Kevin Spacey (Getty Images)

Never let it be said that Netflix doesn't understand how its users watch TV shows--all at once, in a binge-y, snack-filled fugue state. The online video service is launching all thirteen episodes of its new original series produced by Media Rights Capital, House of Cards, on February 1, 2013. Recap culture is to be thrown into chaos by the method that will allow for, presumably, at least a few marathon sessions. Kevin Spacey plays a powerful Congressman in the series, produced and with the first two episodes directed by David Fincher. Hold our calls for the weekend of 02/01/13 (yep, it's a Friday)--we'll be indoors, huddled in front of our laptop!

David Fincher and Jake Gyllenhaal (Getty Images)

We’re here to tell you just how to set your DVR before heading out for drinks or dinner–or just watching something better on TV!

David Fincher narrowly missed out on his third Best Director nomination at the Oscars in four years for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo--but we'd argue his career renaissance began before his Oscar nominations, with 2007's Zodiac. This film, starring peak Jake Gyllenhaal and a pre-comeback Robert Downey, Jr. (2007!) is a document of single-minded obsession, the one trait uniting a mysterious serial killer and the journalist pursuing him. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's a rape-free synopsis of Dragon Tattoo--even the foggy, dark conditions are the same, as Zodiac swaps Sweden for San Francisco. It's also by far the best thing anyone involved has ever done! (Okay, Jake's not amazing, but by his standard--but he's pretty good.)

Set your DVR for 10:30pm on IFC.

Michelle Williams--who will be nominated. Who else will join her? (Getty Images)

Tomorrow morning will bring that early-morning announcement of this year's Oscar nominees--with the attention-desperate wrinkle that no one knows how many nominees there will be. Herewith, our predictions, for last-minute entries into your office pool (if yours is the sort of office at which Oscar nominations are the subject of a pool. Ours is not, which is why we're writing a blog post).

Best Picture

The Artist

The Descendants

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

We know any number of films between five and ten can be nominated for Best Picture, but with The Artist and The Descendants sucking up so much oxygen and so many first-place votes, it's easy to imagine no sixth choice gathering enough steam. The likely sixth entry, if there is one, would be Moneyball--but aren't many of those voters who love "adult dramas" more likely to vote in the buzzier Descendants first?

Best Director

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

David Fincher, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Mr. Allen, Mr. Scorsese, and Mr. Hazanavicius are clear locks, and Mr. Payne will get in on the strength of his film's reputation. For the fifth spot, Mr. Fincher and Steven Spielberg seem the likeliest (The Help's debut director, Tate Taylor, did not particularly distinguish himself), but the total fade of War Horse's repute gives the advantage to Mr. Fincher for what would be his third nomination in four years.

Best Actor

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean DuJardin, The Artist

Michael Fassbender, Shame

Ryan Gosling, The Ides of March

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated for all manner of precursor awards for his role in J. Edgar, but that movie's disappeared from theaters and from the minds of viewers who've seen many, many better movies by now (J. Edgar really is uniquely terrible). Anyone who loves biographical films about controversial figures gets to vote one in with Meryl Streep in Best Actress--and the surprise nominee might be Ryan Gosling, who does nothing too special in The Ides of March but who'd be a big enough star to stand alongside Mr. Clooney and Mr. Pitt.

Best Actress

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The Help

Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

Ms. Streep, Ms. Davis, and Ms. Williams have all won early awards, and Ms. Close helped produce her own movie, in which she plays a traditionally bait-y role as a female impersonating a male. The notion that four people in Oscar-bait roles would be joined by Tilda Swinton in the avant-garde We Need to Talk About Kevin stretches credulity--silent for long stretches and chronologically disjointed, this doesn't seem like the sort of role that gets an actress to the Kodak. The narrative around Rooney Mara--plucked out of nowhere in the most extensive casting search since Scarlett O'Hara--seems to coalesce towards a surprise nomination.

Best Supporting Actor

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Armie Hammer, J. Edgar

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Mr. Plummer is so far ahead here that the rest of the nominees seem plucked from thin air--an impersonation of Lawrence Olivier? Sure! A fairly quiet turn by a popular comic? Definitely! An attempt at a comeback in a movie no one saw? Okay! Armie Hammer's nomination seems the least likely, but the energy he brought to J. Edgar could make him the one element of the film they nominate.

Best Supporting Actress

Bérénice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Octavia Spencer, The Help

Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Three movies with huge amounts of apparent support carry their supporting stars towards a nomination, with the addition of Melissa McCarthy, taking the spot that some believe might have gone to Janet McTeer in the little-seen Albert Nobbs.

Best Original Screenplay

50/50

The Artist

Bridesmaids

Midnight in Paris

Young Adult

This category seems fairly open--besides the two Best Picture nominees, the three other top entries are not traditionally Oscar-y comedies. The Writers' Guild of America nominated Win Win, a sort-of comedy also, here, but that movie seems even less up Oscar's alley than Young Adult, a movie in which past winner Diablo Cody deals with her relationship with fame.

Best Adapted Screenplay

The Descendants

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Help

Hugo

Moneyball

This category, on the other hand, has the real heat--it's hard to imagine anything sneaking into a set of screenplays this popular. It's also one of the few categories with true suspense as to the winner--because the real speculation only begins on Tuesday.

Comparisons end there, however. The scene that would-be Lisbeths had to read departs a bit from family friendly wizarding fare.

"We had five or six girls audition with the rape scene," Fincher told W. "The girls had to kick a dildo up his ass. That’s Salander’s big scene, and we had to see if they could do it."

And in the end, the actress who most convincingly kicked a dildo up the guy's ass was Rooney Mara.

The cover story, entitled "David Fincher Gets The Girl," reveals the details that fans of the global sensation that is Steig Larsson's Millenium Trilogy have been dying to hear for months. And, perhaps more importantly, the issue comes with big glossy pictures of Mara as Salander: Rooney with her jet-black hair weed-whacked off and spiked into an unruly mohawk; Rooney with a cigarette dangling from piercing-clad lips, bottomless and sprawled chest-down in a tattoo parlor, getting ink done; Rooney with her legs in tattered leggings akimbo across a motorcycle, eyes smeared with oil-hued eyeliner. One could say that Fincher made the right choice.

But while the film's aesthetic pleasures may be confirmed, it remains to be seen whether it can deliver the dynamo entertainment the books apparently offers in spades. Even if things do look good on paper, Fincher and screenwriter Steve Zallian plan on diverging from the books and Swedish movies drastically.

[The script] departs rather dramatically from the book. Blomkvist is less promiscuous, Salander is more aggressive, and, most notably, the ending—the resolution of the drama—has been completely changed. This may be sacrilege to some, but Zaillian has improved on Larsson—the script’s ending is more interesting.

Get ready for the intense fanbase backlash!

And naturally, Hirschberg gets in a few of her signature cutting jabs, those barbs that made her profile of M.I.A. so scathing. She quotes mega-producer Scott Rudin -- Dragon Tattoo's producer, in fact -- as saying Fincher has the same "fuck-off arrogance" as the Mark Zuckerberg character in The Social Network. And she paints the auteur accordingly: one anecdote has Fincher explaining that he divides into the categories of true "films" or simply little "movies."

And what of The Social Network, Fincher's best chance at a best director Oscar? "It's a little glib to be a film," he says. Let's hope the Academy doesn't read W!

Click for What Twitter Taught Us: Piers Morgan Defends A Cell-Abusing Arianna

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234

It's 2 a.m. and you awake with a jerk, alone in your fully lit apartment and still on the couch. On TV, the credits of some movie you've already seen a billion times are scrolling by. It feels like rock bottom. And we know, because we're just like you: single.

Need a movie to keep you company until you literally can't keep your eyes open? Join us tonight when we pass out to Fight Club [starting @ 11:30 p.m. on Fuse]

Why we’ll try to stay up and watch it: There are those people that think Fight Club is a depraved, silly and condescending film—one that possesses utter contempt for its audience and characters; those that feel this is the type of movie that actually winds up celebrating the same people it hopes denigrate (for a more current example of this, see the controversies erupting over the yet-to-be released Bruno); frankly, there are people that just don’t like this thing. And to them, we say: Get over it! Fight Club is a true pop masterpiece, and, depending on the day you asked, it would rank fairly high on our list of all-time favorites.

Effusive praise aside, we are objective enough to understand Fight Club does have flaws and limitations; both of director David Fincher’s two most recent films, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Zodiac, are more complete thoughts from a cinematic standpoint. But Mr. Fincher has never again come close to capturing the spirit and energy of Fight Club. He attacks the adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s novel, written for the screen by Jim Uhls (whose only other legitimate credit is for Jumper; go figure), with the tenacity of an angry shark. Fight Club is cut with a razor’s edge, and Mr. Fincher keeps the film hurdling along at speeds that clock in at just below borderline derailment. And while Mr. Fincher almost loses his grip on the proceedings during the clumsy third act, he pulls it all together for the Pixies-scored denouement. Even in a September 10th world (Fight Club was released in the spring of 1999), ending your film with the mass bombing of multiple buildings takes guts we’re not sure many filmmakers have.

When we’ll probably fall asleep: While we can’t agree with the fanboys at Empire magazine who called Tyler Durden the greatest film character ever (was Quint from Jaws ineligible?), we can at least understand that kind of breathless hyperbole. Brad Pitt’s portrayal of Durden is a whirling dervish of charm and menace; of course people love Tyler! But ... give us Edward Norton’s Narrator over him any day of the week. Mr. Norton has kept a much lower profile than Mr. Pitt (which is true of almost every other person on the planet), but Fight Club is a great reminder of his talents as an actor: He’s focused, sardonic, resigned and really good at being kinda creepy. So we’ll make it until 12:40 a.m., 70 minutes into the film, when Mr. Norton’s “button-downed Oxford clothed psycho” takes the stuffing out of his boss by threatening to go postal on his office mates, all while barely raising his voice above a whisper. 

Based on the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Andreyeko, Torso has been on Mr. Fincher's radar since January of 2006. It tells the story of post-Untouchables Elliot Ness and his exploits in the treasury department while looking for a serial killer who dumps his victim's torsos into the river. (Note: Gross.) However, how much of the graphic novel would make it to the screen remains to be seen. Mr. Fincher told MTV in December that his film would be a "complete reimagining" of the source material and he likened the structure to that of Citizen Kane and Rashomon. Matt Damon was circling the project to star as Elliot Ness with Casey Affleck along for the ride too, so long as he's done making that documentary about Joaquin Phoenix's hilarious rap career.

We'd be totally fine if the web of problems around Torso never gets untangled. Not that the film doesn't sound highly interesting--who wouldn't want to see what Elliot Ness was like after he took down Al Capone?--but it just feels like a waste of Mr. Fincher's time. After Zodiac and Se7en, what more could he possibly bring to the serial killer genre? We guess it could be looked at as Mr. Fincher's first attempt at a comic book movie, but that doesn't get us very excited. And besides, Fight Club already feels like a comic book movie. We have no doubt that a Mr. Fincher-directed Torso starring Matt Damon would be awesome, but we'd rather see him try something else … like that bananas sex comedy where Keanu Reeves stars as a chef. Seriously. Sign us up right now for whatever that crazy movie is supposed to be.

Tuesday: Se7en
As you get ready for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the third team-up of Brad Pitt and director David Fincher, maybe take some time out to revisit their first pairing. We're still shocked Mr. Fincher ever got Se7en released at all, especially with that ending. Simply put, you don't normally see the pretty blonde female lead end up with her head stuffed in a box. Dark, scary and soaked in utter hopelessness, Mr. Fincher's most complete film is gloriously unrelenting. [Encore Mystery, 8 p.m.]

Wednesday: Christmas at Rockefeller Center
Jane Krakowski rarely gets more than a handful minutes per week on 30 Rock, despite having third billing. Perhaps, then, in an effort to make her contract appear more palpable to the accountants, Ms. Krakowski is being farmed out to other NBC broadcasts. Last week she appeared on Rosie Live; this week she's helping Al Roker light the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. By New Year's Eve she could be co-hosting The Today Show. [NBC, 8 p.m.]

Thursday: Oldboy
The geek world was rocked a couple of weeks ago when it was announced that Steven Spielberg would be remaking Park Chan-wook's Oldboy with Will Smith set to star. While Mr. Smith has since said that the project will focus on the original graphic novel and not the previous film, fans are still upset. We can see why: Oldboy is a decidedly non-Spielbergian venture. Mr. Chan-wook's film is crazy violent and features a denouement that would make the aforementioned David Fincher cackle with deranged delight. [Sundance, 1:45 a.m.]

Friday: Trading Places
If Trading Places were remade today, it would be a scrubbed clean PG-13 summer blockbuster starring Adam Sandler and Chris Rock. Thank goodness that hasn't happened... yet. The original Trading Places is a hard-R and a time capsule of 80s nostalgia which reminds everyone that, at one time, Dan Akroyd was hilarious, Eddie Murphy was brilliant and Jamie Lee Curtis was super hot (and, in Trading Places, topless). More than anything else, we love the hodgepodge supporting cast: Denholm Elliot, Paul Gleason, Jim Belushi, Ralph Bellamy and potential United States Senator Al Franken, as an inebriated and dimwitted baggage handler. [Outer Max, 8 p.m.]

We listened to large chunks of Mr. Desplat's score this morning and found it positively gorgeous. It's perfect for a rainy day and totally in-line with what we expected to hear from David Fincher's film, especially after the initial Benjamin Button teaser used Camile Saint-Saëns' "Aquarium" movement from his Le Carnaval des Animaux. Mr. Desplat's work borrows heavily from early John Williams/Steven Spielberg collaborations (we're thinking Jaws) and also Danny Elfman's various pieces for Tim Burton. We even noticed a bit of Coldplay, on the track titled "The Hummingbird".

Speaking of track titles... lots of times, they can give you a sense of the film. And with names like "The Accident", "Nothing Lasts", "Stay Out of My Life", "Some Things You Never Forget" and "Dying Away", we assume we'll be a ball of tears and snot by the end credits. While a lot of early reviewers have said The Curious Case of Benjamin Button left them feeling emotionally detached from the proceedings, we can't imagine that being the case (though of course, we haven't seen it yet). Any film with a score like this has to illicit some type of deep emotional reaction. We bet it could make even the most pedestrian images crackle with deeper meaning! Regardless, Mr. Desplat, most recently nominated for his work on The Queen, should clear his calendar for February 21st, 2009.

The spot, titled "Fate", played almost ad nauseam over the weekend. We might have seen it twenty times. But it clearly works. In fact, the group of cynical sports fans we were watching the NFL games with yesterday actually paused to comment on how cool this commercial was; somewhere Don Draper is smiling.

Maybe it's because we prefer Mr. Fincher, or maybe because using a remixed version Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold" from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a killer score selection to help build tension, but we found this spot wholly better than Michael Mann's similar effort from last fall. Still that's like arguing apples versus apples. The big story here is that once again, Nike was able to get a beloved director to film a shoe commercial. And in Mr. Fincher's case, we're glad they did. Plus, with reports of Benjamin Button clocking in at over three hours, after Zodiac hit two-and-a-half, it's comforting to know that the director can still tell a good story without using miles of film stock.

We loved the teaser trailer that ran in front of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull over the summer, which used the "Aquarium" movement of Camille Saint-Saens' Le Carnaval des Animaux to such haunting effect. However our expectations for the film were slightly dampened after hearing about the negative reaction some twenty minutes of footage got at the Telluride Film Festival. Reportedly what was shown ended up being slow, unwieldy and stiff, a bad sign for a film that has a three-hour runtime.

The new trailer doesn't really address any of those concerns; it's slow and steady and seems to give away what basically amounts to the entire movie in a mere two-and-a-half minutes. If that's the case, we can see how it's going to drag. However, we're still pretty psyched by what we see here. Literally. Mr. Fincher's film looks strikingly beautiful (we recommend you take the time to watch the trailer in HD), and the lush photography of his longtime collaborator Claudio Miranda is already at the top of our Oscar prognostication list. Plus the CGI work is both scary good and just plain scary. Who knew that when Brad Pitt turns eighty, he'll look like the spawn of John McCain and Gollum? We sure didn't!