One of the most controversial shows on television returns this Sunday, April 1^st as The Killing begins airing its second season on AMC. The series, which is based on the Danish show Forbrydelsen, follows Detective Sarah Linden (Mireille Enos) and her possibly shady partner Stephen Holder (Joel Kinnaman) as they try to solve the mystery of who killed local Seattle teenager Rosie Larsen. The show also revolves around prime suspect and Mayoral candidate Darren Richmond (Billy Campbell), as well as Rosie’s parents (Brent Sexton and Michelle Forbes) who are dealing with the aftermath of their daughter’s death.

The Killing was a bona fide hit last season for AMC, which is also home to such popular series as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. But The Killing made national news last year when fans of the series were in an uproar after the show’s finale aired. The episode had been advertised as giving final answers to the show’s main mystery, however all it did was offer new questions and no clues to who actually killed Rosie Larsen. Fans of the series took to Twitter in an angry fever relieving their pain by bashing the show’s failure to follow through with answers as promised. While many fans swore to never watch the series again, I have a feeling they will all be returning Sunday night for the second season in hopes that some answers may finally come to light. But don’t expect closure to the show’s main mystery Sunday night as producers have said publicly that Rosie’s killer won’t be revealed until the end of this season.

Earlier this week, along with several other members of the press, I had a chance to sit down with Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, and Billy Campbell to discuss season two of The Killing. The actors talked about the series; it’s controversial season one finale, their surprise at the fan’s outcry, Linden’s engagement, Holder’s true intensions, Richmond’s ultimate fate, how the show’s success has affected the actor’s careers, and just who did kill Rosie Larsen?

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.

After much nominating and talk of "buzz," we're now in that part of the annual awards season that involves actual awards.  Earlier today, you may have read that Rango cleaned up at the Annie Awards, and now we know who won at the Art Directors Guild Awards.  The nominations were announced more than a month ago, and now the nation can finally stop holding its breath in anticipation. 

The awards given out by professional guilds certainly add to the undeniable and ongoing hoopla of awards season, but they don't necessarily have that teleprompter-reading, what-are-you-wearing public spectacle of the Oscars or the Golden Globes.  Instead, they often provide an opportunity for the sort of work that doesn't get recognized at the big ceremonies to feel special.

The freshly-announced nominees for excellence in wardrobe as chosen by the Costume Designers Guild are good examples.  The nominations are divided into three categories separating period, fantasy, and contemporary films.  While the nominees include movies that are sure to be on the list for Best Picture, such as The Artist and The Descendants, there's also room for the outstanding work of Sammy Sheldon on X-Men: First Class, Jany Temime on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and Erin Benach on Drive. 

The American Cinema Editors have announced the nominees in both film and television for the 62nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards.  The Eddies aren't just the most adorably named honors of the season, they're one of the many awards given out by professional guilds, as opposed to critical organizations.  So add the Eddies to list of officially-announced Guild nominations like those of the Art Directors, Producers, Writers, Directors, and Cinematographers.

The ACE nominated movies are definitely in keeping with the pattern that has emerged over this year's awards season.  Like last night's Golden Globes, the nominees are divided into dramatic and comedic categories.  Drama-wise, the only sort-of surprise is War Horse, edited by regular Spielberg collaborator Michael Kahn – a surprise not because of any fault with the movie, but because it's getting shut out more than expected.  Hugo, The Descendants, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and Moneyball round it out, while The Artist, Midnight in Paris, Bridesmaids, Young Adult, and My Week With Marilyn are all nominated as comedies.

The first full weekend of January saw only one major new release, a critically reviled faux-documentary horror film that performed quite spectacularly despite eliciting a vitriolic reaction from damn near everyone who saw it.  The second weekend was considerably more competitive, however, with a number of titles with very different audiences.  In that environment, the Mark Wahlberg-led crime drama Contraband surprised many by easily winning the number one spot, while the 3D reissue of a twenty year old Disney movie came in second place, a third sequel passed an important mark, and a music-centric comedy-drama opened in fourth place.

With just days to go before the Oscar nominations are announced on January 24th, it is now time to narrow down the predictions to 5 in each category. Rather than list each name alphabetically, the contenders have been listed in the order of their likelihood of receiving the nomination. In each category, the 5th slot could possibly go to a “dark horse” instead…

Some folks get excited about football season, others about baseball season, and still others get their jollies altogether more improbably from awards season.  While the former are actual competitions intentionally meant to culminate in an ultimate victor, the awards season, which ends with all the pomp, circumstance, and orgiastic "Who are you wearing?" spectacle of the Academy Awards, turns movies into a competition.  After the initial volley of critical awards late last year, we're now in the phase of specific professional organizations announcing their nominations.

Sony Pictures has made no bones about its intention to adapt the entirety of the late Stieg Larsson's bestselling Millennium Trilogy, starting with The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  That film is performing reasonably well in theaters right now, and the studio is continuing development on the first sequel, The Girl Who Played With Fire, though it's unknown whether or not director David Fincher will return.  Given the obvious franchise intentions, it's no surprise that the opening title sequence for the first film visually incorporates moments from all three novels.

That title sequence strongly recalls some of Fincher's distinctive work as a director of both commercials and music videos, as well as (to a lesser extent) the titles to his 1995 thriller Se7en.  The titles feature a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" by composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, along with Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O, and its a testament hypnotic, at times assaultive style that the song doesn't simply overwhelm the visual presentation.

A phenomenon swept the nation over this past weekend, and it involved audiences uniformly and venomously booing The Devil Inside as soon as the credits rolled on the found footage horror movie.  The film's mediocrity has now been well documented by audiences on Twitter, accompanied by almost unanimously terrible critical reviews and a rare "F" score collected by market research firm CinemaScore.  Being pretty much objectively a really, really crappy movie didn't stop The Devil Inside from making a fairly ridiculous amount of money in its debut weekend and easily topping the domestic box office.