Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures

I was belatedly watching "Cloud Atlas" at my local Cineplex, catching up on movies that I hadn't seen because, thanks to Hurricane Sandy, I no longer had my Manhattan to upstate NY umbilical cord. I hadn't read all the reviews when "Cloud Atlas" premiered in Toronto because, as I recently told Steven Gaydos, executive editor at Variety, "I see the movie and then I decide." But this was a case where the gaseous critical response to "Cloud Atlas" had wafted in my direction, a skepticism and negativity reflected in Rotten Tomatoes' stingy 63 percent fresh. So, I'd postponed seeing an adventure that was completely radical among contemporary American films in the gleeful, optimistic way it played musical chairs with male and female, young and old, and future and past. By creating a movie that starred Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, and Huge Grant and blurred the boundaries between men and women, the Wachowski siblings (Andy and transgender Lana), and Tom Tykwer, adapting David Mitchell's genre-busting best-seller, took some major risks. And they created an entertaining, ambitious movie that went beyond feminism to an all-embracing humanism that wasn't naive enough to believe that evil didn't walk the earth in wingtips or stilettos or bare feet.

Photo: Warner Bros

"Even though there's been a lot of buzz for 'Les Miz,' I'm an 'Argo'-naut at this point in terms of Best Picture," our Thelma Adams told Awards poobah Tom O'Neil in a podcast chat with his site, Gold Derby. "Because 'Silver Linings Playbook' hasn't played yet, we don't really know the roll-out. I would say that those two are the front-runners."

Why so hot on "Argo?" It scored at the box office, has great word of mouth, and proves without a doubt that popular star Ben Affleck is a bankable director. And it doesn't hurt that Hollywood saves the day in this fact-based thriller set during the Iran hostage crisis.

But don't expect Affleck to carry the day against Daniel Day-Lewis as Honest Abe "Lincoln" in the Best Actor category. Day-Lewis holds the frontrunner spot among leading actors, but O'Neil has doubts that the picture will come out on top, or that director Steven Spielberg has a lock. Hey, O'Neil said, we know how the movie ends!

Meanwhile, the pair agreed that when the Academy

Photo: Focus Features/Warner Bros/Sony
Right now is the juicy moment when we can look at 25 contenders for Best Picture. From "The Dark Knight Rises" to "The Beasts of the Southern Wild," from "Argo" to "Amour," the movies range from epic to intimate, from comedy to tragedy. Between today, when there's so much promise and potential, and Sunday, February 24th, when we hear the phrase "and the Oscar goes to…" at the 85th Academy Awards, the group will narrow to a tightly competitive race. This is just the beginning of Yahoo! Movies' coverage of The Contenders, and we hope you enter into the spirit of the race, defending your favorites, and pulling down all false idols that get in their way. We hope you'll have as much fun as we do discussing the movies that we love, and those we love to hate. Like Bilbo Baggins of "The Hobbit," a potential contender, we're off on an Incredible (if not quite unexpected) Journey. Where will it lead?

Photo: Universal Pictures

Les Miserables: "The King's Speech" director Tom Hooper has a song in his heart as he adapts

Photo: Lionsgate

I know it's a little early to harp about Academy Awards, but when I see that Jennifer Lawrence is currently the Oscar front-runner for "Silver Linings Playbook," my critical side wants to shout "B.S.!" I've seen that movie. It's terrific and, OK, Oscar-worthy. And Lawrence's Tiffany is vibrant, sexy, and funny, and that kind of manic-pixie-dream dame that brings the hero, in this case Bradley Cooper, to the come-to-Jesus moment that climaxes the film. She's great. But she's a (plot) tool. No one would dare call Katniss Everdeen a tool. She's a weapon: the bow and arrow that unleashed "The Hunger Games" phenomena. And Lawrence owns that character with a ring of truth and hard-won dignity.

But she has three strikes against her when it comes to winning the Oscar as Katniss:

Photo: Reuters/Getty

Call it nepotism or genius in the genes — father and son directors have included Ivan and Jason Reitman, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez, John and Nick Cassavetes, Lawence Kasdan and sons Jake and Jon, Ridley and Jake Scott, David and Brandon Cronenberg, and Melvin and Mario Van Peebles. And then, in the minority, are Sofia Coppola and papa Francis Ford, and John and Angelica Houston. Sean Stone, 27, the son of Oliver "Savages" Stone, has now entered the arena. His directorial debut, a found-footage horror movie "Greystone Park," about filmmakers trolling an abandoned Victorian mental institution, is now out on DVD and VOD. Dad Oliver joined his son to talk to Yahoo! Movies:

Helen Hunt in 'The Sessions' (Photo: Fox Searchlight)

When it comes to getting nominated for a second Oscar, "The Sessions" star Helen Hunt is not counting her chickens before they're hatched. But unlike many of her rivals — Jennifer Lawrence, for example — Hunt actually has chickens to count.

Following a Manhattan screening last week, the "As Good as It Gets" and "Mad About You" actress told me at an exclusive dinner at Circo with co-star John Hawkes, that she has six chicks. When diners raised concerns that she might have budding roosters bound to crow before her morning call, she said they were chick chicks — hens all.More...