- took the presumed spots of Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), and Tom Hooper (Les Misérables) on the Academy ballot.

This is young Zeitlin's first time at the rodeo, but Haneke's work has been nominated previously in the best foreign-language film category (2009's The White Ribbon). Spielberg's Lincoln was recognized as a contender in no less than 10 of the guilds and has the most nominations of all feature films (12), but it has failed to take any of the precursor craft awards (although it did cop two SAG awards for Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy Lee Jones). Lee's Life of Pi is also well regarded by the guilds (9 of them), has 11 nominations, and took hardware from the ADG and MPSE. Russell's Playbook took the ACE award and one SAG award (Jennifer Lawrence).

• Prediction: Ang Lee. My hunch is that Mr. Lee will win yet another Oscar as director for a film that loses in the best picture category (see Brokeback Mountain,2005). The book upon which Life of Pi is based was believed to be unfilmable, and Ang Lee proved that theory wrong.

ACTING.
Two of the acting categories, best actress and best supporting actor, hold the most suspense here.

   Supporting Actor. Both Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway's performances are considered slam dunks for Lincoln and Les Misérables, respectively. The supporting actor race pits five previous Oscar winners against each other for the first time in Academy Award history. If DeNiro wins for Silver Linings Playbook, he will be one of few actors to possess three acting Oscars. While I adore Christoph Waltz, he is essentially repeating himself in Django Unchained in a performance not unlike that in his Oscared role in Inglorious Basterds, and Alan Arkin isn't doing anything he hasn't done before -- although he does get the best line in Argo, which uses the title and a four-letter expletive. Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance in The Master is admired, but the film not so much.

• Prediction: Tommy Lee Jones. For me, his performance had the most impact of all the nominees.

   Actress. An incredible category statistically this year, best actress contains the oldest and youngest actresses ever nominated: Emmanuelle Riva, 86, for Amour and Quvenzhané Wallis, 9, for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Naomi Watts is the sole nominee for The Impossible, so a win for her is unlikely. And then there are the two young leading ladies who have been winning most of the awards: Jessica Chastain from Zero Dark Thirty and Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.

• Jennifer Lawrence. Although Riva's performance is masterly and probably one of the most skillful acting demonstrations in years, I suspect that the wide campaigning and presence of Lawrence on the awards circuit gets her the prize.

   Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. There really doesn't seem to be a contest here in either category -- unless the Academy wants to deny Mr. Day-Lewis his third best actor Oscar.

• Prediction: Daniel Day-Lewis for best actor in Lincoln and Anne Hathaway for supporting actress in Les Misérables.

SCREENPLAYS
   Adapted Screenplay. Tony Kushner's Lincoln was seen as the frontrunner early in the season, but some of the facts have come under fire and may have slowed its momentum. Beasts of the Southern Wild is creative, but it doesn't stand a chance against the studio product. Life of Pi gets a few points, but its bookended prologue and epilogue seemed awkard to some. The two most admired scripts are Argo and Silver Linings Playbook.

• Prediction: Argo. I say this one will go to Chris Terrio for the film that has been taking all the awards lately.

   Original Screenplay. Two of the five nominees, Flight and Moonrise Kingdom, are not best picture nominees. That probably lessens their chances, so I think it's a tight race between the other three:  Amour, Django Unchained, or Zero Dark Thirty. The latter has been under fire from Washington, DC, so let's rule that out and say it's a contest between a European classicist (Michael Haneke) and an American original (Quentin Tarentino).

• Prediction: Amour. With nominations in four other categories, this seems a likely winner here.

Saturday: Part Two of close calls -- the technical categories.

The Warner Brothers film seems to be using its most-quoted line to all its rivals: "Argo fuck yourself." Indeed.

Let's take a look at the quick ascension of Warner Bros. Argo. In spite of the fact that it didn't take any of the early critical precursor awards, e.g., New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, or the National Society of Film Critics, it did manage to win best picture laurels from nine of the regional critics organizations -- Denver, Florida, Houston, Nevada, Oklahoma, Phoenix, St. Louis, San Diego, and Southeastern.

Three other early regional awards were also captured by Argo for best picture: Internet Film Critic Society, Online Film Critics Society, and the Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association. It also won the ensemble prize from the Hollywood Film Awards early in the awards season and was included as one of the movies of the year on the American Film Institute's annual list. And then it took the Critics Choice award for best picture at the Broadcast Film Critics Association yearly event and the best drama Golden Globe at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ceremony.

Last weekend, Argo was the best picture victor at the British Academy of Film & Television Arts, and it raised eyebrows even higher when it copped the USC Libraries Scripters Award for its screenplay by Chris Terrio. And its success in the ongoing guild awards continues to be impressive. Last night, it took the Eddie Award for best edited dramatic feature film from the American Cinema Editors. A couple of weeks ago, director Ben Affleck took the theatrical feature director prize from the Directors Guild of America (DGA) as well as the Producers Guild of America citation for outstanding producer of a theatrical motion picture (along with George Clooney and Grant Heslov).

What's left? Well, Argo is a contender for the period film award in the Costume Designers Guild contest (to be announced on Tuesday). It is a major contender in the adapted screenplay category in tonight's Writers Guild of America awards ceremony and has two nominations for the Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel awards in this evening's ceremony.

Oscar waits. Can Argo take the biggest prize of all, even when its much-lauded director (and star) is missing among the best director nominees? It's happened before, most recently in 1989 when Bruce Beresford failed to be nominated for that year's best picture winner, Driving Miss Daisy. Curiously, Beresford was not nominated by the DGA that year either, which fact gives Affleck's Argo more than a passing chance at this year's Academy Awards.

After his win Saturday night for Argo, Ben Affleck became the seventh director in history to win a Directors Guild of America (DGA) award who will not be able to win a best director Oscar. Affleck had already collected wins from the Broadcast Film Critics Associaton (BFCA), the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), Producers Guild of America (PGA), and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). His snub by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) in the director category last month, while still viewed as remarkable, has been mollified by the industry's recognition of Mr. Affleck from these various organizations. The Oscar race seemed to be wide open after nominations were announced in January, but Argo appears to be steamrolling its way as the laureled frontrunner thus far.

Wreck-It Ralph was lauded by the PGA last weekend, and this weekend was the recipient of the most Annie Awards at the ASIFA-Hollywood International Animated Film Society 40th annual award ceremony on Saturday, winning five awards:  best animated feature, directing (Rich Moore), music, voice acting (Alan Tudyk), and writing (Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee). Winning two Annie Awards apiece were ParaNorman, Brave, and Rise of the Guardians. While Ralph seems to have an edge in the Oscar competition, it doesn't appear to have the wave of love that last year's winner, Rango, had when it won.

The Art Directors Guild (ADG) bestowed its honors in three categories Saturday night, with Anna Karenina winning in the period division, Life of Pi winning for fantasy, and Skyfall taking the contemporary award.

Today, AMPAS hosts the Oscar nominees at its annual nominees luncheon. Tomorrow, the Visual Effects Society (VES) hands out its awards. This Saturday, the Internationale Cinephile Society and the USC Libraries Scripter Award will announce the recipients of their awards. And on Sunday, the British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) reveal the winners in their contests.

Argo Affleck yourself!

Ben Affleck may not be in the running for an Oscar for his direction of Warner Brothers' hit Argo, but his film has taken the top four picture or ensemble awards this month. First, Argo was named best picture at the Broadcast Film Critics Association's "Critics Choice" awards on January 10. Then, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed it the best motion picture-drama trophy on January 13 at the Golden Globes ceremony.

And this weekend, Mr. Affleck took the outstanding producer of a theatrical motion picture honor from the Producers Guild of America (PGA) on Saturday night, along with co-producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov, and the cast of Argo won the best ensemble trophy from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) tonight.

With the PGA and SAG awards under its belt, Argo is now positioned to go all the way and collect the best picture Academy Award. However, AMPAS voters don't start voting until February 8 -- anything could happen in the next three weeks before the voting period ends. Lincoln, with 12 Oscar nominations, is seen as its chief competitor. Argo has 7 nominations. The Oscar ceremony is February 24.

Leaving Zero Dark Thirty's Kathryn Bigelow and Argo's Ben Affleck off the best director contenders -- one of the more controversial omissions from the annual list of nominees in years -- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) stunned Hollywood when their 85th annual nominations were revealed Thursday morning. For a complete list, go to the Holograph's Oscar Nominations page.

In the acting categories, John Hawkes' turn in The Sessions and (less so) Marion Cotillard's role in Rust and Bone were surprising omissions for lead performances. As for the nine best picture candidates, Fox Searchlight's Beasts of the Southern Wild was probably the least expected, although it is much admired in the critical ranks. Although Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master lacked citations for best picture, director, cinematography, and original screenplay, its three acting principals were all rewarded with nominations.

In the craft categories, the hair and makeup artists for Lincoln were egregiously left off the slate. And in the foreign-language film category, the global success from France, The Intouchables, didn't make the cut. Totally ignored in the Oscar race were The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Cloud Atlas, The Dark Knight Rises, and Looper.

Nominee Facts:

• Four individuals are first-time nominees (Cooper, Jackman, Riva, and Wallis). Nine of the nominees, including all of the supporting actor nominees, are previous acting winners (Day-Lewis, Washington, Arkin, De Niro, Hoffman, Jones, Waltz, Field, and Hunt). Jessica Chastain is the only one of this year's acting nominees who was also nominated last year.
• At 85 years old, Emmanuelle Riva becomes the oldest best actress nominee. Nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis becomes the youngest best actress nominee. This marks the first time since the earliest Awards that records for the oldest and youngest nominees in a single acting category have been set in the same year. The oldest acting nominee ever is Gloria Stuart (87) and the youngest acting nominee overall is Justin Henry (8).
• Amour is the fifth film to be nominated for both best picture and best foreign-language film. The others were Z, The Emigrants, Life Is Beautiful, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
• Emmanuelle Riva’s nominated performance is in French. Only six performers have won Academy Awards for a foreign-language performance in its 85-year history.
• Silver Linings Playbook is the first film to receive nominations for picture, directing, writing and all four acting categories since Reds (1981).
• Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg share the record for the most best picture nominations for individual producers with eight each.
• With his Best Picture nomination for Argo, George Clooney joins Warren Beatty as the only individuals to have competitive nominations for picture, directing, writing and acting.
• John Williams has more nominations than any other living person, extending his lead with 48 (the only person with more is Walt Disney at 59). Woody Allen has the second-highest number of nominations among living persons at 23. Williams also extends his record for the most music scoring nominations with 43.
• Michael Kahn is now the most-nominated film editor, having received his eighth nomination this year for Lincoln.
  
• Thomas Newman’s nomination for Original Score for Skyfall is his eleventh and brings the total for members of the Newman family (Alfred, Lionel, Emil, Thomas, David and Randy) to 87, more than any other family. With his screenplay nomination for Moonrise Kingdom, Roman Coppola becomes the sixth member of the extended Coppola family (Carmine Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola, Talia Shire, Nicolas Cage and Sofia Coppola) to receive a nomination, for a family total of 24.

The 47th annual National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) year-end awards showed a lot of affection for director Michael Haneke's Amour -- it won best picture, best director, and best actress for its star, Emmanuelle Riva. Widely expected to be among the five foreign-language Oscar nominees on Thursday, Amour has been critically hailed around the world and 2012 film festivals. The NSFC is the last major critics' organization to announce its awards for 2012 films.

Two films were awarded two prizes each: Lincoln and The Master. Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for his title role in the former and Tony Kushner's script took the best screenplay award. Amy Adams was named best supporting actress for her work in The Master, and Mihai Malaimare, Jr.'s lensing took the best cinematography award.

Matthew McConaughey's work in both Magic Mike and Bernie won him the best supporting actor accolade, and The Gatekeepers took the best nonfiction prize.

In its 46-year history, the NSFC's best picture winner has matched that of the Academy's only five times:  Annie Hall in 1977, Unforgiven in 1992, Schindler's List in 1993, Million Dollar Baby in 2004, and The Hurt Locker in 2009.

The NSFC awards were dedicated to the late Andrew Sarris, one of its found

That's right -- we're almost there. Nominees for the 85th annual Academy Awards will be revealed this Thursday morning, January 10. A shortened period of voting, new online voting procedures, and voting snafus may contribute to some unexpected anomalies in the annual announcement. And with one of the most wide-open competitions in memory, surprises are expected. (And the British Academy of Film & Television Arts makes its announcement the day before!)

But there are also a number of other events happening in probably the biggest week of the award season, including critic awards ceremonies, regional critics award announcements, and several guild announcements. Here's a quick rundown:

Guild Award Nominees

• Monday, Jan. 7 - Visual Effects Society (VES)
• Tuesday, Jan. 8 - Cinema Audio Society (CAS) and Directors Guild of America (DGA)
• Wednesday, Jan. 9 - American Society of Cinematographers (ASC)
• Friday, Jan. 11 - American Cinema Editors (ACE)

Critics Awards

• Monday, Jan. 7 - Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) awards,  New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony, Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) awards, and Vancouver Film Critics CIrcle (VFCC) awards
• Tuesday, Jan. 8 - Denver Film Critics Society (DFCS) awards, National Board of Review awards ceremony,
• Wednesday, Jan. 9 - Gay & Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA) nominations
• Thursday, Jan. 10 - Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) "Critics Choice" awards
• Saturday, Jan. 12 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards ceremony

For a list of all awards season events, see our Awards Season Calendar.

Because the Writers Guild of America (WGA) restricts its nominees to scripts produced under its Minimum Basic Agreement, a number of Oscar-eligible films were left off its 65th annual announcement yesterday of nominees for original, adapted, and documentary screenplays. Prominent screenwriters omitted in the original screenplay group include Quentin Tarantino for his popular but controversial Django Unchained, Michael Haneke for his chilly but critically embraced Amour, and Martin McDonagh for his oddball collection of buddies in Seven Psychopaths. On the adapted side, Tom Stoppard's take on Anna Karenina missed the cut, as did Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin's script for Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Expected eligible original screenplays that appear on the WGA nominee list include The Master, Moonrise Kingdom, and Zero Dark Thirty. They will vie for the WGA trophy with scripts for Flight and Looper. Anticipated adapted screenplay nominees for the WGA award were Argo, Lincoln, and Silver Linings Playbook.  They will compete with Life of Pi and The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Six documentary screenplays were nominated, including Searching for Sugarman, the International Documentary Association (IDA) winner. For a list of all screenplay nominees and credited screenwriters, go here.