Round-up: Enough about Max von Sydow's burst of applause, already!

Posted by · 7:34 am · February 9th, 2012

In today’s round-up, yet another journalist gloms onto the amount of applause for Max von Sydow at Monday’s Nominees Luncheon as an indicator of something, Todd McCarthy critiques the year in movie music and some are declaring David Gordon Green “back” with that “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spot.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Sound Mixing

Posted by · 6:30 am · February 8th, 2012

This is one of the year’s hardest technical categories to predict, largely because the Academy’s sound branch agreed with the Cinema Audio Society on only two nominees. We size up who might win, and who should.

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'Rango,' 'Apes' and 'Transformers' dominate the 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards

Posted by · 9:53 pm · February 7th, 2012

It was a good night for Industrial Light & Magic at the 10th annual Visual Effects Society Awards, which went down this evening. The company’s work in films like “Rango” and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” dominated the proceedings, the former surprisingly sweeping the animated categories.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Music (Original Score)

Posted by · 8:17 am · February 7th, 2012

While the music branch’s choices (or lack thereof) in Best Original Song could be considered shocking, the opposite was true about their final five in Best Original Score. Three of the titles are Best Picture nominees, the branch’s favorite composer of all time is double-nominated yet again and all but one of the finalists have been nominated previously.

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Round-up: The Oscar nominees do lunch

Posted by · 5:50 am · February 7th, 2012

Also: ‘Hugo’ producer woes, and Dujardin slays ’em on Leno

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 80 — The runaway 'Artist' train and Santa Barbara tributes

Posted by · 7:58 am · February 3rd, 2012

In this week’s podcast, Kris and Anne discuss the continued dominance of “The Artist” this season, the tribute circuit at Santa Barbara fest and the release of “The Grey,” among other things.

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Round-up: Paramount steps up the campaign for 'Transformers'

Posted by · 7:49 am · February 3rd, 2012

Also: The perils of online voting, and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress 2012?

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'Hugo' wins big with International 3d Society

Posted by · 3:22 pm · February 2nd, 2012

The International 3D Society announced its list of award winners today, and, well, I guess they pretty much did a good job of pointing out all the NON-crappy 3D in theaters this year. Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” won three awards.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Posted by · 9:19 am · February 1st, 2012

A script is a film’s blueprint, making it unsurprising that most of the nominees in this category have historically also been nominated for Best Picture. This year was no exception, with three of the final five adapted screenplay contenders also chalked up as the year’s best films. Room was also made for a particularly challenging adaptation of a classic novel and a star-studded film with no other nominations.

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Martin Scorsese talks 'Mean Streets,' 'Taxi Driver' and rediscovering that childlike spark with 'Hugo'

Posted by · 9:26 am · January 31st, 2012

Last night the big tributes wrapped up here at the Santa Barbara fest with the presentation of the American Riviera Award to “Hugo” director Martin Scorsese. Leonard Maltin conducted the on-stage interview, which got started nearly a half hour late and still blew past the usual two-hour time frame as a captivated, capacity audience at the Arlington Theatre never budged and delighted in hearing the director’s tales of 50 years at work in the film industry.

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As Oscar season goes to the dogs, Martin Scorsese stumps for Blackie

Posted by · 10:33 am · January 30th, 2012

Martin Scorsese pens an LA Times op-ed in support of Blackie, the not-so-lovable Doberman star of “Hugo.”

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Michel Hazanavicius takes DGA award

Posted by · 11:43 pm · January 28th, 2012

“The Artist” and director Michel Hazanavicius further solidified their Oscar chances by winning the Directors’ Guild of America Award — a prize that has gone to the eventual Best Picture winner for the last 10 years running.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Cinematography

Posted by · 12:53 pm · January 26th, 2012

The cinematographers’ branch didn’t search far and wide for contenders in this category, settling on four Best Picture nominees, as well as four previously nominated DPs — in keeping with this year’s unofficial theme of sticking with the familiar.

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The Long Shot: Fade away and radiate

Posted by · 1:50 pm · January 25th, 2012

This year’s Oscar nominations were not only kind to Hollywood’s old guard, but a number of films with their eye on the rear-view mirror.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Art Direction

Posted by · 10:09 am · January 25th, 2012

The art directors ended up with a slate packed with Best Picture-contending films this year, the one outlier being the closing installment of a franchise that has been a perennial fixture of the category. Nostalgia rules the field, reflective of the thematic undercurrent at play throughout the season.

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Round-up: The incredible comeback of 'Extremely Loud'

Posted by · 8:11 am · January 25th, 2012

Also: R.I.P. Theo Angelopoulos, and Oscar nomination post-mortem

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Tech Support: 'The Artist,' 'Hugo,' 'Dragon Tattoo' and 'War Horse' feature heavily in Oscar's crafts categories

Posted by · 1:12 pm · January 24th, 2012

This morning, many crafts artists in Hollywood (and elsewhere in the world) found out that they are heading to the Kodak Theatre for the 84th Annual Academy Awards. The thrill they are experiencing must be difficult to describe.

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 79 — Special Edition! — Thoughts on the the 2011 Oscar nominations

Posted by · 12:14 pm · January 24th, 2012

In this week’s podcast Kris and Anne are joined by Guy Lodge to discuss this morning’s Oscar nominations and offer up predictions in each category.

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