• Nick Nolte talks “Warrior.” [Making Of] • A little southern perspective on “The Help.” [Los Angeles Times] • Greg Wellwood considers who got an Oscar boost at Telluride and who didn’t. [Awards Campaign]
9/6 OSCARWEB ROUND-UP: Nolte on ‘Warrior,’ southern perspective on ‘The Help,’ Oscar plays out of Telluride
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:50 am · September 6th, 2011
Filed in: Daily
THE LONG SHOT: Critical mass
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:26 pm · December 9th, 2010
Guy’s updated Oscar predictions here. Just one week on from the first formal awards announcements of the season, the Oscar season may still be taking its first steps, but my personal interest in the precursor trail is nonetheless set to peak this very weekend. That, of course, is when the New York Film Critics Circle […]
Filed in: The Long Shot
Paging Rene Russo
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:11 pm · May 4th, 2010
Honestly, the last time the name “Rene Russo” crossed my mind, I was still wearing school uniform and Bill Clinton was still president of the United States. Even then, it was only fleetingly: if you want the last time she was in a film that actually merited a second thought, we’re looking more at the […]
Filed in: Daily
3/1 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:31 am · March 1st, 2010
• Geoffrey Fletcher writes up what Precious (and “Precious”) means to him. [Huffington Post] • Donna Freydkin talks to Vera Farmiga, who, by the way, has a lot of support for her nominated performance in “Up in the Air.” (Just sayin’…) [USA Today] • Maggie Gyllenhaal offers a soundbite concerning the whirlwind campaign behind “Crazy […]
Filed in: Daily
SANTA BARBARA: Four Vanguards and a Virtuoso
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:52 am · February 13th, 2010
“Precious” star Gabourey Sidibe couldn’t be here last weekend for the Virtuosos presentation, which recognized her, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Emily Blunt and Michael Stuhlbarg, so she was in town this evening as part of the Vanguard presentation. Stanley Tucci, meanwhile, couldn’t be here this week to accept his Vanguard prize, so he was here […]
Filed in: Daily
OSCAR GUIDE: Best Supporting Actress
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 2:03 pm · February 3rd, 2010
This year’s Best Supporting Actress race made for, in many ways, one of the most wide open categories of the major nominees. While three of the contenders seemed fairly locked in place, the other two slots appeared up for grabs, and there was no shortage of deserving contenders waiting to fill out the field. Contenders […]
Filed in: Daily
The bright side
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:36 am · February 2nd, 2010
Well, I’ll start the good news selfishly, by noting that I didn’t entirely embarrass myself with my predictions: not counting the short categories (which I was too cowardly and uninformed to predict) I nailed 78/106, just two points behind Kris’s round tally of 80. But while I was pleased to see at least one of […]
Filed in: Daily
An evening at the CCMAs
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:46 am · January 16th, 2010
Alright, now that the booze and the hangover have worn off, let’s talk last night’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. It was a decently produced evening, the venue having shifted from the Santa Monica Civic Center to the Hollywood Palladium, right in the middle of Tinseltown. The scheme of having 10 tables rounding the stage representing […]
Filed in: Daily
1/12 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:23 am · January 12th, 2010
• Steve Pond talks “In the Loop” with Armando Ianucci and Peter Capaldi. [The Odds] • Dave Karger makes his Golden Globe picks. [Entertainment Weekly] • Katey Rich runs down the pros and cons in a four-way race (but it’s actually a three-way race). [Cinema Blend]
Filed in: Daily
‘An Education’ leads London Critics’ award noms
Posted by Guy Lodge · 12:58 pm · December 22nd, 2009
The London Film Critics’ Circle awards have their cake and eat it by having separate British film categories, in addition to some general fields where the Brits also compete. So UK productions invariably lead the field. Allowing for that and other oddities, this is a very pleasing list for the most part. “An Education” seals […]
Filed in: Daily
‘Air,’ ‘Basterds,’ ‘Precious’ lead the way with SAG
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:01 am · December 17th, 2009
There wasn’t much in the way of a surprise with this year’s Screen Actors Guild announcement. The nods that are least likely to translate to Oscar, if I were a betting man, are Diane Kruger’s supporting actress bid for “Inglourious Basterds” and (I guess I just have a feeling) Matt Damon, supporting for “Invictus.” The […]
Filed in: Daily
Vera Farmiga on ‘Up in the Air’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:28 am · November 30th, 2009
(Courtesy: MakingOf)
Filed in: Daily
Quartet tapped for Santa Barbara’s Cinema Vanguard honor
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:31 pm · November 22nd, 2009
This marks the first time four honorees have been chosen for the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Cinema Vanguard Award. The press release, in part: The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Stanley Tucci and Christoph Waltz with the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 25th edition of the Fest, which runs […]
Filed in: Daily
Someone who actually gets this year’s lead actress field
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:27 am · November 18th, 2009
Leave it to a woman to understand the virtues of leading ladies on screen this year. Yesterday we linked to Steven Zeitchik’s join-the-misguided-masses piece on the “thin” Best Actress race. I just got into this debate Monday night with another proponent of the theory (who has been similarly rebuffed here in the past). The point […]
Filed in: Daily
OFF THE CARPET: Looking at the supporting ladies
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:37 am · October 26th, 2009
A few weeks ago in this space I took a dedicated look at the lead actress category. With little in the way of actual development (this season is curiously divided on the timeline as we’ve got maybe another month before more major titles begin screening), I figured it would be a good idea to keep […]
Filed in: Off the Carpet
LONDON: ‘In the Air’ tonight
Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:19 pm · October 18th, 2009
To use the umpteenth bad aviation metaphor in connection with the film, “Up in the Air” landed in London this evening with a gala festival screening — though this time it came unaccompanied by George Clooney, who had skipped off to the Rome fest after doing double-duty at the LFF earlier this week with “Fantastic […]
Filed in: Daily
Category shuffling gets complicated
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 7:31 pm · October 12th, 2009
It’s been interesting to note that many of the conversations concerning the Oscar race that I’ve had with people lately revolves around category placement for a number of the year’s contenders. It was a topic Anne and I addressed directly in Friday’s Oscar Talk, in fact. There tends to be dueling ideologies on this, as […]
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INTERVIEW: Jason Reitman
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:17 am · September 11th, 2009
Telluride Film Festival Four days ago, Jason Reitman finalized his latest film, “Up in the Air,” by making one final song change. Two days ago he unveiled it to its first-ever first audience, his nerves shot. Today, somewhat more relaxed in the wake of a warm reception to the film, he’s sitting outside at a […]
Filed in: Interviews