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:

John Hawkes in 'The Sessions' (Photo: Fox Searchlight)

When I first heard the plot of "The Surrogate," now called "The Sessions," it sounded like a parody of a Sundance movie from "The Onion." A polio survivor in an iron lung (John Hawkes) turns to a sexual surrogate (Helen Hunt) to lose his virginity after consulting his priest (William H. Macy). Really?

The surprise was that Hawkes, best known as the threatening meth-maker in "Winter's Bone" and the ominous cult leader in "Martha Marcy May Marlene," breathed life and humor into the erotic adventures. Based on the real-life experience of California journalist and poet Mark O'Brien, the result was a crowd-pleaser that broke out of Sundance, traveled the festival circuit and launched Oscar buzz for Hawkes even before its theatrical premiere today. And as for those sex scenes with Hunt, Hawkes had one word to describe them: "awkward," but in a good way.

Photo: Music Box PicturesAs we enter the awards season — look there's "Argo" and "Lincoln" and, oops, there goes "The Paperboy" — the tendency is to start predicting winners. But wait! What a dull activity that would be if we didn't first look under rocks for the movies that have been overlooked and that must be seen, and recognize performances in underperforming films that have astonished us so far in 2012, like those of Rachel Weisz, Michelle Williams, and Mira Sorvino.

Photo: Sony Picture Classics

Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead has a massive fan base from roles in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," "The Thing," and "Final Destination 3." She has more than 52,000 Twitter followers and counting. Just check out @M_E_Winstead. But the North Carolina-born brunette, 27, was thirsting for a greater challenge than scream queen or love object. She found it playing a co-dependent alcoholic first-grade teacher in James Ponsoldt's Sundance hit "Smashed" opposite "Breaking Bad's" Aaron Paul. Her performance is so contemporary, raw, and fresh, there could be a best-actress Oscar nomination in the wings. Hint, hint.

Photo: Jason Kempin: Getty Images

"Do what I tell you to do and everything will be fine," Ben Affleck answered when I asked how Affleck the director and Affleck the actor get along during the making of his Oscar-bound "Argo." Affleck warmed to the topic and continued, "I am in great sync with myself. But the actor in me wants the next part, and first we have to promote this film."

And promote Affleck did, at a star-crammed Peggy Siegal-produced double dinner and screening at Manhattan's Porter House Steakhouse. I saw the film over the weekend at the Hamptons International Film Festival and was wowed. Affleck's third picture as a director is a humor-laced, fact-based drama about the daring rescue of six American foreign-service workers stranded in the house of the Canadian ambassador during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979-80. Affleck plays a CIA extraction expert who pretends to be scouting locations for a cheesy Hollywood sci-fi film called "Argo" as a cover to remove the Americans posing as a film crew.

Photo: The Weinstein CompanyThis weekend at the Hamptons International Film Festival, I got a preview of some standout female leads in upcoming movies -- Jennifer Lawrence plays a manic widow in "Silver Linings Playbook," Sienna Miller disappears into Tippi Hedren in "The Girl," and newcomer Alicia Vikander plays a tragic queen in "A Royal Affair." The three roles could not be more different, but they share one thing: They are all must-see performances.