Oscars: Michael Fassbender, Brie Larson, And The Frontrunners In The Best Actor & Best Actress Race

With Venice, Telluride, and Toronto in the rear-view mirror, the mid-point of New York Film Festival closing in, and some of the movies in question landing in theaters, we’re well into the midst of awards season. Though the narrative this year will depend heavily on the respective arrivals of “The Hateful Eight,” “Joy” and “The Revenant” in December, we’re certainly seeing some of our questions about this Oscar race being answered already.

There’ve been a few big revelations since our A-Z of the season a few weeks back. “Room” won the Audience Award at TIFF, proving that it wasn’t too tough for crowds and suggesting that the movie will be a big player. We got a couple of new arrivals in the season from Paramount, namely Adam McKay’s ensemble financial dramedy “The Big Short” (which feels more like “The Gambler” than “Million Dollar Baby” to me, in terms of late-breaking arrivals), and Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa” (which could be a serious challenger to Pixar in Animated...