In the sea of Oscar prognosticators masquerading as critics groups, the one group I would have expected to be more in line with the current Oscar dialogue was the Online Film & Television Association which has positioned itself as one of the prime prognosticators in the precursor field. So, imagine how refreshing it was to see the members of that group nominate such an interesting and eclectic field of nominees. There are still plenty of Oscar baity selections, but with titles like Drive and Shame in the Best Picture race along with selections like Ezra Miller for Best Supporting Actor, Vanessa Redgrave for Best Supporting Actress and Steve McQueen for Best Director, it's a refreshing list for Oscar-weary eyes. (As a caveat, I am the founder and organizer of the OFTA, so I am a bit biased about these, but my commentary is my own and as objective as I can possibly be)

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Nominations Tallies

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Last night, the Producers Guild of America announced their award winners pushing Oscar season into a new tone with the first guild awards of the year. When commercially successful films like The Help and Bridesmaids lose out to a commercially unsuccessful film like The Artist, the race is pretty much over. Although the DGA will likely try to throw a wrench in the works next weekend, the Best Picture race is pretty much at a close. The Artist has picked up enough major prizes to become a juggernaut and any other outcome would be a complete surprise.

And Steven Spielberg should be smiling. With this win, The Adventures of Tintin moves into a position to become this year's Oscar winner over critical favorite Rango. However, there's a caveat. In 2006 when Pixar lost its second Best Animated Feature award in a loss to Happy Feet, Cars had sealed up both the PGA and Annie Award prizes, so this result isn't final. The only differences here are the facts that Rango wasn't exactly a crowd-pleasing blockbuster. While it did solid box office numbers, it did so much earlier in the year and wasn't a $200 million beheamoth like Happy Feet, it performed on the level of most animated features, which isnt' much of a feat. There also wasn't the grumbling that Pixar's film wasn't quite up to the quality level of past efforts dogging The Adventures of Tintin. We'll see though, anything can still happen here and I wouldn't be surprised if Rango still eked out a win.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

As promised, I have posted the history of this particular guild on my website. You can find it by following this link: Producers Guild of America.

The Awards

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In all but one of the last four years, the 5 nominees for Sound Editing came from this slate of nominees (the Sound Effects/Foley and Dialogue/ADR categories in specific with an odd pickup from the Animation list in the years Pixar did well). So, you can expect no other nominees than what are here. With three nominations and a nod at the Cinema Audio Society yesterday, Super 8 looks like it will double dip the sound categories this year. Add in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and War Horse and you may have four in the field. As for the fifth spot? I'm guessing Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, but it could be Transformers or Drive as well. Of course, it could be any combination of those seven, so we may have to wait and see.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

As promised, I have posted the history of this particular guild on my website. You can find it by following this link: Motion Picture Sound Editors.

Nominations Tallies

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The French and English made strong showings at the London Critics awards with The Artist and several British stars claiming prizes or even American stars playing British characters. The only real surprises were Sareh Bayat for Best Supporting Actress and the tie between Meryl Streep and Anna Paquin. The rest of the choices fit the London Critics quite well.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Awards Tallies

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Leave it to the Costume Designers Guild to throw a wrench in the works. I fully expected most of these nominees, but the exclusion of Anonymous which would usually be catnip for these guys makes no appearance. Meanwhile, most of the major Oscar contenders for Best Picture are here with the exception of Moneyball and The Tree of Life. I wouldn't have expected Moneyball, but The Tree of Life seemed like it could fit in here. Usually, there's one surprise Oscar inclusion and I'm thinking it may be Anonymous with four of these (likely The Artist, The Help, Hugo and maybe Jane Eyre) joining them. Of course, Harry Potter and the iconic jacket from Drive could get them both in the competition.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

The Nominations

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One of the moderately accurate precursors picked several films I wouldn't have expected. I'm glad to see Hanna on this list, but the rest could be nominated or not and I wouldn't care (I'd prefer no Super 8, but what can you do). I'm surprised not to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo here and a few others being missing is a bit surprising as well, but more time for analysis later.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

As promised, I have posted the history of this particular guild on my website. You can find it by following this link: Cinema Audio Society.

The Nominations

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Leave it to the British Academy to throw a few curve balls into the Oscar proceedings. And by curve balls, I don't mean Moneyball actor Jonah Hill. After three years of 5-for-5 accuracy with Best Film, the BAFTA group is flirting with a bad year. Apart from Oscar guarantees The Artist, The Descendants and The Help, BAFTA nominated likely Oscar no-show (hopefully not) Drive and cusp nominee Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It's no surprise Tinker did so well with a British group, but Drive is definitely not the kind of film they'd typically find award-worthy. This sets up the most interesting race for Oscars we've seen in some time. Usually you can toss a handful of British-centric nominees from the list for American-friendly ones, but which ones leave and which ones stay will be an interesting discussion for the next week.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Nominations Tallies

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The ACE, not known for their Oscar accuracy (even when picking 16 nominees across four categories), have made a few unusual choices (like the very dramatic My Week with Marilyn for Comedy/Musical), but few of the choices are actual surprises. With this nod, The Descendants solidifies its place in the Oscar race as it wasn't exactly a fantastically edited piece. Of course, the usual suspects are here, but for the likes of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Drive and The Help this isn't a great result.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

As promised, I have posted the history of this particular guild on my website. You can find it by following this link: American Cinema Editors.

The Awards

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The Golden Globes have now been awarded. There are some muddied waters and a lot of spread-the-word mentality. None of the award winners were especially unlikely, nor were any of them likely to give us a hint of who the Oscar winners will be. So much good this year makes for an interesting awards season, which may ultimately end up rather boring as the guilds start handing out awards and defining our topics of conversation until the end.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Award Tallies

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The Golden Globe awards will be announced tonight. I'll be live tweeting the event and updating the winners post here on Cinema Sight. Drop by and watch the updates if you can catch them live and feel free to discuss them in the comments section or in the forums. Check out Twitter if you want to see what I have to say.

Below are the winners of this year's Broadcast Film Critics Association's Critics' Choice Awards. All technical achievement categories are included and most of the choices were spread evenly across many films with Drive winning Best Action Film the only really exciting choice.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Award Tallies

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A couple of nominees here have no Oscar chance, but it's an interesting an eclectic list. And with their history, three to four nominees here will carry home Oscar nominations, which makes Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's chances pretty good since neither Method nor Jane Eyre could compete.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we're giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

The Nominations

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