After breaking down the computer-heavy categories first in Sound and Visual Effects, next on the list of Oscar categories to tackle are the three categories that involve work mostly done the old-fashioned way.

The timeless narrative of people who do bad things getting what they deserve has become so entrenched in the way we look at books, movies, television and more. For that reason, many who finish “Arbitrage” will find themselves rather bewildered.

It’s time again from my annual breakdown of the categories at the Academy Awards for the month leading up to the ceremony, which is on Feb. 24. We start with the technical awards, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects.

Considering a witch nearly baked them in an oven and ate them, it makes sense that Hansel and Gretel would grow up to be witch hunters. Ok, maybe not quite, but it’s at least more reasonable than Abraham Lincoln being a vampire hunter.

The quality of a corruption-themed political thriller with a star-studded cast always comes down to one thing — the script. Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Barry Pepper, Kyle Chandler and Jeffrey Wright definitely qualify “Broken City” for that category of film, and so all eyes are on rookie screenwriter Brian Tucker.

Ever since “The Nightmare Before Christmas” there has been an inexplicable connection between stop-motion animation and horror motifs. Tim Burton has been responsible for most entries in this small but noticeable canon, but Laika has found an equally quirky yet more mainstreamed alternative in Chris Butler’s “ParaNorman.”

“Hyde Park on Hudson” might forever be known as that other film in 2012 featuring a U.S. president — if anyone remembers it at all. Both films are entirely different portrayals, namely in the scope of both the stories they tell and the span of time in which they take place, but only one of […]

The Oscar nominees this year were announced two weeks early, and it so happened I was on vacation. It was tough not to include my annual predictions, but considering how wild award season has been so far, it wouldn’t have been pretty. As such, I still have lots to say about this year’s nominees.

As Americans, we had never been so fixated on killing a single individual as we were Osama bin Laden, the brain behind Al Qaeda and dubbed architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. “Zero Dark Thirty,” the story of this 10-year manhunt, leaves out that social and political narrative, opting instead to capture the CIA’s operation […]

If you think it’s tough to think or talk about old people having sex, try being one of said old people. “Hope Springs” pairs two Oscar-winning and well-aging talents in Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as Kay and Arnold, who endure the ups and downs of couples counseling with the main goal of rekindling […]

With the Academy Award nominations already having been announced, the Golden Globes lost a bit of thunder this year, but with such a wide open race in terms of who will take home Oscar gold, the winners of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s accolades has to count for something right? Well, if anything, things just […]

As always, I close the book on 2012 with my year in review, a close examination of the trends in movies and moviegoing that either emerged or changed during the course of the year.

What’s so curious about the best movies of 2012 is that they aren’t the ones getting Oscar buzz — at least not if you ask me. It was a great year for movies, with excellent films being offered as early as January (one of those made this list, in fact) and all the way up […]

William Friedkin is a name you know, but not one you hear much about these days. The “French Connection” and “The Exorcist” director hasn’t delivered anything of that quality since those days in the ’70s, but he shows he’s still a skilled and relevant filmmaker with his film version of the Tracy Letts play “Killer […]

2012 was one full of small gems, and as such, I was inspired to add something new to my annual Best of the Year posts. With so many great blockbusters and big-name films stealing away your attention, you probably weren’t as eager to seek out independent films and films with smaller distribution.