A reader comment got me thinking on box office and Oscar as the usual blockbuster and genre fare led the way in ticket sales this weekend.  It dawned on me that pickins might be extra slim when it comes to representing populist filmmaking in 2010’s Best Picture crop. Box office and finding room for ratings-friendly […]

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Tonight’s the big night, and as we close in on the final hours of the 2009-2010 film awards season, I thought I’d offer up this list (another one!), which reflects how you, the readership, would like the night’s festivities to go.  These are the results of the daily polls that accompanied our Oscar Guide series […]

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As I look over my final predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscar ceremony, I notice that I’ve made only one change — in the Best Live Action Short category — since taking my initial stab the day of the nominations.  And I haven’t made a single change since I started the Oscar Guide series. Am I […]

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And here we are. With one day until the Oscar ceremony, we wrap up our Oscar Guide series with a look at the 10 nominations for Best Picture. Yes, 10. The Academy decided to pump up the intrigue by expanding its Best Picture field this year in an attempt at securing some love for more […]

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Best Original Screenplay: 2009’s most difficult category to predict. Why? Certainly not because of each contender’s merits (when does that ever come into play with the Academy). No, this field is a hair-puller because you have a vibrant, likable personality up against the Best Picture frontrunner, always a recipe for a close race (and, sometimes, […]

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Welcome to the first of two (and the only two) categories that have me pulling my hair out. The cinematography race is a strange breed this year. There isn’t the usual one or two “pretty” films that turn the Academy on at large, nothing with sweeping vistas and postcard composition, all the stuff that allows […]

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This year’s Best Director category has stirred a media frenzy for featuring, along with Best Picture, a face-to-face duel frequently dubbed “the battle of the exes.” Unfortunately the desire to tout that headline has clouded the discussion of the films, their merits and the actual accomplishments of those at the helm. But who cares about […]

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This year, one of the biggest trip hazards for those filling out their office Oscar pool sheets is the Best Cinematography awards. A race with four potential victors (sorry, “Harry Potter” fans) and wildly mixed signals from the precursors, there’s less consensus over this one than any of the feature categories. We’ll put the debate […]

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It’s been three weeks since I took note of the season’s course in this space, and really, there has been no need to put our finger to the wind until last week. And frankly, an author making an ass out of himself in public and Harvey Weinstein sooth-saying anyone who would listen (while an array […]

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See the full list of winners here.  We covered the sound editing category last week in the Oscar Guide.  I think “Avatar” is still safe to win there, but there could still be a splitting seeing “The Hurt Locker” take sound mixing.

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Welcome to Oscar Talk, a weekly kudocast between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. Every week inches us closer to the end of the loudest Oscar season of all time. Today Anne and I sit down and discuss the noise of the week, adding our own noise (we went on a bit […]

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In a slight rarity, the year’s Best Supporting Actor category reflected the Screen Actors Guild nominees 100% this season. Nominations for Alfred Molina and Alec Baldwin at the BAFTA Awards weren’t enough to generate enough cross-over support, while Christian McKay’s late surge couldn’t get him there, either. What we’re left with is a sleepwalking performance […]

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And you thought there was nothing charitable about “Inglourious Basterds.” Tomorrow, L.A.’s Upper Playground Gallery, in conjuction with The Weinstein Company, will be hosting an exhibition of alternative poster art for the film from a range of contemporary artists. The posters will be sold in aid of Red Cross Haiti drive. With the noble stuff […]

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The Best Film Editing category tends to be a shadow of the Best Picture category in some ways. With there being 10 Best Picture nominees this year, however, the field was bound to nail down five of the contenders. So considering the old stand-by stat (no film has won Best Picture without an editing nomination […]

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• Steve Weintraub sits down with likely the only major Oscar play for forthcoming flop “The Wolfman,” Rick Baker. [Collider] • Guy Adams on “Crazy Heart”‘s crazy trip to the screen. [The Independent] • Harvey Weinstein is pretty damn sure “Inglourious Basterds” is winning Best Picture. [Notes on a Season]

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The year’s sound mixing category had relatively few surprises, just glancing at the tea leaves of the season.  There was a typical 4/5 crossover between the Cinema Audio Society and the Academy, with “District 9” missing both here and in the sound editing field. One might be quick to chalk this, in fact all of […]

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• Sandra Bullock says she’s “so not winning an Oscar.”  Alright, Sandie, enough of the modesty.  The writing is on the wall. [People] • Rosanna Greenstreet sits down with Oscar nominee Maggie Gyllenhaal. [The Guardian] • Soldiers reaction to “The Hurt Locker” and it’s awards success. [New York Times]

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These appeared at Movie City News’s Gurus o’ Gold page this morning, so you probably already saw them.  Here they are in any case, since, you know, I guess it’s about that time: Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker” Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker” Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart” Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, […]

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