In a year I maintain to be disappointing, I must confess that the sprint to the finish is looking more and more exciting all the time, with an exceptional crop of actors vying for Best Actor nominations. This could very well be the year that Clint Eastwood wins an acting Oscar, or that the previously […]
Rousing Best Actor race shaping up
Posted by John Foote · 9:20 am · November 5th, 2008
Best Actor race looking tight as always — expect surprises
Posted by John Foote · 11:37 am · September 17th, 2008
The Best Actor category tends to be one of the more crowded categories come Oscar time, and 2008 looks to be no exception. To be sure, there are a handful of frontrunners as usual, but hovering behind them are another group, more than eight who could easily sneak in and nab a nomination. Last year […]
Filed in: Daily
THE LISTS: Top 10 performances you’re underestimating
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:22 am · September 16th, 2008
Every year it seems there are a number of performers in the thick of an Oscar hunt that don’t get the same attention as the expected heavy-hitters. It’s no surprise, of course, that Oscar prognostication would lean toward the anticipation of what lies ahead, unseen, unproven. The mystery stays in tact, if for precious few […]
Filed in: The Lists
SHORT TAKE: “Burn After Reading” (*1/2)
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:26 pm · September 6th, 2008
I really didn’t like “Burn After Reading,” but I laughed. A LOT. I think the Coen brothers are probably the only filmmakers who can generate such a reaction. The entire film is expendable. It doesn’t even work on the grounds of slapstick, really. It’s a series of events strung together, no point, no thematic ingenuity, […]
Filed in: Reviews
BEST ACTOR WATCH: Jeff Goldblum in ‘Adam Resurrected’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 11:03 am · September 5th, 2008
Looking at the latest contenders to muscle in on an already crowded Best Actor field, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s 1986 or something. First, the formerly washed-up Mickey Rourke rebounds with an apparently career-best performance in “The Wrestler” that is generating loud Oscar buzz. Now Rourke’s relative contemporary, Jeff Goldblum, is setting tongues […]
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Could a preemptive DVD release bolster ‘Visitor’ star Richard Jenkins in this year’s Best Actor race?
Posted by Blake Rutherford · 2:27 am · August 25th, 2008
As you may have noticed, Anchor Bay Entertainment has announced that “The Visitor,” my mid-year pick for best film, will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 7th. I’ve long argued that films, especially very good ones, are bolstered in the Awards race by their DVD release and this could be a starting gun […]
Filed in: Daily
The Guardian fires the starting gun
Posted by Guy Lodge · 1:39 am · July 31st, 2008
No particularly new insights to be gleaned from this, but when a Limey paper declares awards season to be officially on, you know it’s here. Guardian writer Jeremy Kay glosses over the upcoming Venice and Toronto festivals, picking out some awards potential from the lineup. He begins by trumpeting the Best Actor chances of Mickey […]
Filed in: Daily
Variety ponders the season at the mid-way point
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:24 am · July 4th, 2008
We’ve already been over what a thin year it’s been so far for Oscar candidates – or good films at all, for that matter. Now Variety has come to the same conclusion. In his mid-year awards-season study, Timothy M. Gray goes so far as to say that “the past six months have offered fewer potential […]
Filed in: Daily
Will Oscar have an unexpected ‘Visitor?’
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:49 am · July 3rd, 2008
As you all know, we in the UK tend to be a bit behind the curve on most American releases, so I didn’t get to see Tom McCarthy’s wonderful “The Visitor” in time for our mid-year review. Had I done so, it certainly would have been in contention for my ‘best of the year so […]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Stuck in the middle with…what?
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:23 pm · June 29th, 2008
Since we’ve finally reached the midway point of 2008, it seemed as good a time as any to post the first “Off the Carpet” column since our year in advance take over four months ago. First and foremost, I’m in a unique situation this year. Being in London since mid-May, I’ve found myself looking from […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet