The annual announcement of the new members invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the latest batch of industry pros we get to blame for next year’s Oscar results — is a moment that always prompts as much satisfied head-nodding as bewildered head-scratching. The latter action isn’t always in response […]
New AMPAS invitees include Sorkin, Hooper… and Beyoncé
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:17 pm · June 17th, 2011
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OSCAR GUIDE: Best Actor
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:52 am · February 23rd, 2011
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 […]
Filed in: Oscar Guide
‘Crazy’ ‘Bone’ ‘Network’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:45 am · February 3rd, 2011
I guess this whole episode is worth posting, given the Oscar relevance throughout. After the nervous-as-hell tone Eisenberg and Lawrence set (endearingly, sure), it was nice to have Bingham there to smooth things out on clean-up:
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Oscar nominees
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:10 pm · February 2nd, 2011
Bingham just Tweeted this pic of his Jay Leno appearance tonight. If you can’t tell, that’s Jennifer Lawrence off to the side. And I think you know the gentleman next to Leno. Nifty:
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Zucks on SNL
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:11 am · January 30th, 2011
I haven’t even watched this yet. I hear it was a grand show, though:
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1/20 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Portman milestones, Best Director not equal to Best Picture, Sony goes iTunes, too
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:03 am · January 20th, 2011
• Eight milestones in the evolution of Natalie Portman. [Movieline] • Carolyn Giardana notes a rare Best Visual Effects nomination for an animated film at the BAFTAs. [Hollywood Reporter] • Nathaniel Rogers argues against the notion that Best Director must equal Best Picture. [The Film Experience]
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Toasting the ‘Social Network’ DVD release
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:32 am · January 7th, 2011
Sony pulled out all the stops last night with a big to-do soiree on behalf of the DVD/Blu-ray release of “The Social Network.” You go to these things, you expect a certain level of restraint, and then I’m pulling up to Spago and they’ve got the red carpet rolled out and the flashbulbs are popping […]
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1/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Exit’ credit complaint, Rudin’s PGA record, tequila and that ‘Black Swan’ lesbian scene
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:01 am · January 7th, 2011
• Does a complaint about uncredited art used in “Exit Through the Gift Shop” lend credence to the veracity of the film? [The Carpetbagger] • Tim Appello on “Black Swan”‘s supposedly tequila-laced lesbian scene. [The Race] • The narrative on Peter Weir this year continues to be about the unfortunate fact that he’s part of […]
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NYT offers some pointers to the Academy
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:03 am · January 3rd, 2011
The New York Times has an annual tradition of getting its three top critics — Manohla Dargis, A.O. Scott and Stephen Holden — to craft ideal Oscar ballots, and the results this year point to more scattered affections than the critics’ award trail would have you believe. Interestingly, only one title features on all three […]
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‘Social Network’ rules Boston critics’ awards
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:22 am · December 12th, 2010
Okay, let’s lead with the really interesting news. By handing their Best Supporting Actress award to Juliette Lewis for her barnstorming, dialogue-jiggering hammery in “Conviction” (I mean that in wholly admiring terms, by the way), the Boston Society of Film Critics officially take the title for the coolest go-your-own-way pick of this admittedly young season. […]
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12/10 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘The Fighter’ moves in, Sturgess taks ‘The Way Back,’ Timberlake gets serious
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:10 am · December 10th, 2010
• Elle Fanning: the next Golden Child. [New York Times Magazine] • Pete Hammond joins the flavor of the week: “The Fighter” is insinuating itself into the Best Picture race in a big way. [Deadline] • Anne Thompson chats with “The Way Back” star Jim Sturgess. [Thompson on Hollywood]
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12/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Bridges’s terms for ‘Legacy,’ Coppola on ‘Somewhere,’ Gurus take another stab
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:39 am · December 7th, 2010
• Jeff Bridges to “TRON Legacy” producers early on: “Tell me the things you are going to do that no one’s ever done before.” [The Wrap] • Sofia Coppola talks “Somewhere” across the pond. [Daily Telegraph] • Jesse Eisenberg on awards season, narcissism and his feelings about an Oscar nomination. [Movieline]
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‘Social Network’ wins big with NBR
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:39 pm · December 2nd, 2010
The National Board of Review announcement is historically considered the “official” start of the film awards season, but with things like the Gotham Awards, Indie Spirit nominations and even the Hollywood Film Awards creeping more and more into mid-fall, this doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Today the organization announced winners in the usual […]
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Robert Duvall takes aim at “actor’s enemy” Stanley Kubrick
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:46 am · December 2nd, 2010
It was interesting this morning to see Robert Duvall’s recent comments on Stanley Kubrick’s process with actors making the rounds. Duvall chimed in with trademark candor at The Hollywood Reporter’s Actors Round Table when the issue of exhaustive takes came up. “The Social Network” director David Fincher is known for doing quite a few, and […]
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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
10/15 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: An unpolished ‘Hereafter,’ women dominate doc shorts, CGI in story-driven contenders
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:26 am · October 15th, 2010
• Melissa Silverstein on female dominance in the documentary shorts field. [Women and Hollywood] • Turns out Clint Eastwood filmed an early, unpolished draft of Peter Morgan’s “Hereafter.” Well…it shows. [Vulture] • Speaking of which, David Cohen spotlights the impact of digital wizardry on that story-driven film as well as Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.” [Variety]
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10/14 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Eisenberg could bump Damon, Pike’s break-out year, assessing Best Actor
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:30 am · October 14th, 2010
• Nathaniel Rogers gets delightfully painstaking with Oscar trivia, notes that, should Jesse Eisenberg be nominated for Best Actor, he’ll boot Matt Damon from the list of top 10 youngest nominees in the category. [The Film Experience] • Speaking of which, Damon has the directing bug and continues to bone up on the ins and […]
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The Cain and Abel of ‘Social Network’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:58 pm · September 28th, 2010
As much as the film ticks certain prestige-film boxes — hell, it’s a socially conscious biopic from a respected, Oscar-nominated filmmaker — I still find myself doing something of a double-take when I hear “The Social Network” referred to as the Best Picture contender to beat. When was the last time a film so steeped […]
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