• The National Board of Review offered the season’s first major precursors, with “Up in the Air” sitting pretty.

• The Independent Spirit Award nominations were topped by “Precious” and, more surprisingly, “The Last Station.”

• Indie award rivals the Gotham Awards, meanwhile, crowned “The Hurt Locker” as the year’s best.

• Fresh off his Spirit nomination, we served up an extended interview with the great Jeff Bridges.

• “Coraline” came out in front in the Annie Award nominations, with “Up” close behind.

• This week’s Off the Carpet column identified “catharsis” as the potential theme of this year’s awards season.

• Meanwhile, The Long Shot reflected on the balance between heart and head in the Oscar prediction game.

• With the embargo finally lifted on “Invictus,” we got stuck in with a full review.

• Looking ahead to next year’s potential awards stories, the Sundance competition lineup was revealed.

• “The Blind Side” crossed the $100 million mark, with Sandra Bullock’s awards hopes further bolstered by the Santa Barbara fest.

• We invited your suggestions for the key actor of the decade, nominating Nicole Kidman for the title.

• We continued our run through the season’s original song contenders, spotlighting the brand-new “Avatar” theme and two from “Invictus.”

• Kicking off our Tech Support Interviews for the season, we talked to the musical talents behind “Crazy Heart.”

• Still on music, Michael Giacchino grabbed a quartet of Grammy nominations for his work on “Up” and “Star Trek.”

• And finally, we continued our Great Performances series with a look back at 2003.

Related Posts

• Nut up or shut up: final predictions
• February winner predictions
• ‘Air,’ ‘Basterds,’ ‘Precious’ lead the way with SAG
• December winner predictions
• If I had a ballot
• First stab at winner predictions