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.

Though I’ve been away most of the week, it’s been a busy one. Academy events, movie premieres, news items, all kinds of things to discuss. So now that I’m back in town and have already hit the ground running, let’s see what’s on the docket today…

Late last week Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” closed out AFI Fest. We haven’t had a chance to talk about it on the podcast yet so we dig in on how taxing it is for some, how elating it was for others.

Last weekend, after a hell week that saw Oscarcast producer Brett Ratner and host Eddie Murphy bow out of the ceremony amid controversy, the Academy celebrated Honorary Oscar recipients at the Governors Awards. Anne was on hand and has plenty to say about it.

The Weinstein Company has begun screening “The Iron Lady” in Los Angeles after UK press got a look recently. I discuss its strengths and weaknesses, one of the former being Meryl Streep’s performance.

This leads to some discussion on other elements in play in the Best Actress race, including Ellen Barkin’s work in “Another Happy Day.”

After the Academy made a safe choice in tapping Billy Crystal to host the Oscars last week, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has gone risky by bringing Ricky Gervais back to emcee. We discuss.

“The Descendants” is opening this weekend. We circle back around on that and discuss where it seems to be in the race presently.

Bill Condon’s “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1” premiered in Los Angeles this week and Anne was there. She gives her take on that circus and the film overall.

And finally, reader questions. We answer queries involving Angelina Jolie’s “In t he Land of Blood and Honey” and the Oscar chances of “The Ides of March” a number of weeks removed from release (not looking good).

Have a listen to the new podcast below with a little Black Sabbath leading the way. 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.

“Iron Man” courtesy of Black Sabbath and Vertigo.
“Hope” courtesy of Descendents and New Alliance.

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