If last year’s Academy Awards represented a contest between competing visions of movie history in “The Artist” and “Hugo,” the 2013 Oscar lineup is about actual history — the topical events of then and now. Whether that history is portrayed (or misportrayed, depending on who’s talking) with epic sentiment (“Lincoln”), audience-pleasing savvy (“Argo”), or nonjudgmental cool (“Zero Dark Thirty”), it’s ultimately all about the craft, and these are three expertly crafted films. And don’t count out “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and especially “Amour” — two dark horses that may spoil a few races. Here are the picks of Globe movie critic Ty Burr.

Comments

Miker6

02/24/2013 09:09 PM

The politicians like Dianne Feinstein do not want "Zero Dark Thirty" to win.