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Guy’s updated Oscar predictions here. Just one week on from the first formal awards announcements of the season, the Oscar season may still be taking its first steps, but my personal interest in the precursor trail is nonetheless set to peak this very weekend. That, of course, is when the New York Film Critics Circle […]
THE LONG SHOT: Critical mass
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:26 pm · December 9th, 2010
Filed in: The Long Shot
‘Winter’s Bone’ wins big at Gothams
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:31 pm · November 29th, 2010
If you were able to catch the live stream of the 20th anniversary Gotham Awards tonight (nominees here), then you saw the usual slap-dash, boozed up shenanigans. Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” was carrying the big stick coming in with three nominations and it walked away with two awards, including Best Feature. Most surprising was the […]
Filed in: Daily
EDINBURGH: ‘Get Low,’ ‘Restrepo,’ ‘Vacation!’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:02 pm · June 24th, 2010
My third day in the ‘Burgh (shut up, I have legitimately heard people call it that) wasn’t as film-heavy as the previous one: social commitments and a certain football match between Slovenia and some other country got in the way. Under these circumstances, three screenings — taken together, as disparate a cross-section of the U.S. […]
THE LISTS: Top 10 Oscar nominee fields
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:47 pm · January 26th, 2010
In exactly one week’s time, we’ll have a brand new list of Oscar nominations to pore over, pick apart and eventually file away in our subconscious with the other 81 editions of this annual collective. For Oscar geeks, nomination day is in many ways more exciting than the ceremony itself, celebrating a broader spectrum of […]
Filed in: The Lists
The Great Performances: 2005
Posted by John Foote · 5:07 pm · December 18th, 2009
2005 was the year of Heath Ledger’s beautiful, moving performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” which I saw for the first time in Toronto. It instantly became the talk of the festival, and the film became the one to beat for the Academy Award. Ledger was astonishing as the taciturn cowboy who is more surprised than anybody […]
Filed in: Daily
The Great Performances: 2004
Posted by John Foote · 6:35 pm · December 11th, 2009
In Alexander Payne’s “Sideways,” Paul Giamatti gave the best performance by an actor in 2004, so said the New York Film Critics Circle, and how right they were. So why, why, why was the actor denied an Oscar nomination? Granted, it was a strong year, but his work was at the top of that heap […]
Filed in: Daily
The Great Performances: 2003
Posted by John Foote · 9:14 am · December 4th, 2009
There is little doubt in my mind I am going to take some heat this week, so let’s kick it off right away with my belief that Sean Penn deserved his Best Actor Oscar for “Mystic River,” a performance of overwhelming ferocity and staggering emotional power. Yes, I too loved Bill Murray in “Lost in […]
Filed in: Daily
11/23 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:23 am · November 23rd, 2009
• Dave Karger cusses with “Fantastic Mr. Fox” star Bill Murray. [Oscar Watch] • Owen Gleiberman whines about the snubbing of inferior documentaries, fails to recognize the solid slate of short-listed films we ended up with. [Entertainment Weekly] • Nicolas Rapold talks to the principals of “The Last Station.” [New York Times]
Filed in: Daily
Wes Anderson and friends on ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:39 pm · November 15th, 2009
“The reason Roald wrote such wonderful children’s books was that he could think like a child. Wes has that capacity too.” With this statement, at a cozy round-table interview in the dining room of bucolic Dahl homestead Gipsy House, Liccy Dahl makes clear her endorsement of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” the auteur’s oddball adaptation […]
Filed in: Interviews
The Great Performances: 1998
Posted by John Foote · 2:03 pm · October 30th, 2009
For all my bitching about Roberto Benigni winning Best Actor in 1998 for his incessant mugging in “Life is Beautiful,” I was also thrilled the Academy watched enough films and paid enough attention to realize that Edward Norton was deserving for his magnetic turn as a neo-Nazi who sees the light in “American History X.” […]
Filed in: Daily
THE LISTS: Top 10 lines from ‘Ghostbusters’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:22 pm · June 9th, 2009
As I briefly noted yesterday, “Ghostbusters” has just celebrated the 25th anniversary of its June 8, 1984 release. The film went on to make considerable box office dollars and launched the post-SNL careers of Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd, along with co-stars Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson, further into the stratosphere. Okay, well, Hudson’s career […]
Filed in: The Lists
“Bing!”
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:42 am · February 2nd, 2009
Forgive the subtitles…it adds to the international flavor of the site, though:
Filed in: Daily
An unfortunate precedent
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:02 pm · January 4th, 2009
With Sally Hawkins and Sean Penn each picking up a gong from the National Society of Film Critics yesterday, the two actors thus complete the trifecta of major critics’ awards, having already taken the New York and Los Angeles critics’ respective honors. (I know some refer to the ‘big four,’ but we all know the […]
Filed in: Daily
10/9 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:41 am · October 9th, 2008
• Dave Karger not only thinks Ralph Fiennes is in the supporting actor race for “The Duchess,” he thinks he is Heath Ledger’s main competition. [Oscar Watch] • Eight documentary shorts have been short-listed by AMPAS. [Oscars.org] • Jeffrey Wells reports that Lionsgate Films is pissing off Portland area critics by not screening “W.” for […]
Filed in: Daily
10/8 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:17 am · October 8th, 2008
• Tom O’Neil wonders if Bill Maher can cure his Emmy drought with an Oscar instead. [Gold Derby] • Patrick Goldstein calls ‘W.’ a “mess,” confirming my worst fears… [The Big Picture] • Erica Abeel corners Mike Leigh at the New York fest. [indieWIRE] • Bill Murray talks “City of Ember,” his divorce. [Associated Press] […]
Filed in: Daily
Hmm…another design contender?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:14 am · October 1st, 2008
Two craft category posts in a row, but I just watched this “City of Ember” featurette and suddenly wondered if Martin Laing and former nominee Celia Bobak have a shot at a nomination from the art directors’ branch. There’s plenty of talk from producer Tom Hanks and star Bill Murray about the massive sets constructed. […]
Filed in: Daily
Sheer cool overload
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:13 am · July 20th, 2008
Sorry for another music-related post, but this is surely too awesome to actually be true. Word is out that Jarvis Cocker is writing music for Wes Anderson’s upcoming adaptation of Roald Dahl’s “Fantastic Mr Fox.” The former Pulp frontman, responsible for pretty much the greatest, wittiest, most perceptive and socially on-the-button song of the 90’s, […]
Filed in: Daily
