Cannes Review: Alexander Payne goes home, but doesn't hit home, in 'Nebraska'

Posted by · 6:32 am · May 23rd, 2013

Amusing moments outweighed by sour notes in minor-key family drama.

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Cannes Check 2013: Alexander Payne's 'Nebraska'

Posted by · 7:20 am · May 13th, 2013

Continuing our cheat sheet for the Cannes Competition.

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The Long Shot: Free to be… you and me

Posted by · 3:39 pm · October 3rd, 2012

Why other awards should welcome the Academy’s calendar shift.

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Casting Society of America announces its 2011/12 award nominees

Posted by · 4:24 am · August 21st, 2012

‘The Artist,’ ‘Drive’ and ‘The Hunger Games’ are among those up for Outstanding Casting honors.

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The 2011-2012 Film Awards Circuit

Posted by · 11:46 am · February 28th, 2012

Charting the winners and losers of the year’s precursor circuit.

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'The Artist' wins five Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Actor (with live blog)

Posted by · 1:30 pm · February 26th, 2012

Thoughts on the Oscar sights and sounds as they happen.

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Box office and Oscar, from 'Deathly Hallows' to 'Tree of Life'

Posted by · 10:21 am · February 26th, 2012

It’s Oscar Sunday and by tonight, it’ll be all done but the cryin’, as they say. But as we gear up for today’s festivities, I thought I’d take a look at the box office of this year’s Oscar nominees for the first time this season.

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'The Artist' triumphs at 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards

Posted by · 4:32 pm · February 25th, 2012

The French silent wins four while ‘The Descendants’ nabs two.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Picture

Posted by · 7:43 am · February 25th, 2012

The 2011 Oscar Guide has finally reached its destination: the nine-film Best Picture category, which saw its biggest surprise in the very fact that it stretched to that many nominees. It became somewhat obvious down the stretch that five films were assured a spot, with another highly likely. The extraneous possibilities seemed to number no more than three or four, but two of them got in.

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 83 — Final Oscar predictions in all categories!

Posted by · 7:58 am · February 24th, 2012

In this week’s podcast, Anne and Kris prepare to put a bow on the season by giving their predictions for Sunday’s Oscarcast.

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The Long Shot: Don't go to bed angry

Posted by · 7:35 pm · February 22nd, 2012

It seems every critic or blogger has an issue with this year’s Oscar race — so why do I feel oddly content ahead of Sunday’s proceedings?

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Director

Posted by · 8:45 am · February 22nd, 2012

As was the case last year, this year’s Best Director race pits one foreign first-time nominee against a quartet of more established American auteurs — will the outsider emerge victorious again? We examine who will win, and who should.

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Oscar Guide 2011: Best Film Editing

Posted by · 9:25 am · February 20th, 2012

Of all the crafts categories, Best Film Editing always tends to parallel the Best Picture race the most, both in the nominations stage and again during the race for the win. This year’s final five fit squarely into that paradigm.

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'Midnight in Paris,' 'Descendants' take WGA Awards

Posted by · 5:25 pm · February 19th, 2012

Woody Allen took his fifth Best Original Screenplay award from the WGA for “Midnight in Paris,” but with “The Artist” ineligible here, can he beat the Best Picture frontrunner at the Oscars? Meanwhile, “The Descendants” continues to lead the adapted screenplay race.

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'Descendants' wins the USC Scripter Award

Posted by · 5:53 pm · February 18th, 2012

The 24th annual USC Libraries Scripter Awards were held this evening just south of downtown at the Doheny Library on the USC campus. For the first time in a while, I had to miss the show (which is always a classy affair and, as a former USC grad student, always a bit odd, ordering a vodka tonic at the counter where I used to check out books for thesis and term paper purposes).

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'Descendants,' 'Artist' and 'Rango' have an ACE up their sleeve

Posted by · 5:31 pm · February 18th, 2012

The 62nd annual ACE Eddie Awards, recognizing achievement in film editing, were held this evening, and the big surprise came in the drama category. Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” beat out fellow Best Picture nominees “Hugo,” “Moneyball” and “Hugo,” as well as the slickly cut (by last year’s Oscar winners) “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” for the award.

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MCN's Gurus make their final calls

Posted by · 9:26 am · February 11th, 2012

The Gurus o’ Gold collective of Oscar dorks (yours truly included) at Movie City News have offered up final-ish predictions. I imagine David Poland will give us all an opportunity to change this or that, and certainly, my own picks aren’t final until the Friday or Saturday before the show, but for the most part, these are where the chips lie.

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 81 — Lunch with the nominees, breaking down animated shorts, BAFTA preview

Posted by · 7:58 am · February 10th, 2012

In this week’s podcast, Kris and Anne discuss Monday’s Nominees Luncheon, break down the animated short category and take a quick look ahead at this weekend’s BAFTA Awards, among other things.

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