The 2010 Best Actor race looks to end up exactly where it started, making it the most predictable category of the evening. In fact, as of late (save for the two Oscars Sean Penn won), this has consistently been one of the easier categories to call. Generally it seems that there is a clear favorite […]
OSCAR GUIDE: Best Actor
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:52 am · February 23rd, 2011
Filed in: Oscar Guide
1/28 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Puig hearts Bardem, eclectic slate of tune nominees, Bettany’s ‘Speech’ regret
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:51 am · January 28th, 2011
• Claudia Puig writes a love letter to “Biutiful” star (and Best Actor nominee) Javier Bardem. [USA Today] • Geoff Boucher and Rebecca Keegan note the eclectic flair of this year’s Best Original Score nominees. (More on those later). [The Envelope] • The Coen brothers: the cartographers of cinema. [The Guardian]
Filed in: Daily
OSCAR TALK: Ep. 49 — Final pre-nod discussion
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:00 am · January 21st, 2011
Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, your one-stop awards chat shop between yours truly and Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood. The podcast is weekly, every Friday throughout the season, charting the ups and downs of contenders along the way. Plenty […]
Filed in: Oscar Talk
1/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Roberts stumps for Bardem, ‘Valentine’ as class commentary, Affleck’s ‘Town’ inspirations
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:10 am · January 6th, 2011
• Julia Roberts’s Oscar plea for”Biutiful” star Javier Bardem. [Inside Movies] • Patrick Goldstein on “Blue Valentine” as a meditation on the class divide. [The Big Picture] • Ben Affleck on “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” “Amores Perros,” “Breaking Away” and “Heat” as inspirations for “The Town.” [The Envelope]
Filed in: Daily
12/23 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Oscar’s age preferences, hear the King’s speech, ‘True Grit’ and ‘Winter’s Bone’ parallels
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:39 am · December 23rd, 2010
• Anne Thompson talks with “The Way Back” director Peter Weir. [Thompson on Hollywood] • Nathaniel Rogers charts Oscar’s age preferences. [The Film Experience] • Melinda Newman sits down with “True Grit” and “TRON Legacy” star Jeff Bridges. [Awards Campaign]
Filed in: Daily
12/17 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Plea for Bardem, Swank’s potential parlay, HFPA and SAG by the numbers
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:50 am · December 17th, 2010
• Scott Feinberg digs in to some exhaustive research on HFPA and SAG nominations history to help you navigate what it all means. [ScottFeinberg.com] • Steve Pond is begging someone to step up to the plate and recognize what an amazing performance Javier Bardem gives in “Biutiful,” and in so doing, NOMINATE HIM. [The Odds] […]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Giving thanks
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:41 am · November 22nd, 2010
As we move into turkey (or tofurkey, if that happens to be your speed) week 2010, it seems proper, if a tad bit obvious, to take a moment and give thanks. So in lieu of a proper analysis of the season’s progression this week, allow me to express my boundless, breathless appreciation for the following: […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
11/22 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Coen talks ‘Somewhere’ with Coppola, ‘Country Strong’ a drama, no love for Herzog
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:45 am · November 22nd, 2010
• Joel Coen shows up at an east coast screening of “Somewhere” to conduct a Q&A with Sofia Coppola. [Inside Movies] • Tom O’Neill reports that the HFPA has classified “Country Strong” as a drama. [Gold Derby] • Our own Guy Lodge reacts to the recently released (and apparently unauthorized) “Winnie” trailer. [The Guardian]
Filed in: Daily
Palm Springs fest to honor Portman and Firth
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:00 pm · November 16th, 2010
The Palm Springs International Film Festival may claim independent thought in the rationing of their performance awards, but rather like Santa Barbara, any West Coast fest that takes place in prime awards-season territory can’t claim to be free of the Oscar campaign circuit. After all, when their press release states that the two actors being […]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Leading men in the spotlight
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:14 am · October 25th, 2010
About a year ago I took to examining the 2009 Best Actor race. The frontrunners for five slots seemed to be, in order, George Clooney, Colin Firth, Jeremy Renner, Morgan Freeman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Viggo Mortensen and Robert De Niro. A day later press members received their first invites to “Crazy Heart” screenings and were notified […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
Bardem on his role in González Iñárritu’s “masterpiece”
Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:10 pm · September 28th, 2010
Following Mexico’s submission of “Biutiful” to the Academy yesterday, I wrote that I’m sceptical about the film’s chances of nabbing a Best Foreign Language Film nod — but if Roadside Attractions really put some welly into their campaign, a Best Actor nomination for Javier Bardem is looking quite conceivable. As a contender, the performance comes […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Biutiful’ enters foreign Oscar race
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:52 pm · September 27th, 2010
The list of submissions for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar has been fairly short on widely-known auteur names thus far, so expect a lot of awards-watchers to zero in on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Biutiful,” which has just been announced as Mexico’s official entry in the race. As with “Pan’s Labyrinth” four years ago, the […]
Filed in: Daily
9/21 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Gosling and Williams’s “real love,” Bardem blushes, defending Affleck
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:03 am · September 21st, 2010
• According to director Derek Cianfrance, committed actors Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams had “some real things happening” while portraying lovers in “Blue Valentine.” [Hollywood Reporter] • Nicole LaPorte on Toronto’s Oscar-launching ground and the films that made a splash. [Daily Beast] • Javier Bardem can’t believe he’s a heartthrob. [Daily Telegraph]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Commence au festival (season)!
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:08 pm · September 6th, 2010
Without question, the film launching full speed ahead and into the Oscar season this week is Tom Hooper’s “The King’s Speech.” I truly haven’t heard an unkind word about the film all weekend here in Telluride, and I imagine that goodwill will continue into the Toronto fest this week as well. I can easily see […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
TELLURIDE: ‘Black Swan,’ ‘Biutiful’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:31 pm · September 5th, 2010
Today was a long one here at Telluride. Three screenings (which has been my consistency throughout the fest), an interview, transcribing, etc., etc. The night mercifully brought little that interested me, so I’ve finally found some time to work. This afternoon started with a screening of one of Guy’s favorite films of the year, “The […]
Filed in: Reviews
PAGE TO SCREEN: “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:31 pm · June 9th, 2010
(Apologies for the delay in posting this column. Page to Screen will return to its regular Tuesday spot next week.) Chick-lit, the unflatteringly named brand of light confessional writing intended to universalize the problems of modern professional women, has been a beast of a publishing phenomenon since the near-simultaneous arrival on the scene of Helen […]
Filed in: Page to Screen
OFF THE CARPET: Taking the temperature
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:28 pm · May 23rd, 2010
Now that we’re on the other side of Cannes, I felt it was a good time to put a finger to the wind, stare into the tea leaves, shake the magic 8-ball and basically just take stock of where we’re at roughly three months away from the start of the 2010-2011 film awards season. The […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
CANNES: What will win… and what should
Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:47 am · May 23rd, 2010
Okay, so that took longer than I expected. I had hoped to get this post up last night, but instead got quite easily talked into a night on the tiles with a band of merry Film Dweebs led by James Rocchi — not the wisest idea with a morning flight to catch, but by the […]
Filed in: Daily