Category Archives: Oscars

Actors, Awards, Filmmakers, Oscars

THR’s Awards Roundtable Back for Another Go ‘Round

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Each year, both for Oscar and Emmy season, The Hollywood Reporter releases a series of candid and informative roundtable interviews with some of the film and TV industries’ hottest and most respected talent—all of whom are in awards contention for their most recent works. This season, the focus is on movies and the men and women who bring them to life. Visit THR.com to watch or read. So far, the following roundtables have been conducted (with more to come, including some of this year’s actress contenders):

Directors (image above)

L to R: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips), David O. Russell (American Hustler), Ben Stiller (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity), Lee Daniels (Lee Daniels’ The Butler)

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Awards, Coming Soon, Drama, In Theatres, Independent Film, Narrative, New Release, Oscars, Preview, Trailer

2014 Oscar Guide: Parade of Trailers

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The fall is my favorite season for several reasons: the weather, the holidays, the foliage, the movies—oh, the movies. This is when studios release their best contenders for Oscar glory, more than four months away. Every year, I aim to watch all of the Oscar hopefuls before nominations are announced (this year on January 16, 2014).

Here is my second-annual list of this year’s major contenders in various categories, along with release dates.

Past Releases

FRUITVALE STATION

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Animation, Oscars, Short Film

Short Film: “Fresh Guacamole”

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At just 1 minute and 41 seconds, “Fresh Guacamole” is the shortest film ever nominated for an Oscar. It competed this year in the Best Short Film – Animated category, where it lost to “Paperman” (a much more deserving film). Despite the lack of story in “Guac,” the stop-motion animation is inventive and whimsical. Check out more of the short works by director PES on his YouTube channel.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJdJIwCF_Y&list=PLE30DFC5B7FA8E6E2&index=1]
Actors, Awards, Comedy, Drama, Filmmakers, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars

2013 Memo to the Academy

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(Re-posted from LimitéMagazine.com)

Dear Academy,

You get thanked an awful lot by Oscar winners, but you don’t always make the smartest choices (#justsayin). Allow us to help you along a bit so you don’t make another embarrassing blunder (Affleck, anyone?) come February 24th. Here’s who we say should win in some of the key races.

Your friends,

Dan Quitério

Limité Film Editor

Stephanie Dawson

Senior Film Contributor

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Awards, Oscars

My Final Predictions for 85th Academy Awards

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Tune in to the Oscars this Sunday, February 24 at 7pm EST on ABC.

BEST PICTURE

Amour

*Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

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Awards, Oscars, Poster

84 Best Picture Winners in Oscar Form

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AMPAS recently released this year’s official Oscar poster, and I must say, it’s pretty awesome! Each of the 84 Best Picture winners is represented as an Oscar statuette. Check out the poster below, and click here to see each statue design up close.

The 85th annual Academy Awards airs Sunday, February 24 at 7pm EST on ABC.

Awards, Drama, Narrative, News, Oscars

ARGO Solidifies Front-runner Status for Best Picture

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After some high-profile Best Picture wins at the Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards, and AFI, Argo has come ever closer to solidifying its Oscar front-runner status following last night’s Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award win for Best Picture. The PGA Award is often a reliable indicator of the Best Picture winner at the Oscars. The twist here is that the Oscar winner for Best Picture typically also wins for Best Director, but, as has been repeatedly documented, Argo‘s director Ben Affleck was famously snubbed for a nomination. It’s extremely rare for a film to win Best Picture without its director being nominated. The last movie to achieve this was Driving Miss Daisy 23 years ago. It looks like we’re coming closer to repeating this feat in just a few short weeks.

Although Argo is deserving of the Best Picture honors it’s received to date, Affleck’s Oscar snub is perhaps the best thing to happen to the film. It seems that several awards bodies are quick to remind the Academy of its foolish decision to leave Affleck out of the race, and they’re doing it by awarding him and the movie at their own award shows. Had Affleck been nominated, I question whether the film would be receiving this same attention, especially when competing against other deserving films like Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Misérables, and Life of Pi.

So the question persists: If Argo wins Best Picture, who will win Best Director?

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Awards, Comedy, Independent Film, Narrative, Oscars

MOONRISE KINGDOM Interactive Script Released

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An interactive script for Oscar Best Original Screenplay nominee Moonrise Kingdom was recently released. Check it out here. The screenplay was written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola.

Moonrise Kingdom, directed by Wes Anderson and written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola, is set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965. It tells the story of two 12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore—and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in every which way. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff, Captain Sharp. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader, Scout Master Ward. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bishop. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Bob Balaban, and introduces Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.
Moonrise Kingdom is now available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Download.  It is also available to view On Demand.
Official Site: moonrisekingdom.com
Actors, Awards, Filmmakers, News, Oscars

Analysis: The 85th Annual Oscar Nominations

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This past Thursday, nominations for the 85th annual Academy Awards were announced. In a new twist, the ceremony’s host, Seth MacFarlane, joined Emma Stone on stage at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in LA to read the nominations. It’s rare for the ceremony’s host to present the nominations, as that position is usually filled by the Academy’s President, but clearly, AMPAS had something new and original in mind. It paid off. The comedic banter between the two worked well, as their chemistry felt natural and fresh. It also helped to paint the Academy in a younger, more vibrant light. Could this be a shadow of things to come when the golden statuettes are distributed on February 24?

One thing the Oscars definitely has going for itself this year is that many of 2012’s nominated films are movies that the general public have actually seen. The Oscar telecast is likely to see a bump in ratings after several years in decline. On to my analysis …

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Animation, Comedy, Foreign Film, Narrative, Oscars, Short Film

Short Film: “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty”

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This animated short film directed by Nicky Phelan and written and performed by Kathleen O’Rourke was nominated at the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Short Film (Animated). In my opinion, it was the best of the five nominated films and should have won for its cleverness and use of multiple animation techniques.