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 […]
OSCAR TALK: Ep. 44 — The top 10 films of 2010 (x2)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:30 pm · December 10th, 2010
Filed in: Oscar Talk
Stephen King’s top 10 films of 2010
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:22 am · November 24th, 2010
Entertainment Weekly columnist (and a dabbler in fiction) Stephen King is the first out of the gate this year with a top 10 list, beating the usual early likes of Peter Travers et al to the punch. King’s lists are always, shall we say, unique. They generally lean toward the populist and make it rather […]
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TECH SUPPORT: Best Makeup — Volume II
Posted by gerardkennedy · 9:13 am · November 4th, 2010
As I said last week (and have said several times before), no category is year-in and-year-out more perplexing than Best Makeup. Each year, this branch finds ways to turn otherwise dubious awards contenders into bona fide Oscar nominees — dubious because often nominees might be abysmal or relatively obscure. The branch seems to have its […]
Filed in: Tech Support
‘Winter’s Bone’ leads the way with Gotham Award nominees
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:08 am · October 18th, 2010
The nominees for the 20th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced this morning by Elvis Mitchell via live stream and we get a lot of what we’d expect. Debra Granik’s “Winter’s Bone” received three nominations, including Best Feature, while Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right” received two. Those were the list-toppers. Darren Aronofsky’s […]
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Portman and Giacchino: too many notes?
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:55 pm · October 15th, 2010
“It’s quality work. There are simply too many notes,” says the Emperor Joseph II to an incredulous Mozart in Milos Forman’s 1984 Oscar-guzzler “Amadeus.” It’s a delicious critique, and it’s one I’ve found myself remembering a lot over the past few weeks of London Film Festival viewing, during which I seem have jotted down the […]
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LONDON: Never let me in
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:35 pm · October 14th, 2010
In a year that has seen me give over more of my time than is strictly sensible to covering the Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Edinburgh programmes, there’s something oddly disconcerting about attending a festival in my home city. Admittedly, the atmosphere is dampened by the fact that many of the London Film Festival’s biggest drawcards […]
WEEKLY WRAP: Fincher reflection, ‘Way Back’ in, ‘Valentine’ blues
Posted by In Contention Staff · 7:29 pm · October 8th, 2010
• As robust box-office returns for “The Social Network” amplified its Oscar buzz, this week’s Off the Carpet column warned that the awards race is “a marathon, not a sprint.” • Keeping the conversation on David Fincher, we counted down the greatest technical achievements in his filmmography… • …and invited you to name your favorite […]
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10/8 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Superman’ does well, Paramount grabs Reitman’s next, Lane on ‘Secretariat’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:00 am · October 8th, 2010
• Davis Guggenheim’s “Waiting for Superman” has performed better than several other high profile releases. [The Envelope] • David Poland sits down with “Let Me In” director Matt Reeves. [Movie City News] • Paramount to distribute Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” written by Diablo Cody. [Hollywood Reporter]
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10/7 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: O’Neil relaunches Gold Derby, sticking up for ‘Let Me In,’ remaking ‘The Secret in Their Eyes’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:08 am · October 7th, 2010
• Tom O’Neil takes back Gold Derby, prepares re-launch of GoldDerby.com on November 1. [Gold Derby] • Grilling a Harvard grad on the accuracy of final club depictions in “The Social Network.” [Vulture] • Cole Abaius chats with Armie Hammer about his performance(s) in the film. [Film School Rejects]
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10/5 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Moving the show to January, CGI gaffes, toasting Mirren
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:06 am · October 5th, 2010
• The Academy considers moving the Oscars up to late January or early February. Same old song and dance. It would begin in 2012 and is dependent on the NFL’s plans. [Los Angeles Times] • Tom Shone talks to “Nowhere Boy” director Sam Taylor-Wood. [New York Magazine] • Monika Bartyzel toasts Helen Mirren’s rise from […]
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CINEJABBER: One more time to kill the pain
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:31 pm · October 2nd, 2010
Catch the idea behind these weekend posts here. I don’t have much in the way of a conversation starter this week. However, I was happy to see Emma Stone’s career taking off with the news that she’ll be offered the Mary Jane Watson role in Sony’s “Spider-Man” reboot. Many first took notice of the actress […]
Filed in: Cinejabber
OSCAR TALK: Ep. 34 — Screeners arrive, ‘Social Network’ and ‘Let Me In’ open, ‘Secretariat’ thoughts, remembering Sally Menke
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:46 am · October 1st, 2010
Welcome to Oscar Talk. In case you’re new to the site and/or the podcast, Oscar Talk is a weekly kudocast, a 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
10/1 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Harris on his career, McCarthy remembers Menke, King wants vampires done right
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:31 am · October 1st, 2010
• Ed Harris opens up about his career (speaking of which, P.S.: I’m hearing a one-week qualifier for “The Way Back” may just happen after all). [MakingOf] • Stephen King: Do vampires right! [Entertainment Weekly] • Speaking of vampires, Steven Zeitchik sits down with “Let Me In” director Matt Reeves. [Los Angeles Times]
Filed in: Daily
9/27 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: ‘Wall Street’ timing, Oscar’s love affair with social relevance and a real-life ‘Whistleblower’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:32 am · September 27th, 2010
• Does “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” have poor timing Oscar-wise? (Or, I don’t know, did it just kinda stink?) [The Guardian] • On Kathy Bolkovac, the real-life whistleblower of Toronto title “The Whistleblower.” [Lincoln Journal Star] • Andrew Garfield has played “Spider-Man” before, FYI. [Daily Telegraph]
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9/15 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:51 am · September 15th, 2010
• Anne Thompson sits down with Golden Lion winner Sofia Coppola, from Venice. [Thompson on Hollywood] • Patrick Goldstein on Hollywood’s on-going lover affair with mobster cinema. [The Big Picture] • Pete Hammond concurs with the Oscar buzz surrounding “The Social Network” after a slew of screenings in New York and Los Angeles. [Deadline]
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9/13 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:51 am · September 13th, 2010
• Richard Corliss, clearly irritated by early Oscar buzz, comes down hard on “The King’s Speech” and seems to think it is “bad enough” to win the Oscar for Best Picture. [Time] • Colin Firth, meanwhile, responds to said Oscar buzz. [The Hollywood Reporter] • Regarding “Let Me In,” Stephanie Zacharek contends “like a piece […]
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TIFF: ‘Hereafter’ underwhelms, ‘Let Me In’ bests original?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:32 pm · September 11th, 2010
I’ve been hearing for a couple of months now that Matt Reeves’s “Let Me In” is as good if not better than Tomas Alfredson’s original film (and a top 10 effort in my book), “Let the Right One In.” I won’t see it for another week or so, but early word out of Toronto dovetails […]
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Fall festivals ready for their close-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:03 pm · August 17th, 2010
In the last couple of weeks the major fall film festivals have unveiled aggressively competitive line-ups, and the amount of potential awards product landing at Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York is, as usual, vast. There are plenty of overlapping exhibitions but as for firsties, Venice will get dibs on Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan,” Julie […]
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