•  Anne Thompson speculates about a wide open fifth slot for Best Actor and offers her own thoughts about the ladies' categories. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  The Buzzmeter launches at The Envelope, 26 pundits weigh in on picks in the top races. [The Envelope]

•  The Gurus o' Gold assess the races for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. [Movie City News]

•  Tom O'Neil looks at how an unusual race for Best Director might skew the Best Picture landscape. [Gold Derby]

•  Jeffrey Wells talks to darkhorse Best Actor contender Frank Langella about "Starting Out in the Evening." [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  With "American Gangster" and director Ridley Scott in the heat of the Oscar derby this year, Noah Forrest proclaims the helmer overrated... [Movie City News]

•  ...and gets a rush of hate mail for his troubles, with his own editor calling him "short-sighted." [The Hot Blog]

•  Argentina's foreign Oscar entry "XXY" tops the list of noms for the Sur awards of the Argentine Film Arts and Sciences Academy. [Variety]

•  Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass takes Variety's U.K. Achievement in Film Award. [Variety]

•  Isabel Kershner digs into the controversy over Israeli film "The Band's Visit," both at home and with Oscar. [New York Times]

•  Ramin Setoodeh calls "Atonement" the best film of the year ("maybe"), points us to an apparent Facebook account calling for a supporting actress nomination for Romola Garai. [The Gold Digger]

•  Scott Bowles talks "American Gangster" with the film's on- and off-screen talent. [USA Today]

•  A drop in the bucket of critical approval for the film, Bob Mondello says Oscar may come calling for Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead." [NPR]