With the announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences regarding Oscar dates for submissions, nominations, and presentations, the Oscar race can officially get underway. The 85th Academy Awards, which take place on February 24, 2013 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, are the film industries premiere award ceremony with a historical significance and lasting legacy. The following are the confirmed dates:

Friday, November 30: Official Screen Credits due
Saturday, December 1: Governors Awards presentation
Monday, December 17: Nominations voting begins
Thursday, January 3: Nominations voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, January 10: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Monday, February 4: Nominees Luncheon
Friday, February 8: Final voting begins
Saturday, February 9: Scientific and Technical Awards presentation
Tuesday, February 19: Final voting ends 5 p.m. PT
Sunday, February 24: 85th Academy Awards presentation

Numerous films already in serious contention for multiple Oscar nominations include “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “The Master.” All of these I’ve seen and can claim will receive quite a few award nominations arranging from Best Picture to the technical categories. “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is a possibility to receive some nominations, but many others doubt it. We will have to wait and see what holds up at the end of the year. Personally, my favorite categories are Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Documentary Feature.

Other movies some critics and pundits have seen through the film festival circuit they generally believe will
garner Oscar nominations include “Argo,” “Rust and Bone,” “Hyde Park on Hudson,” “The Silver Lining Playbook,” “The Sessions,” and “Anna Karenina.” (In fact, at the Toronto Film Festival, ‘Silver Lining’ won the same audience award “Slumdog Millionaire” and “The Kings Speech” won in recent, prior years. Both went on to be huge crowd pleasing smash hits to eventually win the Oscar for Best Picture. Keep an eye on the David O’Russell’s film opening wide Thanksgiving weekend.)

Finally, features like “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Life of Pi,” “Lincoln,” “Les Miserable,” “The Hobbit,” and “Django Unchained” appear to be serious contenders based on speculation only. All those movies have yet to be seen, but are year end films from very talented award winning filmmakers. This is always risky to assume a film will be an Oscar contender when no one has actually seen it! Unmet expectations always ruin a film. We expect this during a typical mundane summer movie season, yet it always seems to sting harder for me during awards season.

Movie fans and Oscar lovers will find out what are the true contenders in the coming several weeks. As always, I’m eagerly anticipating the best movie season of the year; award season.