Welcome to Oscar Talk.

In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty of things change en route to Oscar’s stage and we’re here to address it all as it unfolds.

Anne is calling in today from New York where she’s on hand for the New York Film Festival. Much of what’s there she (and I) have already seen, but there are one or two treats for folks like her who hit just about every major festival, including the big premiere of “My Week with Marilyn” (and whatever Monday’s super secret work-in-progress secret screening might be). But there’s plenty to talk about otherwise, so let’s see what’s on the docket today…

Starting with the New York fest opener, Roman Polanski’s “Carnage,” the two of us caught the film at a screening here in Los Angeles last week. She’s much more forgiving of it than I am.

All of the performances in Polanski’s film may well be campaigned as lead, and with that as a bit of a segue, we take the opportunity this week, after sussing out the supporting races last week, to chew on and mull over the lead actor and lead actress races.

We take a minute to discuss the critical reception to “The Ides of March,” which, speaking for myself, is kind of odd. The film opens today.

Anne briefly talks about what she’s planning to take in while at the fest, including the premiere of the Michelle Williams starter “My Week with Marilyn” and a special showing of Hayao Miyazaki’s “Castle in the Sky.”

Finally, reader questions! We address queries concerning the nebulous “British voting block,” critics taking umbrage with the Oscar season being an “unfortunate guest” on the fall festival circuit and the nature of ravenous anticipation for year-end films stifling appreciation for other contenders.

Have a listen to the new podcast below with a little Billy Joel leading the way in honor of NYFF. If the file cuts off for you at any time, try the back-up download link at the bottom of this post. And as always, remember to subscribe to Oscar Talk via iTunes here.