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.

Two years ago we brought the podcast back for a special edition around the release of Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” a highly anticipated movie. Well, here we are again, with “The Dark Knight Rises” hitting theaters and fans and fanatics alike eager to get a look. So it seemed a good time to pop our head back up. Let’s see what’s on the docket…

Does Nolan top himself with the new film? We give our somewhat similar yet interestingly divergent takes on the film. NOTE: THERE ARE SPOILERS!

Oscars? Hey, everyone’s been asking for years at this point, so let’s break it down. Best Picture? Best Director? Only crafts? We discuss.

Having crossed the year’s half-way point a few weeks back it’s a good time to see what has released so far and deserves to stay in the conversation (whether it will or not) throughout the rest of the season. We talk about that and the year’s two awards MVPs so far: “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

Comic-Con wrapped up last weekend. “Django Unchained” and “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” were among the potential awards films of the season to try and get a foothold with the geeks. Did they get a boost?

And finally, we take a brief look ahead to the upcoming fall festival circuit. What films will platform from there into the rest of the season? We take a modest crack at figuring it out, but it’s early yet.

Have a listen to the new podcast below. It’s a long one so strap in. 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.

“Here I Come” courtesy of Stuart Park