With Oscar ballots due Tuesday, and less than a week to go until the awards are handed out on Sunday, February 24th, let's take a look at how things stand in the race for the gold. This is undoubtedly the most unpredictable Oscar race in years, and there has not been this much uncertainty since Crash faced off against Brokeback Mountain back in 2006.

Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, Rogues of all stripes, the time is finally here. 

The Oscars have arrived.

Actually, not quite.  But the 85th Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, February 24th.  The ceremony, held at the Dolby Theatre in the Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles, California, is hosted this year by Seth MacFarlane, who also scored his first nomination on account of the song "Everybody Needs a Buddy" from Ted.  The stars are set to turn out for the most ostentatious night in Hollywood, from the "Who are you wearing?" hysteria of the red carpet to the ecstatic acceptance speeches to the inevitable after-parties.

Like you, we here at iamROGUE have Oscar fever, and we're hemorrhaging some of the finest awards season coverage anywhere online.

A week from now, it is most likely that director Ben Affleck’s Argo, which will be available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning February 19th, will have won Best Picture at the 2013 Academy Awards. 

While the filmmaker was shockingly snubbed of a Best Director Oscar nomination, he and the film have gone on to win almost every award imaginable including Best Picture and Best Director at the Golden Globes and the Critics’ Choice Awards, as well as Outstanding Cast Performance at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Outstanding Directorial Achievement at the DGA Awards. Affleck previously won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay along with Matt Damon for co-writing Good Will Hunting, and Argo marks his third directorial effort following the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone, and The Town. 

Ever since John McClane first uttered the words “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker” in Die Hard almost twenty-five years ago, Hollywood has been copying the extraordinary success of that film. In fact, the groundbreaking movie actually created its own sub-category of action film that has been repeated many times and affectionately referred to as “Die Hard on a plane,” as in the case of Passenger 57, or “Die Hard on a boat,” as in the case of Under Siege, or even “Die Hard in a hockey rink,” as in the case of Sudden Impact. Actually, I once heard a story about a studio executive that pitched an idea to a writer and said, “Its Die Hard in a building!” The writer replied, “Hasn’t that been done before?” To which the executive quickly answered, “Yeah, but only in the first movie!”

Well, now audience can get ready for a new twist on the “Die Hard in a …” concept, “Die Hard in the White House.” In fact, there are actually two “Die Hard in the White House” films coming out in 2013, believe it or not. However, it is not unusual to see Hollywood release two similar high-concept films at the same time. Remember when asteroid movies (Deep Impact, Armageddon) were all the rage? And don’t forget that there was two films featuring the 16th President (Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) released last year. So it should be no surprise that Training Day director Antoine Fuqua’s Olympus Has Fallen, which opens in theaters on March 22nd and features Gerard Butler as a Secret Service agent saving Aaron Eckhart’s President from terrorists, is being released just a few months ahead of Independence Day director Roland Emmerich’s White House Down, which similarly finds Channing Tatum’s Secret Service agent trying to save Jamie Foxx’s President from terrorists. 

Last week, I had the pleasure of being invited to the Olympus Has Fallen mixing stage, along with a select group of journalists, to see the new trailer for the film (which was released online yesterday), as well as three unfinished scenes, and a chance to speak with director Antoine Fuqua about his new movie. As anyone who has had a chance to see the trailer can tell you, it looks extremely cool and I was personally very impressed with all the footage that I saw. 

Are you looking for the perfect date movie for Valentine’s Day?

Then look no further than the new romantic-thriller Safe Haven, which opens in theaters on Thursday February 14th and is from Academy Award-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom (The Cider House Rules, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?), best selling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook, A Walk to Remember) and Relativity Media, the same team behind the box office smash Dear John. 

Safe Haven revolves around a young woman named Kate (Julianne Hough) with a mysterious past. When Kate arrives in the small town of Southport, North Carolina, she bonds with a widower named Alex (Josh Duhamel) with two small children of his own. Reluctant to build any ties in community, Kate and Alex eventually begin a relationship that will be threatened by the dark secrets of her past. In addition to Hough and Duhamel, the film also features performances from Cobie Smulders (The Avengers), David Lyons (NBC’s Revolution), Noah Lomax (Playing for Keeps), and newcomer Mimi Kirkland. 

Last summer, I had the pleasure of traveling to Wilmington, North Carolina (along with several other members of the press) to visit the set of Safe Haven and talk with some of the cast and crew. While on set, I had a chance to speak with acclaimed director Lasse Hallstrom, and actors Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, as well as witness filming, which included a staged fire and even a complete fireworks show. 

The hit horror-thriller House at the End of the Street is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital download, providing audiences with the opportunity to see ascending superstar and acclaimed young actress Jennifer Lawrence redefining feeble notions of just what it means to be a "scream queen."

More than probably any other single city, Los Angles represents the cultural dream that is a California: a bright, endlessly sunny paradise of populated by pretty people living the life on the farthest edge of what was once an unexplored, wild continent.  Gangster Squad, opening nationwide this Friday, January 11th, sleekly evokes this unreal LA with a vision of the city's past while also telling a propulsive action story inspired by 20th Century criminality.

Loosely based on the book by Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad takes place in a neon-soaked notion of Los Angeles, 1949.  Brooklyn-born criminal Mickey Cohen tightens his vice-like grip on the postwar city, bringing East Coast-style organized crime to the Pacific, where his illicit empire becomes a corrosive influence on the LAPD.  In order to combat Cohen, a team of incorruptible cops are recruited to stand outside the law and take down Cohen by any means necessary.

Working from a screenplay by former LAPD cop Will Beall (Justice League), Ruben Flesicher (Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less) directs the film as a two-fisted adventure that uses real-life historical figures to tell a pulpy tale of good guys battling gangsters for the soul of a city.  His cast is led by Josh Brolin (No County for Old Men, Men in Black 3) as the squad's leader, with Ryan Gosling (Drive, Blue Valentine), Michael Pena (End of Watch, Observe & Report), Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker, Real Steel), Robert Patrick (Safe House, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) and Giovanni Ribisi (Ted, Saving Private Ryan) as the titular team.  In addition to Nick Nolte (Warrior, 48 Hrs.) as Chief Parker, along with Sean Penn (Milk, Dead Man Walking) as Mickey Cohen and Emma Stone (The Amazing Spider-Man, The Help) as Grace Faraday, Cohen's ladyfriend.

Last month, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone sat down with a group of entertainment journalists on the Los Angeles press day to answer any and all Gangster Squad-related questions.  IAR Managing Editor Jami Philbrick was in attendance to hear the actors discuss playing characters based on real people, working together, the most difficult scenes in the film, wool costumes, and the movie's unexpected tone.

Quentin Tarantino made a name for himself with his 1992 debut, Reservoir Dogs and has continued to engage audiences with his unique writing and direction since. Opening Christmas Day is his latest film, Django Unchained, which stars Jamie Foxx (Ray, Miami Vice), Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Carnage), Leonardo Dicaprio (Inception, The Basketball Diaries), Kerry Washington (Ray, Last King of Scotland), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Long Kiss Goodnight).

The film focuses on Django, played by Foxx, a slave living in the Deep South after having been separated from his wife Broomhilda, played by Washington. When Django is held for a slave auction, Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), a German bounty hunter who uses his former profession of a dentist as a cover, frees Django from his vicious masters and gives him the option of helping him hunt down and kill the Brittle Brothers, a ruthless gang of killers whom only Django has seen. In return, Schultz will free Django from slavery completely and help find and rescue Broomhilda from the charming but brutal Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), who owns Candyland, a plantation where male slaves are trained to fight for sport and female slaves are forced into prostitution.

A press conference was recently held in New York City in which filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, joined by Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz, and Don Johnson discussed their new film, Django Unchained.

We're currently neck deep in the holidays, that magical time of the year when millions of citizens engage in a mass migration to stuff ourselves in homes with their extended families, groups of people we know so well and so little.  Our often strange familial relationships are made even more dramatic by seemingly irreconcilable generational differences.

In Parental Guidance, arriving at a theater near you on Christmas Day, those generational differences are the basic for family-friendly comedy.

Directed by Andy Fickman (Race to Witch Mountain, The Game Plan), Parental Guidance stars Billy Crystal (When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers) and Bette Midler (The Rose, Beaches) as Artie and Diane, two thoroughly old school grandparents uncomfortable with the fabulous technological age in which they find themselves. 

The couple agrees to babysit their trio of grandparents when their overbearing, type-A parents, played by Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Wrestler) and Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do!, TV's Southland) go on vacation.  Out of touch with the unruly youngsters, Artie and Diane must get beyond the iPhones, Twitter, and Facebook to relate to their grandchildren.

While promoting Parental Guidance, Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, and Marisa Tomei spoke to a group of international entertainment journalists about making the comedy, working with young actors, messy comedic gags, feeling out of touch, and looking back on illustrious careers.