With the 2013 AFI Fest on the horizon, studios are circling the wagons and gearing up their campaigns along the circuit. But there are still a few weeks left before all the puzzle pieces are revealed. What happens in the meantime?
Off the Carpet: The awards circuit comes to life ahead of AFI Fest
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:34 am · November 4th, 2013
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: How do this year's Oscar hopefuls reflect the zeitgeist?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:55 am · October 14th, 2013
We’ve weighed the contenders and early declarations have been made. The whisper campaigns and casual takedowns have begun with no real (comfortable) frontrunner to emerge for a while yet. But as we look out over this year’s Oscar contending crop, what does it have to say about where and who we are?
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Fox enters the Oscar season with 'The Book Thief' and 'Walter Mitty'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:25 am · October 7th, 2013
This weekend, 20th Century Fox arrived to the 2013 film awards season with a pair of hopefuls that couldn’t be more different from the outside. Nevertheless, Brian Percival’s “The Book Thief” and Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” both of which will be viewed as cloying in some circles, are made with an honesty that could stave off some of the cynicism and register. At the end of the day, though, neither is the slam dunk contender the studio may have hoped for a year after “Life of Pi.”
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Shapeshift
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:35 am · September 30th, 2013
What a difference a week makes…
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Whither 'Wall Street?'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:12 am · September 23rd, 2013
As the media focuses on calling the Best Picture race over in September, there are other topics worthy of discussion. Like Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which could move off its Nov. 15 date, or “Mud,” which is the first screener in Academy voters’ hands this year.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Reindeer games
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:53 pm · September 8th, 2013
Something I’ve been fending off as just inside baseball bitching suddenly stuck in my craw this week. So let’s get this business out of the way at the top so we can enjoy the season.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Telluride launches the season from 'Gravity' to '12 Years a Slave'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:27 am · September 2nd, 2013
The Telluride Film Festival wraps up today and with that, the upcoming awards season has finally taken a little shape. We have a long way to go, of course, and no one should be calling the race from this far out, but we certainly know a few things.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Gearing up for the 2013-2014 season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:33 am · August 5th, 2013
A few updates and thoughts before the fall festival circuit sends us into the fray.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Half-time
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:06 am · July 1st, 2013
The mid-way point of 2013 is here. How has the first half of the year shaped up for awards hopefuls? A month-by-month dissection answers that very question.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: A roller coaster season comes to an end
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:13 pm · February 25th, 2013
What can one really say at the end of a season this contentious, this exciting, this tight every step of the way other than: “Gee, that was fun.”
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: The long, strange trip of 'Argo'
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:03 am · February 18th, 2013
Charting the rise, fall, rise and fall of this year’s likely Best Picture victor.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Ang Lee's position in all of this
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:31 am · January 28th, 2013
Lately I’ve been curious about the Best Director race. With an “Argo” win would obviously come a split director decision (unless that write-in stuff finds traction). My instinct has been Steven Spielberg, because “Lincoln” is a hell of an accomplishment and even if I’m betting “Argo” will reap the benefits of the preferential ballot system (born out by its victory Saturday), it still makes sense for Spielberg to get some love. But what about Ang Lee?
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: All bets are off
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:54 am · January 8th, 2013
This year is all over the place, so let’s be bold, shall we?
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Academy members have numerous tight races to mull over this season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:58 am · December 24th, 2012
As members of the Academy hurry through the last screeners they need to see before committing an opinion on the year’s best (for those who bother trying to get as deep into the stack as possible, that is), a number of races hang in the balance as extremely tight categories are sure to leave a few contenders feeling the sting of “also-ran” on Thursday, January 10.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Ballots are out
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:00 am · December 17th, 2012
Normally this column would begin with something like, “Ballots have been mailed to Oscar voters today,” but that begs reminding that for the first time ever, the Academy has adopted an electronic voting system in addition to paper ballots (for those who request them). How will that change the course of the season? Is chatter about glitches and lack of understanding just a facile talking point blown out of proportion? Maybe. But what is tangible in all of this is the landscape as a result of the first major nominations announcements of the season.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Out of proportion
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:27 am · October 1st, 2012
Best Picture hopefuls look to sustain early season buzz.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Three to start the season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:05 am · September 17th, 2012
Ben Affleck’s “Argo,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master”and David O.Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook.” With Venice, Telluride and Toronto in the rear view, those are the three films with the early stranglehold on the 2012-2013 Oscar season.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
Off the Carpet: Setting the table for the 2012-2013 film awards season
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:35 am · June 11th, 2012
With the film awards season still a few months off, it’s time to at least clean up the joint and get some fresh predictions out there. Today we take a look at the lay of the land at the year’s midway point.
Filed in: HitFix · In Contention
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