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.

A late-breaking edition of the podcast today as we try to muster the energy to shake off the food coma of Thanksgiving. And there is tons to talk about today in a somewhat longer podcast than usual. Let’s see what’s on the docket today…

Steven Spielberg’s “War Horse” finally burst onto the scene this weekend as more press and guilds got a look at the film, Anne and I among them. We discuss the film and its Oscar prospects.

We get into “Hugo” some more, which has done gangbusters with the critics and got an uptick in box office yesterday.

Anne got around to two films that look to figure into the Best Actress category this year, “The Iron Lady” and “Young Adult.” We circle back on those films and talk about how they look to figure into the season.

With the animated feature shortlist out as of a few weeks ago and with us going through each of the contenders, we take a moment to spotlight the field.

The New York Film Critics Circle won’t be able to see “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” before its asinine early voting deadline. Aw. We talk a little about that whole non-story story.

And finally, reader questions. We answer queries regarding the botched (again) Best Documentary Feature finalists, the possibility of reform in the category and how talent respond to us when we, uh, don’t like their work.

Have a listen to the new podcast below with some of John Williams’s “War Horse” score 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.

“Learning the Call” courtesy of John Williams and Sony Masterworks.
“You’re So Vain” courtesy of Carly Simon and Elektra.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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