'The Artist' and 'Drive' lead with St. Louis critics

Posted by · 9:32 am · December 12th, 2011

The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association has declared nominations this season, spreading the wealth from heavies like “The Artist” and “Drive” to obvious favorites like “Hanna” and “The Muppets.”

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Indiana critics like 'The Artist,' Paul Giamatti, Elizabeth Olsen

Posted by · 8:07 am · December 12th, 2011

The Indiana Film Journalists Association has, like many before it, given its the Best Picture prize to “The Artist.” But there were a few notable singular choices throughout their list, particularly in the acting races.

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Bottled up: the best films of 2011

Posted by · 7:28 am · December 12th, 2011

With the year winding to a close, it’s time to showcase the 10 best films of 2011. If you heard Friday’s podcast, you know. If you didn’t, dig in.

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Oscarweb Round-up: Looking to 2012

Posted by · 7:03 am · December 12th, 2011

In today’s round-up, we turn a slight eye toward 2012, Trent Reznor and Karen O talk about making Led Zeppelin more aggressive and Variety names the 10 directors to watch.

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'The Artist' leads with 7 Houston film critics nods

Posted by · 4:58 pm · December 11th, 2011

“Win Win” and “Drive” are among the pleasant surprises in the Houston critics’ nominee list, more predictably led by “The Artist” — but is there something suspiciously tokenistic about unaccompanied Best Picture bids for end-of-year Oscar bait?

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San Francisco critics honor 'Tree of Life,' 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'

Posted by · 4:40 pm · December 11th, 2011

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle has announced “The Tree of Life” as this year’s winner for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography. “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” won two prizes, for Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

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'Take Shelter' leads Detroit critics nods

Posted by · 3:03 pm · December 11th, 2011

“Take Shelter” leads the Detroit critics’ nominees with five mentions, the odd one out in a Best Picture lineup heavy on established critical favorites.

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'The Descendants,' Terrence Malick win with LA film critics

Posted by · 1:13 pm · December 11th, 2011

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has tapped Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” for its Best Picture prize, a bit of an anti-climactic conclusion to what had until then been a fresh and exciting vote.

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'The Artist' wins Best Pic from NY online critics, 'Bridesmaids' clearly a favorite

Posted by · 12:09 pm · December 11th, 2011

The New York Film Critics Online have gone the way of the rest and awarded “The Artist” the prize for Best Picture of 2011. Michael Shannon and Meryl Streep were also singled out.

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'Bridesmaids,' 'The Help' among films cited for AFI's 2011 top 10 list

Posted by · 11:41 am · December 11th, 2011

The AFI has issued its top 10 list for 2011, and the usual raft of ineligibilities paved the way for dubious films to make the cut. As always.

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Tell us what you thought of 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy'

Posted by · 7:27 am · December 11th, 2011

The film hits theaters this weekend.

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Academy narrows visual effects race to 15 films

Posted by · 5:17 pm · December 9th, 2011

The Academy has announced a shortlist of 15 contenders for the Best Visual Effects Oscar, and all the usual suspects, from “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” to “The Tree of Life,” are present. Still, it’s bad news for “Anonymous” and “Immortals.”

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 73 — Our top 10 films of 2011!

Posted by · 7:58 am · December 9th, 2011

In today’s podcast, Kris and Anne take a break from the usual order of things to count down, separately, their picks for the best films of the year.

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Oscarweb Round-up: R.I.P. Jerry Robinson

Posted by · 7:09 am · December 9th, 2011

In today’s round-up, Joker creator Jerry Robinson passes, the NYT ponders whether Scott Rudin held “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” because of last year’s early “Social Network” peak and James Cameron gets sued over “Avatar.”

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Teamsters and the manufacturers of the Oscar statuette stalemate

Posted by · 10:35 pm · December 8th, 2011

As the race for Oscar continues to heat up the teamsters who manufacture and deliver the physical statues are coming into conflict with R.S. Owens & Company, the producers of the Oscar and Emmy statuettes.

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Review: 'Young Adult' is a smart, sour anatomy of a bitch

Posted by · 6:40 pm · December 8th, 2011

If not quite a brilliant film itself, “Young Adult” is shot through with brilliant flashes of testy human insight, powered by Charlize Theron’s sharpest, most fluidly capricious performance since ‘Monster.’

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Octavia Spencer to receive Breakthrough Award at Palm Springs

Posted by · 9:09 am · December 8th, 2011

It’s never too late to be recognized as a “breakthrough performer”: 15 years after making her screen debut, “The Help” supporting star Octavia Spencer has been honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award at the Palm Springs festival.

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Tech Support: Chris Cornell, Elton John, Madonna and 'The Muppets' throw down for Best Original Song

Posted by · 8:26 am · December 8th, 2011

Wrapping up the weekly category analysis at Tech Support, we turn today to the Best Original Song category.

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