When you’re a film music composer as prolific as Hans Zimmer, unique soundtrack flavors can be a bit elusive. But with Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes,” Zimmer found them, pushing the boundaries of what’s acceptable with action film scores in the process. But the work isn’t without its inspirations. There seem to be bits of Danny […]

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This… No matter what happens in the short term, you can bet this will be a hot topic of discussion when the entire board of governors holds its annual postmortem on the show and the process. The academy does not take attempts to interfere with its voting process or to contact its members lightly, no […]

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I was reading through this Awards Daily post concerning the foreign language film race (wherein Sasha Stone is quite flattering) and a link in one of the comments caught my attention. I love fluid master shots.  “Touch of Evil,” “The Player,” “Boogie Nights,” I love them.  Sometimes they’re thematically relevant, other times they’re just a […]

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Much like the live action and animated short fields, in order for voters to cast their ballots for the documentary short category, they have to attend screenings of all the nominees. This tends to make these categories a bit tougher to predict, because they are frequently immune to noise in the media. You screen, you […]

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• Jamey Duvall catches up with Jeremy Renner and “Food, Inc.” director Robert Kenner. [Movie Geeks United!] • Louie Psihoyos asks what you would do with 45 seconds in the global spotlight. [Huffington Post] • Dave Karger and Missy Schwartz on four underdogs they love. [Entertainment Weekly]

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One of my favorite annual Oscar-blog institutions kicked off last night: Nathaniel Rogers’s three-day Oscar Symposium, in which six awards “experts” (remove quote marks as applicable) gather to discuss, debate, dismantle and generally disrespect this year’s Oscar race. I’m on the panel this year, but don’t let that put you off — Sasha Stone, Karina […]

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In last Friday’s edition of Oscar Talk, Anne Thompson alluded to something of an elephant in the room regarding the upcoming Oscar ceremony: that curiously matched co-producers Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic are “not getting along.” As whispers to this effect continue to circulate around the industry, the pair have clearly aimed to dispel that […]

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…it sure took long enough for the “Hurt Locker” smear campaign to get here, and boy is it robust.  More in tomorrow’s round-up (since relegating all of his silliness to a round-up is all it really deserves).

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I don’t really know why Melena Ryzik is indicating over at The Carpetbagger that the title for “The Hurt Locker” hasn’t been explained.  I feel like that was in the water way back around release and even during the Venice and Toronto screenings of 2008, but nevertheless, if you weren’t aware, she got Mark Boal’s […]

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This year’s Best Actress race is easily the most debated of the major categories. Though one can’t help but wonder why that is, as the writing has seemingly been on the wall for a number of weeks now, stretching back to before the nominations were announced. It was also one of the easiest fields to […]

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• Elysa Gardner catches up with Ryan Bingham in New York. [USA Today] • John Ratzenberger talks Pixar across the pond. [The Independent] • Steve Pond chats with “An Education” star Carey Mulligan, who seems to be hitting the pavement a bit late in the game. [The Odds]

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This is a terrific idea that the Academy really ought to steal, particularly in light of this year’s dismal official Oscar poster. BAFTA commissioned Dutch Uncle Agency illustrator Tavis Coburn to create designs for each of their five Best Film nominees, for use on this year’s official BAFTA programme covers. The retro-inspired results are quite […]

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Regular readers will know that Claire Denis’s “White Material” topped my list of last year’s best films, and would have placed high in my end-of-decade list were it not officially a 2010 release. If you’ve been wondering what I’m on about, there’s finally a trailer I can show you — subtitle-free, I’m afraid, but you’ll […]

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How much do you love “A Serious Man?” Alternatively, how much do you love vintage American automobiles? If the answer to either or both of those questions is “a lot” — and if you have some cash to spare — you might want to take part in Focus Features’ charity auction of the rather awesome […]

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He may currently be basking in the glow of a surprise Oscar nomination, but when I call him up at his London home, “In the Loop” writer-director Armando Iannucci is boasting about another achievement entirely. “Our family dog just gave birth to three puppies this afternoon,” he audibly beams, our opening pleasantries barely cooled. “They’re […]

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Via Vulture’s Wide World of Oscar feature:

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The year’s documentary feature category hasn’t offered up a lot of suspense so far this season. One contender has been a dominant force on the circuit and the nominations, for the most part, lined up accordingly. A lot of the intrigue, of course, is taken out by the mid-season announcement of a 15-film shortlist, which […]

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