'The Artist' triumphs with Phoenix critics

Posted by · 8:22 pm · December 27th, 2011

After recently releasing a slate of nominees, the Phoenix Film Critics Society has named “The Artist” the best picture of the year, but I have to say, I was stopped dead in my tracks by this line of boast at the organization’s official site…

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Round-up: Score one for #teammargaret

Posted by · 9:10 am · December 26th, 2011

In today’s round-up, #teammargaret seems to have scored a victory as screeners of Kenneth Lonergan’s film have reportedly been sent to Academy members, Steven Zaillian talks changing the story and ending of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and Baz Luhrmann got a boo-boo on the set of “The Great Gatsby.”

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Round-up: When is a simple omission a snub?

Posted by · 6:00 am · December 23rd, 2011

Also: championing Pitt for ‘Tree of Life’ and the year in LGBT characters

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Berlinale jury includes Gyllenhaal and Farhadi, first Competition titles announced

Posted by · 3:48 am · December 23rd, 2011

With a heavyweight jury including Mike Leigh, Jake Gyllenhaal and ‘A Separation’ director Asghar Farhadi, February’s Berlin Film Festival will be hoping for a world-class Competition lineup. First on the list: Filipino provocateur Brillante Mendoza’s “Captured,” starring Isabelle Huppert.

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'Drive,' 'A Better Life' and 'Attack the Block' among scores not eligible for Oscar this year

Posted by · 5:03 pm · December 22nd, 2011

The Academy has announced a list of 97 film scores eligible for consideration in the Best Original Score category this year. Typically, it’s this announcement that brings the bad news of this or that score either not being submitted or being ruled ineligible for whatever reason.

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Stephen Daldry named Director of the Year by Palm Springs fest

Posted by · 4:00 pm · December 22nd, 2011

Today the Palm Springs International Film Festival came out in favor of Stephen Daldry when it announced that the he will be presented with the Director of the Year Award at their January 7 Awards Gala.

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Round-up: 2011's composers score the body electric

Posted by · 6:00 am · December 19th, 2011

Also: Jolie talks politics on ‘Blood and Honey’ and the year in dogs

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Novel giveaway contest winner!

Posted by · 11:39 am · December 16th, 2011

Cody S, come on down…

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 74 — LAFCA, SAG, Globes, 'Dragon Tattoo,' 'Extremely Loud' and more

Posted by · 7:58 am · December 16th, 2011

In this week’s podcast, Kris and Anne talk about the week in critics awards, nomination announcements and a pair of late-breaking, heavily-anticipated studio efforts: “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.”

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'The Artist' leads with six Golden Globe nods, Spielberg snubbed

Posted by · 4:27 am · December 15th, 2011

‘The Descendants’ and ‘The Help’ followed with five nominations apiece, but it’s George Clooney’s “The Ides of March,” with four, that is the morning’s big comeback kid.

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Guessing the Globes

Posted by · 11:54 am · December 14th, 2011

Here’s another chance for you to spitball the Golden Globes nominee list: we’re expecting a leading haul for “The Artist,” but what annual oddities will surface in the comedy/musical categories?

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Max von Sydow remembers his relationship with director Ingmar Bergman

Posted by · 7:55 am · December 14th, 2011

At a recent Q&A for his new film “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” actor Max von Sydow was asked how he’s coped with losing his long-time collaborator, Ingmar Bergman. For a film about loss and grief, it was a poignant query.

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'The Help' leads SAG nominations, Demián Bichir surprises in Best Actor

Posted by · 5:51 am · December 14th, 2011

The SAG Awards tend to hew closely to Oscar prognosticators’ lists, but they handed us a few wild cards this morning — not just in terms of who they nominated, but who they left out.

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Contest: Win the source novels of 'We Need to Talk About Kevin' and 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'

Posted by · 11:14 am · December 13th, 2011

Make your case for a child actor this season and win.

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Off the Carpet: Against the grain of dystopic claims

Posted by · 9:33 am · December 13th, 2011

There is a film I can talk about, a film I can’t talk about and a bunch of precursor awards that have faded into an indistinguishable blur. Let’s try to make some sense out of the week’s shenanigans.

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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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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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'Artist,' 'Tinker,' 'Shame' and 'Marilyn' among contenders not eligible for WGA

Posted by · 3:52 pm · December 2nd, 2011

As happens every year, a list of potential Oscar nominees is ineligible for WGA consideration due to a number of issues (signatory concerns, paperwork avoidance, etc.). This year, though, the list seems particularly long.

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