McConaughey and Johansson win in Rome, as 'Her' campaign gathers pace

Posted by · 7:02 am · November 18th, 2013

The actress looks to become the first-ever Oscar nominee for a voice performance.

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Roundup: Why 2012 has been a good year for movie heroines

Posted by · 5:23 am · December 11th, 2012

Also: Inside the LAFCA vote, and examining BAFTA’s rule changes

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Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman talk forging a new path for 'The Hobbit' at New York premiere

Posted by · 9:34 pm · December 6th, 2012

Warner Bros. spared no expense tonight ringing in the arrival of Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” with a New York premiere and an ornate after-party at Guastavino’s on the east side. Stars Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis and Ian McKellen, director Ben Affleck, actor Patrick Stewart and many more filled the room to capacity.

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‘John Carter’ star Willem Dafoe talks performance capture and Oscar

Posted by · 4:19 pm · March 10th, 2012

Willem Dafoe speaks a bit about motion capture’s role in the awards circuit following his portrayal of the alien Tars Tarkas in Disney’s “John Carter.”

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'Harry Potter' and 'Hugo' lead Saturn nominations with 10 each

Posted by · 11:14 am · March 1st, 2012

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films have announced the nominees for this year’s Saturn Awards and they are fairly across the map.

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Round-up: Calling for a collaborative performance Oscar

Posted by · 6:00 am · February 22nd, 2012

Also: Clothing ‘Jane Eyre,’ and rejecting the idea of ‘Oscar bait’

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Santa Barbara fest taps Bichir, Mara, McCarthy, Oswalt, Serkis and Woodley for Virtuosos Award

Posted by · 11:24 am · January 5th, 2012

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced, along with its film schedule, the recipients of this year’s Virtuosos Award. And they cast the widest net yet, honoring Demián Bichir, Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Patton Oswalt, Andy Serkis and Shailene Woodley.

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Joe Letteri and Andy Serkis on the progression of performance capture in 'Apes' and 'Tintin'

Posted by · 3:27 pm · December 22nd, 2011

In 2011, New Zealand-based visual effects company Weta Digital was at it again with another banner year in the CG filmmaking landscape, perhaps the company’s biggest year to date. At the forefront were visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri, director of Weta Digital, and actor Andy Serkis, steward of the performance capture form and the face for a technology that could potentially, at some point, become a standardized tool in the filmmaker’s arsenal.

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2011: the year in superlatives

Posted by · 10:11 am · December 16th, 2011

Who am I to complain about the amount of year-end kudos announcements when I had this post coming all along? I know. I’m so hypocritical.

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'The Artist' and 'Hugo' lead the BFCA's Critics' Choice nominees

Posted by · 2:00 am · December 13th, 2011

The Broadcast Film Critics Association has announced its nominees for the 17th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and there are literally zero surprises, across the board. It’s the roll call of Oscar contenders the list has turned into, more and more.

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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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'Apes' and 'Tintin' star Andy Serkis on performance capture's place in awards season

Posted by · 11:39 am · December 5th, 2011

The awards talk around performance capture actor Andy Serkis has seen a bit of an uptick amid Fox’s Oscar push and a critics award nomination for his work in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” It seemed a good time to get his thoughts on the technology’s place in the awards season.

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Oscarweb Round-up: Stumping for Serkis

Posted by · 7:03 am · December 2nd, 2011

In today’s round-up, the buzz on Andy Serkis’s Oscar campaign makes its way overseas, “Shame” is all over the blogosphere and parents of the victims in the Memphis Three case protest Oscar consideration of “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.”

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Steven Spielberg's 'The Adventures of Tintin' is handily one of the year's best films

Posted by · 8:21 pm · November 10th, 2011

Steven Spielberg’s “The Adventures of Tintin” closed out this year’s AFI Fest last night, and it’s one of the year’s best, most exciting cinematic accomplishments.

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Fox campaigns for Serkis, reignites mo-cap debate

Posted by · 4:55 pm · November 7th, 2011

It seems longer ago than August that the movie-blog fraternity was getting worked up about Andy Serkis’s digitally-enabled performance in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” with many getting prematurely irate about the awards attention he would inevitably not receive.

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Oscarweb Round-up: Campaigning Clint for Razzie

Posted by · 4:03 am · November 4th, 2011

In today’s round-up, Dan Kois stumps for Clint Eastwood — for a Razzie that is, Fox announces Andy Serkis for a “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” sequel and an Oscar campaign for his performance-capture work and James Mangold looks back on “Copland.”

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Review: Fun, frisky 'Tintin' pages Indiana Jones

Posted by · 2:55 pm · October 16th, 2011

You’d have been forgiven for thinking that Steven Spielberg had lost his fun gene after “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” — but “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” is a springy, souped-up entertainment that hews far closer to the original Indiana Jones template.

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