Los Angelinos may have noticed the Gooodyear Blimp and a bunch of media helicopters circling around the Kodak Theater in Hollywood today.  These aerial vehicles were, oddly, covering an event that that takes place entirely indoors: the 84th Annual Academy Awards.  Hosted for the ninth non-consecutive time by Billy Crystal after Eddie Murphy bowed out months ago, the Oscars went down almost exactly as you'd expect: Harvey Weinstein once again proved his ability to win awards with The Artist, which took home awards for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture, amongst others.

There are just over twenty-four hours until the Academy Awards ceremony begins, and naturally, awards fever has descended on Los Angeles. Symptoms of Awards Fever include, but are not limited to: hives, fancy dressing, red carpet-walking, seizures, limo-riding, hemorrhagic bleeding, speechifying, and general hyperbole. On the eve of the Oscars, those most susceptible to Awards Fever are quarantined in a series of tents on the beach in Santa Monica, mere yards from the Pacific Ocean. 

This quarantine is, in fact, the Independent Spirit Awards, celebrating the very best in independent cinema from the past year. The 27th Annual Spirit Awards are hosted by Seth Rogen. This year, the nominees for Best Picture are 50/50, The Descendants, Drive, The Artist, Beginners,  and Take Shelter, while recognizable faces like Jessica Chastain, Ryan Gosling, Elizabeth Olsen, Corey Stoll, Michelle Williams, John Hawkes, Lauren Ambrose, and Jean Dujardin are nominees in other categories.

IAR is on the ground at the event itself, ready to share the winners at an awards show that is inarguably cooler and younger than those staid old Oscars. Check back for up to the minute news as we update with each and every new winner.

With Oscar ballots due earlier this week, and only a few days to go until the Oscars on Sunday, February 26th, here is how things stand in the race for the gold... 

Unlike the seasons that pass annually in nature thanks to the tilt of Earth's axis and its course through the solar system, awards season culminates in a climactic event that epitomizes nearly everything associated with the yearly handing out of statuettes and accolades.  The 84th annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place this Sunday at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, where Billy Crystal will host the proceedings for the ninth time in a telecast produced by Brian Grazer.

We're in the home stretch of awards season here, and as we coast ever closer to the Oscar ceremony at the end of this month, it looks like the official issuing of statues of accolades has settled into an almost entirely predictable pattern.  That pattern sees the silent film homage The Artist picking up the major awards, just as did at tonight at the 64th British Academy of Film and Television Arts, where Michel Hazanavicius's film picked up no fewer than seven awards, including Best Film, Director, Leading Actor, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Music, and Costume Design.

In a month, awards season will be no more than a memory.  A memory of ecstatic accolades, tuxedo-sporting actors, and actresses clad in dresses so beautiful they'll melt your face off while inspiring impoverished people the world over to weep diamond tears.  Right now, though, we are very much in the middle of awards season.  The latest news comes from the Screen Actors Guild, which has just handed out its annual awards.

At Miramax, Harvey Weinstein justifiably gained a reputation as something of an Oscar kingmaker, very effectively earning Academy Awards for often unlikely or unexpected features.  Last year, The Weinstein Company, the professional home of the brothers Weinstein, campaigned well on behlaf of The King's Speech, and it's looking increasingly likely that the distributor can do it again this year with The Artist.  See, French helmer Michel Hazanavicius just won the feature film award at the 2012 Director's Guild of America Awards.

The Artist, writer-director Michel Hazanavicius's loving homage to silent film, is a fizzy little concoction that's insubstantial but joyous, leaving audiences sort of giddy and smirky when its over.  Similarly, outtake reels are infectious bursts of goofy energy that we can all agree offer some meaningless yucks, often moreso than the film or television show they accompany.  You see where I'm going here.  The blooper reel from The Artist is now online, and it is just as light, happy, and entertaining as you'd expect.

Synopsis:  Hollywood 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a silent movie superstar. The advent of the talkies will sound the death knell for his career and see him fall into oblivion. For young extra Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo), it seems the sky's the limit - major movie stardom awaits. THE ARTIST tells the story of their interlinked destinies.

Opening in theaters on November 25th is a experimental new film from French director Michel Hazanavicius (OSS 117: Cario, Nest of Spies) called The Artist, which is already an early Oscar front-runner. The movie takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on a declining male film star and a rising actress, as silent cinema grows out of fashion and is replaced by the talkies. The film is itself a silent movie and is in black-and-white.

The Artist features an impressive cast of American and French actors including Jean Dujardin (OSS 117: Lost in Rio), Berenice Bejo (A Knight's Tale), John Goodman (The Big Lebowski), James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential), Penelope Ann Miller (Carlito's Way), and Missi Pyle (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). 

IAR's managing editor Jami Philbrick recently had an opportunity to sit down with the cast of The Artist, including Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, and Missi Pyle to discuss the acclaimed new film. The cast spoke honestly about the project, their initial reactions to making a silent black-and-white film, working with Michel Hazanavicius, learning to dance, and how Hollywood has changed (or hasn't changed) since the golden age of film.