“The British are coming!” crowed screenwriter Colin Welland from the Oscar stage in 1982, hoisting aloft his just-awarded awarded statuette for “Chariots of Fire” – and anticipating one of the bigger upsets in the history of the Best Picture race, as the modest British sports drama upended Warren Beatty’s grand political epic “Reds.” His rallying […]
THE LONG SHOT: British reserve
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:07 pm · October 28th, 2010
Filed in: The Long Shot
THE LONG SHOT: When you wish upon a star
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:10 pm · October 6th, 2010
“Mila Kunis is so winning Best Supporting Actress this year,” remarked an independent filmmaker to me over drinks today, referring, of course, to the 27 year-old’s sly breakout turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” This was no idle fan statement. The man knew his Oscar onions – his theory was built upon established Academy affection […]
Filed in: The Long Shot
LIFE WITHOUT OSCAR: 1981 and 1982
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 8:10 pm · October 5th, 2010
Catch up with the idea behind this series here. Can I just take a moment here to publicize that the 1980’s are by far, my least favorite decade in cinema. Despite the great titles that I’ll be spotlighting here and my feelings that it was the best time for blockbuster filmmaking, it’s just a generally […]
Filed in: Life Without Oscar
Alone: when you hate a movie everyone else seems to love
Posted by John Foote · 11:16 am · September 2nd, 2008
In 1996 I remember sitting in a packed screening room watching “The English Patient”; it was close to the end when Ralph Fiennes leaves Kristin Scott-Thomas in the cave, promising to come back, never to return, leaving her (through no fault of his own) to perish. I couldn’t help thinking at the time: “For fuck’s […]
Filed in: Daily
Who joins the great Best Picture snubs this year?
Posted by John Foote · 1:52 pm · May 9th, 2008
It happens every year, a great film, in some cases destined to be remembered more than the eventual Oscar winner is snubbed for a Best Picture nod, or gets nominated and loses to an inferior film that happened to capture the public’s attention at that particular point in history. Some of the greatest films of […]
Filed in: Daily