Three packages arrived today. Two had screeners in them. Of those two packages, one was for Focus Features and the other Warner Bros. Below are those screeners starting with Focus and finishing with Warner Bros. The most noteworthy item here is that Focus Features updated the nomenclature of two categories the Academy recently changed (Art Direction is now Production Design and Makeup is now Makeup and Hairstyling). Warner Bros. didn’t make the change. It shows you who’s paying attention, I’d say.

Anna Karenina (Focus Features)

Stars: Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Macdonald, Ruth Wilson, Alicia Vikander, Olivia Williams, Emily Watson
Director: Joe Wright
Premise: From IMDb: “Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.”
Oscar Chances: Average: The film will surely contend in tech categories, but it’s good, but unexceptional ratings with critics will likely keep it out of other category consideration.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster)
• Best Director (Joe Wright)
• Best Cast
• Best Actress (Keira Knightley)
• Best Supporting Actor (Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Domhnall Gleeson)
• Best Supporting Actress (Kelly Macdonald, Ruth Wilson, Alicia Vikander, Olivia Williams, Emily Watson)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Tom Stoppard)
• Best Cinematography (Seamus McGarvey)
• Best Sound Editing (Craig Berkey)
• Best Sound Mixing (Craig Berkey, Chris Burden, John Casali)
• Best Visual Effects (Richard Briscoe, Dominic Parker, TOm Debenham, Mark Holt)
• Best Production Design (Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer)
• Best Film Editing (Melanie Ann Oliver)
• Best Costume Design (Jacqueline Durran)
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Ivana Primorac)
• Best Original Score (Dario Marianelli)

Rotten Tomatoes:
64% (99 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
63 out of 100 (33 critics; as of 11/19/12)

Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features)

Stars: Jared Gilman, Kara Hayward, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton
Director: Wes Anderson
Premise: From IMDb: “A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them.”
Oscar Chances: Solid: With Scott Rudin on the list of credited producers, look for this one to mark Wes Anderson’s first Best Picture nomination. Whether the film can get nominations in other above-the-line categories is a little more iffy, though a writing nomination is probably the film’s best bet while its production design and costume design could easily appear on the Academy’s nomination list.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales, Jeremy Dawson)
• Best Director (Wes Anderson)
• Best Original Screenplay (Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola)
• Best Actor (Jared Gilman)
• Best Cast
• Best Actress (Kara Hayward)
• Best Supporting Actor (Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Bob Balaban)
• Best Supporting Actress (Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton)
• Best Cinematography (Robert Yeoman)
• Best Film Editing (Andrew Weisblum)
• Best Production Design (Adam Stockhausen, Kris Moran)
• Best Costume Design (Kasia Walicka Maimone)
• Best Sound Mixing (Craig Henighan, Pawel Wdowczak, Chris Scarabosio)
• Best Sound Editing (Craig Henighan)
• Best Makeup and Hairstyling (Mandy Lyons, Nuria Sitja)
• Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat)

Rotten Tomatoes:
94% (202 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
84 out of 100 (43 critics; as of 11/19/12)

ParaNorman (Focus Features)

Stars: Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland, Tempestt Bledsoe, Alex Borstein, John Goodman
Director: Sam Fell, Chris Butler
Premise: From IMDb: “A misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.”
Oscar Chances: Solid: A warmly received animated film in a sea of disappointments could net the film an Oscar nomination. And unlike motion capture animation, stop-motion animation is very well liked with the Academy and the film looks enough like Oscar nominee Coraline to be a threat for a nomination.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Animated Feature

Rotten Tomatoes:
86% (146 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
72 out of 100 (33 critics; as of 11/19/12)

Argo (Warner Bros.)

Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishe, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina
Director: Ben Affleck
Premise: From IMDb: “A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.”
Oscar Chances: Strong: This is one of a handful of the biggest competitors of the year. A long list of nominations will likely accompany the film, including director Ben Affleck’s first nomination in over a decade and this time as Best Director. The film will likely earn at least 7 or more nominations.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney)
• Best Director (Ben Affleck)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Chris Terrio)
• Best Cinematography (Rodrigo Prieto)
• Best Art Direction (Sharon Seymour, Jan Pascale)
• Best Film Editing (Liam Goldenberg)
• Best Performance By a Cast (Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Scoot McNairy, Rory Cochrane, Christopher Denham, Kerry Bishe, Kyle Chandler, Chris Messina)
• Best Actor (Ben Affleck)
• Best Supporting Actor (Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman)
• Best Costume Design (Jacqueline West)
• Best Makeup (Kate Biscoe, Kelvin R. Trahan)
• Best Sound Mixing (Jose Antonio Garcia, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff)
• Best Sound Editing (Erik Aadahl)
• Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat)

Rotten Tomatoes:
95% (238 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
86 out of 100 (45 critics; as of 11/19/12)

Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.)

Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant
Director: Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski
Premise: From IMDb: “An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.”
Oscar Chances: Average: Outside of the creative categories, this respected, but not adored, film seems a safe bet for most of the below-the-line categories. Anything above that would be surprising.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Grant Hill, Stefan Arndt, Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski)
• Best Director (Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski)
• Best Actor (Tom Hanks)
• Best Actress (Halle Berry)
• Best Supporting Actor (Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess)
• Best Supporting Actress (Doona Bae)
• Best Performance By a Cast (Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Doona Bae, Ben Whishaw, Keith David, James D’Arcy, Zhou Xun, David Gyasi, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant)
• Best Cinematography (John Toll, Frank Griebe)
• Best Art Direction (Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup, Peter Walpole, Rebeccca Alleway)
• Best Film Editing (Alexander Berner)
• Best Costume Design (Kym Barrett, Pierre-Yves Gayraud)
• Best Makeup (Jeremy Woodhead, Daniel Parker)
• Best Sound Mixing (Ivan Sharrock, Roland WInke, Matthias Lempert, Lars Ginzel)
• Best Sound Editing (Frank Kruse)
• Best Visual Effects (Dan Glass, Stephane Ceretti)
• Best Original Score (Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil)

Rotten Tomatoes:
64% (186 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
55 out of 100 (43 critics; as of 11/19/12)

The Dark Knight Rises (Warner Bros.)

Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman
Director: Christopher Nolan
Premise: From IMDb: “Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.”
Oscar Chances: Mediocre: Before this year, I might have said Nolan’s chance at a Best Picture nomination were stronger; however, the critics liked it, but not as much as its predecessor and the film has too much competition for the Oscars this year to be a real threat. A token nomination for Best Picture might be in the cards, but I wouldn’t expect it to show up in many places outside of the sound and visual effects categories.
Campaign-Proposed Categories:

• Best Picture (Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan, Charles Roven)
• Best Director (Christopher Nolan)
• Best Adapted Screenplay (Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, Davis S. Goyer)
• Best Cinematography (Wally Pfister)
• Best Art Direction (Nathan Crowley, Kevin Kavanaugh, Paki Smith)
• Best Film Editing (Lee Smith)
• Best Performance By a Cast (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman)
• Best Actor (Christian Bale)
• Best Supporting Actor (Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman)
• Best Actress (Anne Hathaway)
• Best Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway)
• Best Costume Design (Lindy Hemming)
• Best Makeup (Luisa Abel, Janice Alexander)
• Best Sound Mixing, Ed Novick, Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker)
• Best Sound Editing (Richard King)
• Best Visual Effects (Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley)
• Best Original Score (Hans Zimmer)

Rotten Tomatoes:
87% (292 critics; as of 11/19/12)
Metacritic:
78 out of 100 (45 critics; as of 11/19/12)