We understand you're probably at an Oscar-viewing party tonight. But in case you're stuck watching the Oscars at home or at a party with some really lame guests, please join us as we offer live commentary on this year's Academy Awards ceremony. Los Angeles Times reporters Steven Zeitchik, Deborah Vankin and Patrick Kevin Day will be with you through the night, with Zeitchik on the scene at the Kodak Theatre.

Live blogging begins at 4 p.m. PST right here.

We're happy to be your Oscar buddies. And you're not even in an Oscar pool with us, so there'll be no weird pride issues or tension when your bad foreign language film pick totally costs you money.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

Photo: Oscar stands guard outside the Kodak Theatre on Oscar Sunday. Credit: Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

 
If you’re looking for a satisfying performance piece that is far from the maddening Oscar crowds, consider “Barney’s Version,” starring Paul Giamatti.

Underappreciated, it has still managed to find a surprisingly long life in theaters. This little gem of a movie is based on the stinging, satirical novel by (and about) the late, great Canadian author Mordecai Richler.

Its exceptional cast includes Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike, Scott Speedman and Minnie Driver, but is built around Giamatti’s Barney -- prickly, politically incorrect and absolutely charming. A lifetime and a great character are all that Giamatti needs, and watching him go from young turk to old man is such a pleasure. (Adrien Morot is nominated for an Oscar for makeup for helping that aging process along.)

The scenes between Hoffman and Giamatti as father and son fairly crackle on screen. Oh, and the guy playing Barney’s son Michael? That would be Hoffman’s promising progeny, Jake.

-- Betsy Sharkey

Photo: Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, father and son, at one of Barney's weddings in "Barney's Version." Credit: Takashi Seida / Sony Pictures

 
The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre is paying homage to Leslie Nielsen, who died in November at the age of 84. A serious dramatic actor for many years, he became much more widely known for his comedic persona after his turn in the 1980 hit "Airplane!" He rarely appeared on a talk show or showed up for an in-person interview without his whoopee cushion.

Screening Friday is the 1956 sci-fi classic "Forbidden Planet," in which Nielsen plays the captain of a spaceship searching for missing members of an expedition. David Zucker, one of the directors of "Airplane!" as well as the successful "Naked Gun" comedies, will be on hand Saturday to reminisce about Nielsen and screen "Airplane!," as well as 1988's "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!"

A number of special Oscar screenings and seminars are happening around town over the next few days leading up to the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday. On Friday, the nominees in the live action and animated shorts categories will screen at the Egyptian's intimate Spielberg Theater.

With the Oscars just 10 days away, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is kicking off its annual panels featuring nominees in several categories including shorts, documentaries and animation. Kenneth Branagh will host "Shorts! The 2010 Animated and Live Action Short Film Nominees," Tuesday evening at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. All the Oscar-nominated shorts will be screened, and there will be a discussion between Branagh and the filmmakers, schedules permitting. The evening is sold out but there will be a cancellation line.

On Wednesday, director Michael Apted will host "Docs!," which will feature the documentary nominees and a panel discussion with the filmmakers, schedules permitting. http://www.oscars.org

The American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre will screen the Oscar-nominated drama "The Fighter" Friday evening. On hand will be the film's Academy Award-nominated director David O. Russell and star Amy Adams. Oscar winner Anjelica Huston visits the Aero Saturday evening to discuss her career and her illustrious family. The theater will screen two films she made with her father John Huston: 1985's "Prizzi's Honor," for which she won the supporting actress Oscar, and 1987's "The Dead," her father's cinematic swan song.

Mike Leigh can be a famously challenging interview. But questioning the unorthodox director -- who has managed to consistently turn out strong, Oscar-worthy films with an iconoclastic method that involves very little scripting and a lot of rehearsal -- isn't nearly as complicated as his fate has been at Cannes over his long career.

This year, Leigh's fortunes have gone upside down once again.  He's turned out, in another year, "Another Year," which is another very strong film. A story that slyly and continually shifts its focus between a low-key, stable elderly couple, played by the brilliant Ruth Sheen and Jim Broadbent, and a constellation of dysfunctional acquaintances pulled into the couple's orbit, the film is indeed as appealing as many of the critics have it. It's smart, unexpected, touching, palpably believable and

No matter what happens at the Academy Awards Sunday night, best actress nominee Sandra Bullock is a winner this weekend – although not necessarily in the way aspiring young actors might dream of.

Bullock, who drew raves for her performance in “The Blind Side,” was honored twice Saturday night for something else altogether at the 30th annual Razzie Awards, which good-naturedly tweak Hollywood every Oscar weekend for all the films it cranked out the previous year at the other end of the quality spectrum.

In Bullock’s case it was “All About Steve,” the comedy that cast her as a lovesick stalker and earned her honors as worst actress and worst screen couple (with Bradley Cooper).

It could have been worse for Bullock, though. “All About Steve,” which she helped produce, also was nominated as worst picture but that (dis)honor went instead to “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which wound up as the night’s big winner (or loser, depending on your point of view), collecting Razzies for worst director (Michael Bay) and worst screenplay (Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman).

In ceremonies at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood, other awards went to siblings Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas, who collectively were named worst actor for “Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience”; Sienna Miller for her supporting role in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”;  Billy Ray Cyrus for his supporting role in “Hannah  Montana: The Movie”; and “Land of the Lost” for worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.

The Razzies are presented by the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation based on ballots sent by founder John Wilson to 657 journalists, industry workers and fans.

--Lee Margulies

Photo: Sandra Bullock and Bradley Cooper in "All About Steve." Credit: Suzanne Tenner / Twentieth Century Fox

Photo: "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." Credit: Paramount Pictures

It's only Saturday, but a few of us here at 24 Frames might be forgiven for already having a wee bit of an Oscar hangover. No, no pre-parties or gifting suites for us. Instead, it's more from the nonstop coverage, starting even before the nominations were announced at, um, about 5:30 in the morning on Feb. 2.

Now, we know you've been following every word of it, but just in case you need some "reminding," here's a cheat sheet to get you set for Sunday -- sort of an Oscars by the numbers:

10: Number of best picture nominees. It's no secret the Oscars are trying to goose public interest by expanding the field from five to 10 this year. Did it work?

9: Number of nominations for "Avatar." But not a single one was for acting. Is it because people don't respect the technology?

8: Number of times the Oscar voting process must be explained in order to understand it. At a minimum.

7: Number of decades cinema has grappled with Nazis. Except "Inglourious Basterds" did a lot more than "grapple" with them.

6: Number of Sunday Calendar cover illustrations this weekend. Indulge us for a second: If the Oscars can go to 10 film nominees, we can print six covers.

5: Number of nominations for Jeff Bridges over his career. Bad Blake's fine, but some of us will always think of him for a role that didn't get a nod: as the Dude. 

4: Number of nominated producers on "The Hurt Locker." But one won't be let inside the building.

3: Number of Academy members The Envelope got to reveal their secret votes. Anonymously, natch.

2: Number of hosts this year. Guess we can ignore the discredited rumors of a third one.

1: Number of things that are certain. In a year of many question marks, we just know the revamped show will end on time. We hope.

-- Scott Sandell

Above: One of six Oscar-themed cover illustrations on Sunday Calendar this week. Credit: Maurice Vellekoop / For The Times

Those seeking a quick primer on Film Independent’s Spirit Awards need only YouTube Mickey Rourke's acceptance speech at last year's ceremony.

Is Rourke available for an encore?

As the Spirit Awards prepares to stage its 25th-anniversary show Friday night in downtown Los Angeles, it will try to capture the anarchic tone that over the years has made it a fun and sometimes headline-worthy alternative to the Oscars. But reaching that high bar won’t be easy. The show has instituted changes in venue, time and format and also must cope with the contraction of the specialty-film business, an absence of the year’s most buzzed-about independent film and the eternal question of its balance between the indie and mainstream.

When Film Independent, the nonprofit group that runs the Spirits and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced last summer that it was making a number of changes to the event, the announcement was greeted with a few raised eyebrows. The group was moving the awards out of its slot on the Saturday afternoon of Oscar weekend, which it had occupied for the past 10 years, to an 8 p.m. Friday slot. The show was also moving from its customary location under a large tent on the beach in Santa Monica to a venue at L.A. Live.

Those may seem like small trivial changes, but in the small, incestuous world of independent film — which can be just as tradition-bound in its way as its studio counterpart — many veterans privately wondered if the Spirits were simply trying to save a few pennies. In the process, they said, it was fair to ask if the show would lose its let-down-your-hair feel.

“Avatar” picked up another award Tuesday night, but Oscar prognosticators probably shouldn't read anything into it -- “The Hurt Locker,” "Up in the Air" and “Inglourious Basterds” weren’t eligible.

James Cameron’s blockbuster was named best live-action 3-D feature by the month-old International 3D Society, kicking off its inaugural Lumiere Awards at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

“Up,” also in the running for Academy Award best picture honors, was honored as best animated 3-D feature, and another Pixar work, “Partly Cloudy,” won in the category for best short 3-D motion picture/narrative.

The International 3D Society was formed Jan. 21 with a stated mission of advancing “the achievement of professionals working in the arts and technologies of Stereoscopic 3D.” Its board of governors includes a diverse group -- studio executives, the heads of 3-D and post-production houses and even a PhD at UC Berkeley's school of optometry. The awards were voted on by more than 100 film industry 3-D experts, a spokesman for the group said.

Among other winners Tuesday were the Imax film “Under the Sea 3D” as best 3-D documentary, “G-Force” as best 2-D-to-3-D converted feature, and “Avatar’s” Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana) as best 3-D character of the year.

-- Lee Margulies

Photo of Neytiri from "Avatar": WETA / Associated Press

“The Hurt Locker,” “Avatar” and “Sherlock Holmes” were honored by the Art Directors Guild for excellence in production design Saturday night.

Karl Júlíusson won for contemporary film for “The Hurt Locker” at the gala ceremony at the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Sarah Greenwood won for period film for “Sherlock Holmes,” and Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg received the award for fantasy film for “Avatar.”

On the television front, Joseph P. Lucky won in half-hour single camera for the “Ducks and Tigers” episode of “Weeds,” Dan Bishop won in one-hour single camera series for the “Souvenir” episode of “Mad Men” and “Hell’s Kitchen” won for multi-camera variety or unscripted series.

Kalina Ivanov won television movie or miniseries for “Grey Gardens.”

Absolut Anthem and Absolut World won in the commercial or music video category while the 51st Annual Grammy Awards won for awards, music or game show.

Art director Paul Sylbert presented the award for outstanding contribution to cinematic imagery to Warren Beatty. Terence Marsh was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award and Michael Baugh took home the Creative Leadership Award.

-- Susan King

Photo: "The Hurt Locker" / Summit Entertainment

More from The Envelope:

Notes on the town: Can "Avatar" save California?

If I ran the Oscars: Lloyd Kaufman

Oscar derby update: Buzzmeter experts clash over "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker" and "Inglourious Basterds"