We break down the nominees for live action short.

We judge this year's crop of the animated shorts that are up for Oscar.

We reflect on the just-announced 2013 Oscar nominations. Sorry DC Nation... Marvel Studios has kicked your butt one more time.

Looks like it's Argo versus Zero Dark Thirty at the Golden Globes this year.

It's not even in theaters yet, but Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow's follow-up to The Hurt Locker, is raking in the same kind of awards love bestowed on her earlier film. Several critics' groups have named the film 2012's Best Picture, including the New York Critics Online, of which Television Without Pity's Moviefile is a voting member. Other winners at the 2012 NYFCO awards meeting, which was held on Sunday, December 9, included Bigelow and ZDT's Mark Boal for Director and Screenplay respectively, as well as Michael Haneke's Amour for Foreign Language Film. In the acting categories, Amour's female star, Emmanuelle Riva, won Actress, while Daniel Day-Lewis triumphed in the Actor category for Lincoln -- the same award he's likely to win come Oscar night. A full list of NYFCO's 2012 awards are below.

The New York Film Festival turns 50 this year and is appropriately throwing itself one heck of a birthday bash. The golden anniversary celebration kicks off tonight with the world premiere of Ang Lee's Life of Pi, an adaptation of the best-selling novel that ranks among the fall season's big Oscar hopefuls. Over the next two weeks (the festival runs from September 28 to October 14) a plethora of big-ticket films and events will be unspooling at the festival's headquarters at Lincoln Center on New York's Upper West Side. You can visit the official NYFF website for the full schedule and ticket information. In the meantime, we've gone through the festival line-up (and have even seen a few of the movies) to highlight some of this year's key titles.

In all the hubbub over the Oscars, you might have forgotten that another awards show happened over the weekend, the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which were handed out Saturday, 24 hours before the big Academy shindig. While initially created to celebrate the best and brightest in indie film, in recent years the list of Indie Spirit nominees and winners has come to bear a striking resemblance to the Oscars. That was particularly true this year, when The Artist won for Best Film, Best Director and Best Male Lead... the same categories it triumphed in at the Oscars the following evening. Which begs the question: at this point, is there any difference between the Indie Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards? Let's compare the two ceremonies in a few key areas.

The Artist added another batch of awards to its shelf last night, these ones hailing from across the pond in ol' Blighty. The annual BAFTA (that's the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for all of us Yankees) Awards were handed out last night at London's Royal Festival Hall and all of the big Oscar contenders -- George Clooney! Michelle Williams! Brad Pitt! -- made the trip to press the flesh on the red carpet.

It used to be next to impossible to see the various films nominated every year in the Oscar's three short film categories (animated, live action and documentary) a.k.a. that point in the telecast when you go to the bathroom/grab another beer/channel surf to check out what else is on. In recent years though, the distribution companies Magnolia and ShortsHD have banded together to ensure that these movies get a wider release, both in theaters and through new avenues like video on demand. Screenings of the 2012 nominees start in select cities Friday and will continue to open around the country (and overseas) over the next month. And beginning February 21st -- five days before Oscar night -- the films will also be available for purchase on iTunes. (Visit the official website to find more information on when and where the shorts may be playing near you.) Here's our take on all of the nominated short films, as well as the ones we think should and will win.

We've arrived at the fifth and final week of voting in our second-annual Movies Without Pity Awards. And, just like Oscar night, we've saved the biggest categories for last. Think The Artist really is the best movie of the year, as the Academy seems poised to decide? Or would you cast your vote for its fellow nominees Moneyball, War Horse or The Tree of Life instead? Or maybe you'd like to pick a movie completely overlooked by Oscar, like, say Attack the Block, The Muppets or Margaret.