Could a bake-off snafu keep 'Harry Potter' from a visual effects nomination?

Posted by · 10:53 am · January 20th, 2012

An unfortunate snafu at last night’s visual effects bake-off — a lengthy branch-specific event that features reel screenings of effects work on the seven visual effects finalists and presentations from the supervisors involved — could keep the wizard and his denouement out of the Oscar equation.

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Filed in: HitFix · In Contention

Tech Support: Wrapping up guesses throughout the Academy's craft categories

Posted by · 1:31 pm · January 19th, 2012

Rounding out my picks in the Academy’s crafts branches, from Best Music to Best Visual Effects.

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Tech Support: Guessing the nominees throughout the Academy's craft categories

Posted by · 7:49 am · January 19th, 2012

In five days, the nominations for the 84th annual Academy Awards will be announced. It seems extraordinary that another season has nearly passed. And with a silent film and a somewhat fantastical (not-so-) children’s film poised to dominate the major categories, one realizes how quickly trends can change in Hollywood. But now it’s time to make our final picks across the crafts categories.

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'The Artist,' 'Thor,' 'Bridesmaids' among Costume Designers Guild nominees

Posted by · 6:53 am · January 19th, 2012

Following on the heels of the Cinema Audio Society today is the Costume Designers Guild, which has selected nominees in its three patented categories.

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Round-up: The missing makeup nominee from 'The Iron Lady'

Posted by · 6:47 am · January 19th, 2012

Also: Designing ‘Potter’ and exhausting Uggie

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'Hanna,' 'Pirates' among Cinema Audio Society surprises, 'Transformers' snubbed

Posted by · 4:30 am · January 19th, 2012

And now, as they say, for something completely different. The guild nominations these last few weeks have been rank and file, the usual mish-mash of the same titles reflecting a bit of group think and perfunctory nominations. That ends today, though, as the Cinema Audio Society’s crop of nominees included some eyebrow-raising titles.

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Round-up: Revisiting Oscar's worst decisions

Posted by · 8:00 am · January 13th, 2012

Also: ‘Harry Potter’ for Best Picture, and a Globes seating shortage

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'Artist,' 'Harry Potter' and 'Hugo' among Academy's makeup finalists

Posted by · 12:13 pm · January 9th, 2012

The Academy has announced seven advancing finalists in the race for Best Makeup, and among the chosen are the Meryl Streep-starrer “The Iron Lady,” which transformed the beloved actress into former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

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'Tintin,' 'Harry Potter' and 'Transformers' out front with Visual Effects Society nominations

Posted by · 12:37 am · January 9th, 2012

The Visual Effects Society has announced its list of nominees for the organization’s 10th annual ceremony, and leading the way wasn’t one of the live action blockbusters on the whittled-down slate of 10 advancing Oscar contenders. It was Steven Spielberg’s animated offering “The Adventures of Tintin,” which landed six nominations across the feature film categories.

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10 films shortlisted for visual effects Oscar

Posted by · 1:10 pm · January 4th, 2012

After 15 titles were longlisted for the Best Visual Effects Oscar last month, that number was cut to 10 today: ‘The Tree of Life,’ ‘Hugo’ and ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ are still in the running for a nomination.

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Art Directors Guild nominees include 'Anonymous,' 'Captain America' and 'Drive'

Posted by · 7:12 pm · January 3rd, 2012

The Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild announced its slate of nominees this evening, and the surprises were few and far between. One of them, though, was the exclusion of “War Horse” in the period category.

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‘Harry Potter’ and the hunt for the golden statue

Posted by · 6:51 pm · January 2nd, 2012

As the precursor season comes to a close Warner Bros. pins its hopes on Alan Rickman for a Best Supporting Actor nod.

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Predicting the 2011 PGA nominees

Posted by · 10:57 am · January 2nd, 2012

This year’s PGA nominees will do little to clear up the Best Picture scenario at the Oscars. Why? Because the guild will be chalking up a full slate of 10 nominees once again, despite the fact that the Academy’s final line-up could be anywhere from five to 10. So what will the PGA spring for?

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Tech Support Interview: The ubiquitous Alexandre Desplat on living his dream

Posted by · 9:52 am · December 29th, 2011

When Tech Support first launched at In Contention five years ago, Alexandre Desplat had proven his talents with top-notch scores for “The Girl With a Pearl Earring,” “Birth” and “Syriana.” Today we chat with him about a ubiquitous year doing what he loves to do.

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'The Artist' wins five from St. Louis critics

Posted by · 9:04 am · December 19th, 2011

After submitting nominees last week, the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association has picked “The Artist” as this year’s Best Picture winner. Michel Hazanavicius won Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for the film, while Rooney Mara was singled out for her performance in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”

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San Diego critics pick 'Artist,' Refn

Posted by · 5:04 pm · December 14th, 2011

The San Diego Film Critics Society has chosen “The Artist” as Best Picture for 2011 and Nicolas Winding Refn as Best Director for “Drive,” among other honors.

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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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Oscarweb Round-up: 35 years of Eastwood at Warner Bros.

Posted by · 8:03 am · December 8th, 2011

In today’s round-up, Warner Bros. releases a massive box set of Clint Eastwood’s work with the studio, the “Moneyball” trio sits down with Charlie rose and San Francisco’s Castro Theatre will no longer run movies.

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