The nominations for the 2013 Producers Guild Awards have been announced.  The PGA’s are a fairly reliable predictor of the Academy Awards, as last year all but two eventual Best Picture nominees (The Tree of Life and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) were PGA nominees.  This year’s contenders include expected fare like Argo, Les Miserables, and Lincoln, indies such as Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom, and critical favorite Zero Dark Thirty.  The PGA’s are also fond of singling out one “popular” choice, and in this year’s case that film looks to be the excellent Skyfall

In addition to the feature films, the PGAs also announced the nominees in television.  Drama series nominees include the usual suspects like Homeland, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones, while the comedy category is filled out by 30 Rock, Louie, Modern Family, and for some reason The Big Bang Theory.  Notably absent is HBO’s Girls and NBC’s brilliant Parks and Recreation.  Hit the jump to check out the full list of film and television nominees.  The 24th Annual PGA Awards will be held on January 26th.

It’s January 1, 2013, which means that 2012 is now officially in the rear-view mirror.  Quality-wise, it was a stellar year in film, and with over a month to go before the Oscars there’s still an exciting air of unpredictability surrounding the awards contenders.  2012 wasn’t so shabby box office-wise either, and we thought today would be a nice time to take a look back at the year’s highest grossing films, lowest grossing films, and everything in between.  This year saw a few comedy surprises, the highest grossing Steven Spielberg drama in a long time, a couple of superhero megahits, and the glorious disaster that was Oogieloves.  Hit the jump to take a look at 2012’s Box Office in Review.

To try something new with our top 10 lists this year, we opened up a readers poll where you could vote for your 10 favorite movies of 2012.  The tallies are in: 3,760 of you from over 100 different countries racked up 28,375 total votes.  Your top ten of the year are The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers, Skyfall, Looper, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Django Unchained, Argo, The Cabin in the Woods, Moonrise Kingdom, and Prometheus.

The two superhero giants were always a lock for the top spots, but I was surprised to find that a true majority of our readers voted for The Dark Knight Rises (59.9%) and The Avengers (55.4%).  It’s nice to see that not everything on the list is a blockbuster, as so many of you found room for the likes of The Cabin in the Woods (25.7%) and Moonrise Kingdom (21.9%).  Hit the jump for the full breakdown of the votes, including a comparison of American votes and international votes.

James Bond will stay fashionable in Tom Ford suits for a long time with Sam Mendes’ Skyfall earning a comfortable $1 billion in the worldwide box office.  Skyfall is only the 14th film of all time to reach the billion-dollar mark, making it the third film to do so in this calendar year, alongside The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises.  In fact, of the 14 films on this list, only two occurred in the 20th century: Titanic and Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace.  2011 also saw three films rake in $1 billion worldwide with franchise installments Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.  With Toy Story 3 and Alice in Wonderland achieving that mark in 2010, eight of the top fourteen earners have all occurred in the last three calendar years.

Hit the jump to see the billionaire’s club of the top 14 films in worldwide box office earnings, now featuring Skyfall.

There’s a bit of silliness to a “Top 10″ list.  It’s similar to giving letter grades to movies.  We’re grading art, and trying to standardize a subjective appraisal.  But perhaps the grade can be instructive.  I always hope that my grade will guide you to read the full review, and then to the movie whether I liked it or not.  I think people should see as many movies as possible, but I know that’s not realistic.  Tickets cost too much, audiences are increasingly rude (I can’t remember the last time I went to a non-press or non-Drafthouse screening, and someone didn’t take out his or her cell phone), and the amount of entertainment options can be overwhelming.  That’s where I think a Top 10 list matters.  If you see only ten movies this year, these are the ones you should check out.  I found them moving, funny, thoughtful, and enduring.  I hope you’ll feel the same way.

Hit the jump for my Top 10 films of 2012.  Please note that to make the list, the film had to receive a theatrical release in 2012.  Click on the respective links for my Best of 2012, Top 10 Trailers, Dave’s Top 10 Films, and Adam’s Top 10 Films.

It became clear around September that putting together a Top 10 list this year was going to be incredibly difficult.  We’ve been provided with an embarrassment of riches throughout the year, and so the prospect of whittling it down to a list of my ten favorites proved daunting.  2012 seems destined to go down in history as “one of those years” like 1999, 1994, or 1977, where a large number of the year’s offerings will stand the test of time.  Though this list expresses what films I connected with most out of the past 12 months, there are at least 10 or 15 other movies that I also really enjoyed waiting just outside the wings.  If forced to pick my ten favorites from 2012, though, this is what I’ve come up with.  Hit the jump to take a look.

In past years for my “Best of” list, I’ve been able to provide fun categories like “Best Kill” and “Best Quotes”, but sadly, that won’t be happening this year.  I keep notes throughout the year, but in July, my hard drive crashed, and because I am a foolish person, I didn’t back up the notes to a separate drive.  However, I do have enough information to do the traditional categories as well as Breakthrough Performance, “A Very Good Year”, Best Villain, Best Surprises, Biggest Disappointments, and a new category, “Best Movie You Probably Missed This Year.”  One final note: unlike previous years, the film had to come out in 2012; festival-only flicks don’t count, so that’s why there’s no love for The Place Beyond the Pines on this year’s list.

Hit the jump to check out my miscellaneous “Best of 2012″ picks.  Be sure to keep checking back this week as we’ll be running Top 10 lists from Adam, Dave, and me.

As we wind down to the final days of the year, the internet is flooded with countless “Top 10” lists consisting of pretty much everything that ever existed in the past 12 months.  YouTube is getting in on the fun, but their list is unique in that it’s a Top 10 list compiled using statistics instead of subjective opinion.  The site has unveiled the “Top Trailers on YouTube for 2012,” which they compiled based on view count, view rate (how much of a given trailer people chose to watch), and organic views.

The resulting list may surprise you, as a whopping four spots belong to the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II alone.  There’s also one television show and five films that rank among 2012’s highest grossing films, though a major 2012 release is notably absent.  Hit the jump to take a look at the Top 10 Trailers on YouTube for the year.

Just yesterday we got a look at the 104 scores that will be gunning for the Best Original Score Oscar at the upcoming 85th Academy Awards, and today the Academy has unveiled the list of 75 songs that will be competing for the coveted Best Original Song trophy.  While the expected contenders like “Suddenly” from Les Miserables and “Song of the Lonely Mountain” from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey appear, one of the pleasant surprises is Adele’s “Skyfall” from Skyfall.

Since Adele’s magnificent Bond track draws a few cues from the franchise’s theme, many assumed that the Academy might rule it ineligible for the Best Original Song trophy.  Not so, it appears, and now it looks like Adele just might land herself an Academy Award to keep those 47 Grammys company.  Also of note, Matthew McConaughey could find himself a Best Original Song nominee for “Ladies of Tampa” from Magic Mike.  MAKE THIS HAPPEN, PEOPLE.  Hit the jump to check out the full list.  The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced January 10th.

Director Kathryn Bigelow’s drama Zero Dark Thirty continues its dominant critics awards path, as it has picked up two more Best Picture wins from the New York Film Critics Online and Boston Society of Film Critics groups, adding to its previous wins from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review.  Bigelow also won Best Director from both organizations, while Daniel Day-Lewis took home Best Actor for Lincoln.  Emmanuelle Riva won Best Actress from New York and Boston, while she shared the award in a tie with Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook in the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Los Angeles broke from the mold a bit by naming director Michael Haneke‘s devastating French-language film Amour the Best Film of the year.  They also awarded Paul Thomas Anderson Best Director for The Master and Beasts of the Southern Wild’s Dwight Henry the Best Supporting Actor honor in a couple of pleasant surprises.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners from all three critics groups.

With only days remaining before its much-anticipated return to Middle Earth, the box office was a relatively quiet place. Once again, holdovers ruled and grosses were small. In fact, the only real surprise was which of the week’s seasoned veterans came out on top. That would be Skyfall: the James Bond blockbuster that last held the top spot four weeks ago.

Box office rankings were frozen in time this weekend as the top three films remained unchanged for a third straight frame. Once again, top honors went to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, closely followed by Skyfall.  Spielberg’s Lincoln claimed third. There were also two new releases, though neither hailed from a major studio. The Weinstein Co.’s Killing Them Softly had the most promise, but not even Brad Pitt’s presence could push the drama to $10 million on this notoriously low-grossing weekend.

After a record-setting Thanksgiving frame, the domestic box office is headed towards its traditional, post-holiday slump. Though weekend receipts should top 2011 levels, there is little to get excited about at the multiplex: no new, major-studio releases and no change in the domestic top three. That means that, for the third straight week, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 will be on top, followed closely by Skyfall, which now ranks as the highest-grossing spy movie in US history. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln will remain in third place while Rise of the Guardians continues to struggle entering its sophomore frame. Even with its very modest expectations, The Weinstein Co.’s Killing Them Softly is being called a disappointment. On its first day in 2,424 locations, the R-rated film starring Brad Pitt is expected to earn just $7 million over its first three days. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled its shortlist of 10 films that will contend for the Best Visual Effects Oscar.  The films that have made the cut include The Dark Knight Rises, Cloud Atlas, Skyfall, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Disney’s John Carter.  The list is full of impressive blockbuster fare from 2012, but as we were reminded last year (Hugo over Rise of the Planet of the Apes) the winner of the category tends to favor a Best Picture nominee.  As Ang Lee’s adaptation of Life of Pi includes stunning visual effects and is an early favorite to land a Best Picture nomination, prognosticators would do well to keep their eye on that film as the race moves forward.  That said, there’s not exactly a lack of great work to thumb through, so this should be an interesting category.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of contenders, and leave your thoughts on the shortlist in the comments.  The nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced on January 10th, followed by the ceremony on February 24th.

After a slow start on Wednesday and Thursday, the domestic box office roared to life on Black Friday and ended with the highest five-day Thanksgiving frame of all time. Holdovers were the main course, with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Skyfall and Lincoln claiming the top three spots. But audiences also made room for new arrivals, including Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, the long-delayed Red Dawn remake and the CGI-animated Rise of the Guardians.