Oscars telecast details revealed in promo video

The academy has already announced that the three living winners of last year's acting Oscars -- leads Sean Penn ("Milk") and Kate Winslet ("The Reader") and supporting champ Penelope Cruz ("Vicky Christina Barcelona") -- will be presenters at this year's Academy Awards. Beyond that, there has been much speculation as to whom co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will be welcoming to the stage of the Kodak Theater on March 7.

On Monday, the academy posted a video to its YouTube channel entitled "Meet the Writers." The blurb for this 2:00 spot reads: "Go behind the scenes with the producers and writers of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards® featuring Bruce Vilanch, Jon Macks, Jeff Richman, Carol Leifer, Beth Armogida, Dave Feldman, co-host and writer Steve Martin and producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman." While there is much amusing banter heard among them -- with Martin chiming in via speakerphone -- it is what is seen that is more interesting.

As one of our eagle-eyed forum posters -- the aptly-named Academy Awards Guru -- reports, "you can see a board on the background, it has several labels indicating the 13 segments of the ceremony, the first and final segment with the two hosts, the other segments with one host (first steve, then alec)."

And he says, "Other things that I saw:

The award for best foreign language film will be presented by Quentin Tarantino and Pedro Almodovar (as some reports said it before).

The nominated songs will be performed separately.

They also will feature a clip of each one of the 10 best picture nominees.

James Taylor will perform or present.

"The Hangover' cast will present or perform."

Keep checking back at Gold Derby and in this thread in the forums for further advance details of the telecast.

Source:goldderby.latimes.com/

The Hurt Locker: 10 things you need to know about the Oscar-nominated film

1. ‘Hurt Locker’ is American military slang for being hurt by an explosion – you get “sent to the hurt locker”.


2. Mark Boal, nominated for Best Screenplay, developed the story after spending two weeks embedded with a bomb disposal squad in Baghdad. His experiences were then fictionalised for The Hurt Locker. He said: “It was difficult to quantify the threat when you don’t speak the language and the enemy is not wearing a uniform or engaging in traditional warfare but using hit-and-run ambush tactics. I tried to capture all this in The Hurt Locker.”


3. Boal has written for Playboy.


4. The film's opening quote, "The rush of battle is a potent and often lethal addiction, for war is a drug", comes from New York Times war correspondent Chris Hedges’ 2002 book War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning.


5. Kathryn Bigelow is only the fourth woman ever to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar - and none of the previous female nominees went on to claim the award.

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6. Bigelow, whose previous films include Point Break, is up against ex-husband James Cameron in the Best Director category. The pair were married from 1989-1991. Cameron is nominated for box office smash Avatar.


7. The Hurt Locker is an independent film made on a relatively low-budget of $11million. It is one of the lowest-grossing films to be nominated for Best Picture - it has made less than $17 million at the box office so far, compared to Avatar’s record-breaking $2 billion.


8. Best Actor nominee Jeremy Renner has previously appeared in 28 Weeks Later, where he played Sergeant Doyle, and as Jesse James’s cousin Wood Hite in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.


9. Co-star Anthony Mackie plays rapper Tupac Shakur in Notorious.


10. The film may be Oscar-nominated but it is not free of timeline errors. Set in 2004, soldiers play on an Xbox 360 which wasn’t released until 2005, YouTube gets a mention even though it did not launch until 2005 and 2008 game Gears of War is seen being played

Source:mirror.co.uk/

Why Sandra Bullock Is So Winning the Oscar

Remember way back at the beginning of Oscar season (circa last September) when everyone was predicting that precocious pixie Carey Mulligan would be Oscar’s latest ingenue princess for her turn as a precocious-pixie high school student involved with an older man in An Education?

Then critical opinion slowly turned in Meryl Streep’s favor, and she became a sure thing to finally pick up her third statue from the Academy for impersonating Julia Child (or as she says, our idea of Julia Child) in Julie & Julia.

Suddenly, there’s no stopping Sandra Bullock. Previously a big box-office star with zero Oscar potential (sort of like Meg Ryan before her), thanks to The Blind Side, Bullock has become the woman most likely to ruin Mulligan’s and Streep’s night and make the trip to the podium on March 7 to accept the prize for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

Here’s why:

She’s humble (or shrewdly modest). Bullock has never really seemed to care about silly things like awards and industry accolades. And now that she’s picking up every one in sight, she’s still insisting that her Oscar chances are nil. “I’m so not winning an Oscar,” she recently said at the the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where she received yet another one of those accolades, the American Riviera Award for her influence on film. “Nine times out of ten, I always pick who’s going to win. And I already know who’s going to win. I’m not going to say, but nine times out of ten, I’m right.” Just in case, Sandy, prep your speech. This is going to be a one-in-10 off year.

She can laugh at herself. Most A-list stars wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near the Razzie Awards. (Though Halle Berry did drop by several years back to pick up her Worst Actress prize for Catwoman.) This year, Bullock is nominated for Best Actress for All About Steve, her 2009 critically savaged comedy that was sandwiched between The Proposal and The Blind Side. She’s already asked the Razzie organizers to save her a seat. If they bestow the honor upon her, she wouldn’t miss it for the world.

She’s generous (and not afraid to let everyone know it). Not that Bullock wouldn’t have donated money to the earthquake relief efforts in Haiti anyway (and her $15 million-per-film salary will quickly recover the expense), but giving $1 million is not the sort of thing that Oscar can just ignore.

She’s a great kisser. Oscar may feel a little guilty about making Meryl Streep wait another year for Oscar No. 3, but after Streep and Bullock’s ice-breaking onstage kiss at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, it won’t sting so much for Streep this year when she once again has to put on her good-loser face. Who knows? Maybe Bullock will blow her a kiss from the podium or call her onstage for an encore. Who wouldn’t stay up past midnight for that?

Source:trueslant.com/

Will Up's Annie Award lead to Oscar?

Up won both Best Picture and Director at the Annie Awards on Saturday night. The movie beat out all four of its competitors for Best Animated Feature Oscar: Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog and The Secret of Kells, as well as Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

Coraline, which topped the list with 10 nominations, won three Annies: Character Design, Music and Production Design. Princess took three of its eight categories: Animated Effects, Character Animation and Voice Acting. Critics' choice Fantastic Mr. Fox won just one of its three nods, for the script by director Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach.

Since the academy introduced the Best Animated Feature Award in 2001, winners of the Best Picture Annie and the Oscar have matched up six times.

Source:thestar.com/

'Crazy Heart' gets Oscar boost

"Crazy Heart" may not have received one of the Academy Awards' 10 best picture slots, but it got its revenge at the box office this weekend.

Fox Searchlight's country-music drama, which received three nominations, including best actor for Jeff Bridges, went from 239 locations to 819 this weekend and collected a studio-estimated $3.65 million, or $4,457 per theater.

That's the best performance by far of any Oscar-nominated picture that expanded into more theaters this weekend.

"Crazy Heart" did particularly well in Florida, said Fox Searchlight's executive vice president of distribution, Sheila Deloach, a sign that older audiences are taking to the tale of a past-his-prime country singer.

Several best picture nominees moved into more theaters as well but with less impressive results.

Sony Pictures Classics expanded "An Education" from 75 theaters to 761 and generated $915,407, or a relatively soft $1,203 per theater. Its total so far is $9.8 million.

Lionsgate had hoped to build on the $45.6 million that "Precious" made through Thursday primarily from African American moviegoers by taking the dark but inspiring drama from 222 theaters to 669 and reaching a more diverse audience. But the best picture nominee sold a weak $440,000 worth of tickets, or $650 per theater.

Summit Entertainment expanded "The Hurt Locker" from 38 theaters to 110.

The Iraq war drama, undoubtedly slowed by already being available on DVD, took in just $123,000, or $1,118 per location. Despite its status as the presumed top contender for best picture alongside "Avatar," it has sold just $13.4 million of tickets domestically.

Sony Classics' "The Last Station," which got two acting nominations, went from nine theaters to 51 and took in a healthy $371,064, or $7,226 per theater. Its total domestic gross is now $758,531.

Source:latimes.com

5 Oscar Movies You Haven't Seen—but Totally Should

Magnolia Pictures; Summit Entertainment; Oceanic Preservation Society; IFC FIlms; Fox Searchlight

In a bid to recapture the interest of regular folks like you and me, the Academy Awards' Best Picture category has expanded to allow for 10 competing flicks, and so a lot of films you probably missed have been nominated.

So what did you miss?

In a year where Mo'Nique, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Sandra Bullock and a naked, 10-foot blue chick in 3D can all be mentioned in the same breath, how do you know which Oscar flicks you really should be catching up on?

Read on for the first five that should be on your list...

1. The Hurt Locker (many nominations, including Best Picture)

Why you didn't see it: It's an Iraq war movie, and let's face it, most of those have been sanctimonious sacks of suckage. Plus, you probably weren't expecting much better from the director of Point Break.

Why you should: Because, awards and critical acclaim and mismanaged marketing aside, this is not some stuffy, important-with-a-capital-I drama.

It is, in fact, a kickass action movie full of explosions, eviscerations and nigh-unbearable tension as bombs are defused (or not) and snipers are picked off.

It's the sort of film that would be more at home running on TNT's "Movies for guys who like movies" than in some out-of-the-way art-house multiplex. And don't forget that that Point Break director also made Near Dark. This is even better.

2. The Cove (Best Documentary Feature)

Why you didn't see it: A documentary about the importance of saving dolphins sounds about as appealing as a week-old tuna salad sandwich.

Why you should: Put aside for a second that you'll learn some useful information about which seafood to be careful of eating. The key here is that The Cove is not just some preachy screed about how dolphins are cute and smart, but a full-on heist movie—like Ocean's 11, but real.

See, a team of experts in different fields arrange the perfect break-in to a secluded cove in Japan, so they can gather crucial evidence of secret mass slaughterings.

If George Clooney were in a story like that, you'd be there, right? This is even better, because chances are you don't already know whether or not they succeeded (do yourself a favor and don't Google it first).

3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Best Animated Feature)

Why you didn't see it: Because the idea that the director of movies like The Darjeeling Limited could make an unabashedly entertaining stop-motion flick for the whole family was an unlikely proposition indeed.

Why you should: Because it's based on a Roald Dahl children's book, it has a great cast (Michael Gambon! Bill Murray! Meryl Streep!) and Wes Anderson has lightened up a whole lot.

Kids will love the slapstick; adults will appreciate the ironic juxtapositions of human versus animal behavior. Also, George Clooney in full-on self-parody mode, as he is here, beats George Clooney in self-important, introspective mode (we're looking at you, Up in the Air).

4. In the Loop (Best Adapted Screenplay)

Why you didn't see it: The banal title tells you almost nothing about the movie, plus it's a spinoff of an English TV series, In the Thick of It, which isn't even available on DVD over here.

Why you should: Assuming you're not allergic to a variety of different U.K. accents, this is one of the sharpest, funniest satires of government ever made, and you don't have to know anything about the TV show it's based on.

A fast-paced, deadpan study of government idiocy during the buildup to a familiar-yet-nameless war, it'll have you laughing so hard at some of its jokes that you'll need a second viewing to hear the follow-up lines.

Plus Peter Capaldi's foul-mouthed, Scottish damage-control expert makes Rahm Emanuel sound like a choirboy by comparison.

5. Food Inc. (Best Documentary Feature)

Why you didn't see it: Because almost every exposé of the food industry ends up telling you to go vegan, and who needs that? Meat and cheese are delicious!

Why you should: Because this one doesn't. Finally, a truly fair and balanced look at the food industry that yes, dings factory farming for its flaws and overreliance on antibiotics, but also tells you that it's OK to eat meat if you're smart about it, and...praises Walmart? C'mon. You have to see that to believe it.

Source:eonline.com/

Actor in Israel's Oscar nominated movie detained

Israel -- Police say an actor in "Ajami," the Israeli movie just nominated for an Oscar, was detained briefly for attacking police in the neighborhood where the story was filmed.

Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Sunday that police arrested Tony Copti, whose brother co-produced the movie. He said the actor was involved in a brawl with police but had no further details. He was released after questioning, Rosenfeld said.

"Ajami" depicts the brutal life of drugs, violence and poverty in Jaffa, a mixed Jewish-Arab neighborhood near Tel Aviv.

It was co-produced by Scandar Copti, an Israeli Arab, and Yaron Shani, an Israeli Jew.

Characters are played by amateur actors from the Ajami neighborhood.

Source:washingtonpost.com/

Box Office: AVATAR, New Releases, Oscar Movies

According to estimates provided by Box Office Mojo, Lasse Hallström’s romantic tearjerker Dear John, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, topped the domestic box-office this weekend, with $32.4 million in ticket sales. Avatar came at a distance second, with $23.6 million. James Cameron’s 3D sci-fier has grossed a total of $630 million after 52 days.

The $52 million John Travolta-Jonathan Rhys Meyers vehicle From Paris with Love earned a paltry $8.1 million ($2,983 per screen) on its opening weekend. Following in fourth place was Mel Gibson’s Edge of Darkness with $7 million, a 59.3 percent drop from the previous weekend. The $80 million revenge thriller has earned a very disappointing $29m after ten days.

At #5, Dwayne Johnson’s The Tooth Fairy, co-starring Julie Andrews, had a — relatively speaking — surprisingly low attendance drop rate from last weekend: 35 percent. The fantasy comedy earned $6.5m for a total of $34 million after two and a half weeks.

The Kristen Bell-Josh Duhamel romantic comedy When in Rome was #6 with $5.5m, a 55.4 percent drop from last week, followed by Denzel Washington’s post-apocalyptic drama The Book of Eli with $4.8m (45.7 percent drop). Jeff Bridges‘ Crazy Heart, now playing at 813 theaters, was #8 with $3.6m, a good $4,457 per screen. Legion was next with $3.4m and $34.6 million to date.

Rounding out the top twelve were Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes ($2.63m), Sandra Bullock’s The Blind Side ($2.6m), and George Clooney’s Up in the Air ($2.35m).

The Oscar nominations announcement coupled with an increase in number of screens helped movies as diverse as Crazy Heart (580 more screens, a 58.1 percent increase), Carey Mulligan’s An Education (above, 915K at 686 more screens, a 668 percent increase), Colin Firth’s A Single Man ($631K at 137 more screens, a 14 percent increase), Gabourey Sidibe’s Precious ($440K at 447 more screens, a 104 percent increase), Helen Mirren’s The Last Station ($371K at 42 more screens, a 337 percent increase), and Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon ($132K at 4 more screens, a 12.9 percent increase).

Up in the Air is playing at 117 more screens than last week. Even so, the comedy-drama dropped 16.7 percent; a relatively small reduction, but a reduction nevertheless. The Blind Side lost 11 screens and had a small 13.9 percent drop.

The Oscars seem to have made little — if any — difference to the weekend’s box-office performance of Avatar, The Princess and the Frog, Sherlock Holmes, The Lovely Bones, or Nine.

Photos: Dear John (Scott Garfield / Dear John, LLC); From Paris with Love (Nico Torres / Lionsgate); An Education (Kerry Brown / Sony Pictures Classics)


Source:altfg.com/

Amitabh Bachchan supports medical centre at Kochi

Kochi, Feb 8 (ANI): Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan has unveiled a project founded by Oscar Award winner Resul Pookutty here to provide medical assistance to poor patients.


Buzz up!'Jeevarogya Medical Welfare', a non-profit welfare organization, campaign to help poor patients receive medical treatment.


The project is set up in joint collaboration with Kochi based Lakshmi Hospital, in which over 3000 poor and deprived people from underprivileged sections of the society will be provided subsidised medical treatment.

After unveiling the project, Bachchan showed his faith in Indian medical profession.

"I myself have had a great association with the medical profession in this country. I sometimes make fun of myself as someone who keeps getting into the ICU of hospitals every couple of years. I have a natural attraction to everything that is medically concerned. Because I have been a victim many times of illness and accidents, I have always had great faith in the medical profession," said Bachchan.

He also donated 1.1 million rupees for the cause initiated by Resul, and appreciated him for his commitment for the society.

He also released the first copy of the application form, which would be distributed among the poor people for selection based on their economical

Source:news.oneindia.in/

LEE DANIELS - DANIELS IMAGINED OSCAR SNUB

Filmmaker LEE DANIELS was convinced his movie had been left out of the Oscar nominations, because he was so tired he forgot the film titles would be announced alphabetically.
The director, who helmed Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire, got out of bed to watch Anne Hathaway reveal this year's (10) Academy Award nominees with Academy President Tom Sherak at an early morning TV news conference last Tuesday (02Feb10).
Daniels thought the nominations for Best Picture would be read out in order of the directors' names and he was convinced Precious had been left off the list when he heard Quentin Tarantino's nod for Inglourious Basterds.
And the moviemaker had already gone back to bed when his name was called out after Tarantino's.
He says, "When Tarantino was mentioned prior to Daniels, I went, ‘Oh, well, nuts.' And literally as I got back to the pillow I heard ‘Daniels,’ and I bounced back up.”
Daniels is also up for the Best Director award at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards.

Source:contactmusic.com/

Top 10 Best Oscar Dresses

Jennifer Aniston in Valentino

When Jennifer Aniston really needed to pull it out of the bag - and show Brad what he's missing - she absolutely nailed it. The Marley & Me star rocked up to the Oscars 2009 in a stunning strapless beaded Valentino gown. Totally jaw-plummeting.









Penelope Cruz in Versace




Wowser! Penelope Cruz really upped the style stakes in her voluminous Versace gown with a woven bodice and all-over feathered skirt. It certainly got tongues wagging - for all the right reasons!

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Michelle Williams in Vera Wang




This might just be our all-time favourite Oscars gown... Well, it's definitely a contender for the title! Michelle Williams made mustard work in a way no other star ever has in 2006. Her Vera Wang dress, with its understated ruching and frills, was simply divine. And the red lippie was an inspired finishing touch.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Anne Hathaway in Armani Prive




Anne Hathaway's best look ever? We think so! Anne simply wowed at the Oscars 2009 in her Armani Privé Champagne-coloured gown, featuring hundreds of Swarovski crystals. Cartier jewellery finished the look beautifully.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sienna Miller in Matthew Williamson




A young Sienna Miller made her Oscars debut in 2004. Wearing a dress by designer pal Matthew Williamson, Sienna showed just why she was the fashionista British girls most wanted to dress like

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Charlize Theron in Gucci




How divine was Charlize Theron in dazzling Champagne-hued Gucci at the Oscars in 2004? We love this dress - and the elegant 30s-style curls.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Marion Cotillard in Jean Paul Gaultier




Public Enemies star Marion Cotillard was on fine form at the Oscars in 2008 in a scalloped Jean Paul Gaultier mermaid gown and Swarovski clutch.

Natalie Portman in Lanvin

Natalie Portman was nominated for her role in Closer in 2005 and looked utterly sublime on the Oscars red carpet. Wearing this pewter-hued Lanvin dress the actress teamed her gown with nude nails and make-up and a discreet Alice band for a look that was pure class.

Renee Zellweger in Carolina Herrera

In 2003, Renee Zellweger successfully worked the red carpet in a colour-popping beaded Carolina Herrera gown.

Cameron Diaz in Valentino

Oh, Cameron, how we love thee! Ms Diaz's fold-detail strapless Valentino gown in 2007 had us practically drooling! Love the silver peep-toes and stunning green drop earrings, too.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Source:instyle.co.uk/

Oscar nominations: Fascinating facts, figures and milestones

With invaluable assistance from our many forum posters, here are interesting stats about this year's nominations for the Oscars.

Nine not so fine: "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" lead this year's derby with nine nominations each; "Nine" managed just four nominations. However, beginning with "The Life of Emile Zola" in 1937, there have been 77 films that have landed 10 or more Oscar nominations. Last year's big champ "Slumdog Millionaire" won eight of its 10 races, while "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" managed just three wins from 13 nominations.

Money matters: On nomination day, "Avatar" broke the domestic box office record of 1997 best picture champ "Titanic" when it reached $601 million in receipts. The foreign title -- also held by "Titanic" -- fell to "Avatar" last week. While "Avatar" would thus be the highest-grossing best picture champ, "The Hurt Locker" -- with domestic receipts of $12.6 million -- would be the lowest when adjusted for inflation.

Take five: With double the number of entries in the best picture race, it is not so surprising that all five directing nominees helmed a contender. In the eight years from 1936 to 1943 when there were also 10 best picture nominees, the five directing nominees each year had a hand in one of those contenders save for 1936 and 1938. In 1936 Gregory LaCava ("My Man Godfrey") was the spoiler, while in 1938 it was Michael Curtiz ("Angels With Dirty Faces") who was the odd man out. Frank Capra took home the directing award in both those years, while Curtiz won his only Oscar in 1943 for helming "Casablanca" -- the last best picture champ to win over nine rivals.

All in the family: Father and son Ivan and Jason Reitman are nominated for producing "Up in the Air." Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen are double nominees for writing and producing "A Serious Man." Onetime married couple Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker") and James Cameron ("Avatar") are each nominated for best director.

Something old, something new: Supporting actor nominee Christopher Plummer is a first-time contender at age 80 for his 86th movie, "The Last Station," while Gabourey Sidibe landed a lead actress nomination for her film debut in "Precious." Plummer also lends his voice to best picture nominee "Up."

Batting 1.000: Animated short nominee Nick Park ("Wallace & Gromit in A Matter of Loaf and Death") has won all four of his previous Oscar races -- animated short (1990, 1993, 1996) and animated feature (2005). In 1990 he was a double nominee, winning for "Creature Comforts" over "A Grand Day Out with Wallace & Gromit." In 1993 he won for "Wallace & Gromit in the Wrong Trousers," in 1996 for "Wallace & Gromit in A Close Shave" and in 2005 for "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit."


Animated features: "Up" is the second animated feature after "Beauty and the Beast" to contend for best picture. While "Beauty" had five other nominations in 1991, including three song bids, score and sound, "Up" is contending in four other categories -- screenplay, score, sound editing and animated feature. That last category wasn't created till 2001, and this is only the second year -- after 2002, when "Spirited Away" won -- that there have been five rather than three nominees.

Only the lonely: The nominations for lead actor Colin Firth ("A Single Man"), lead actress Meryl Streep ("Julie & Julia") and supporting actor Stanley Tucci ("The Lovely Bones") are the only Oscar nods for those films.

Return engagement: Only two of last year's acting nominees are back in the Oscar race this year -- lead actress nominee Meryl Streep and supporting actress nominee Penelope Cruz ("Nine"). Cruz -- who won that same award last year for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" -- follows in the footsteps of supporting actress champs Estelle Parsons ("Bonnie & Clyde," 1967) and Lee Grant ("Shampoo," 1975), who both contended again the year after their victory; neither won. Bette Davis and Greer Garson share the record of most consecutive years nominated at five apiece in the lead actress category. Davis kicking off her reign in 1938 with a win for "Jezebel" while Garson began her run in 1941 with a nod for "Blossoms in the Dust."

Source:goldderby.latimes.com/

A Few Random Thoughts on the 2010 Oscar Nominations

A Few Random Thoughts on the 2010 Oscar Nominations
First posted Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

The 82nd Academy Award nominations have been announced, with Disney/Pixar's Up getting a nod for Best Picture in addition to the expected Best Animated Feature nomination. I have to admit that as much as I liked the movie, I don't think it's the one I would have picked among Pixar's total output to get the nod for Best Picture. However, it was a pretty good if not great year for movies, it seems, and to paraphrase the parable about life on the African veldt, the Best Picture of the year only has to be better than all the other movies released in the same year, not the Best Picture ever.

In any event, I think the question of whether Up will become the first animated feature to win the Best Picture Oscar is moot once you look at its competition. The good news about animation being seated at the big kids' table is that it's another acknowledgment, however small, that animation is a serious medium capable of making great art and not just the kiddie stuff that a good portion of America (or at least a good portion of Hollywood) seems to think it is. The bad news is that this year's animated film has to stand toe-to-toe with the work of Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, as well as with the very highly acclaimed The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, and Precious. This would be tough competition for any movie, regardless of medium, and to be honest I'd eliminate District 9 and Avatar as possible winners in this category as well. Science fiction and fantasy fare about as well as comedies in the Best Picture race, with barely a dozen movies from those genres getting nominated in the past 40 years and only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's winning in 2003.

Avatar also happens to sit right in the crux of a few different issues I've been grappling with for the News. As our readers will have noticed, the headlines Avatar has been grabbing in the mainstream press are not reflected on our News Ticker. Like King Kong, the later Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and modern video games in general, I think Avatar uses similar techniques to more traditionally animated features, but that doesn't make it an animated movie in my view. At best, I'd call Avatar a hybrid film (at least from the clips I've seen -- I have not watched the movie and judging by the movie's phenomenal box office success, I may be the only person who was never that interested in it). I don't think many people would call Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Mary Poppins "animated" movies, either, despite their heavy reliance on animation. In this, I'm afraid I break with our friends over at Cartoon Brew, who are congratulating Avatar for being the second animated movie in the Best Picture race. In any event, Cameron himself insists that Avatar is not animation, with an attitude that I think is merely another variation on the, "Cartoons are just for kids" mentality, so I'm happy to lock him out of the clubhouse. He will just have to find solace from my peevish snit in the billions of dollars he's made on the movie so far.

The second issue that Avatar brings up relates to the lack of recognition of actors in animation. Cameron himself has complained over perceived snubs at the acting of his Avatar performers in the SAG awards, and the movie's acting was bypassed by year's Oscars as well. I would point out the notable absence of acting award nominations for Cameron's films in general and humbly suggest that perhaps the technology is not to blame for the snubbing of the acting in Avatar, but he can gripe much more loudly about a point that animation fans have felt for some time: voice actors are routinely treated as second-class citizens to their on-camera equivalents. The shoddy treatment of the cast of Space Jam at the movie's premiere is a visible example, as is Cameron's own brusque dismissal of Meryl Streep's performance in Fantastic Mr. Fox. There is also the issue that the animators themselves are as responsible for the "acting" of a character as the voice actors, which begs the question of who exactly should get the credit for a particularly good performance. I would like to see wider recognition of a good performance in animation, but I must admit I don't really know how to get there. However, such nuances are probably well beyond the Academy members, and this is why we have the Annie Awards anyway.

I don't have any serious complaints about the nominees for Best Animated Feature. I think it was a very good year for animated movies in general, and I think swapping in a different movie released last year would shortchange one of the other nominees. I can say little or nothing meaningful about the Best Animated Short category.

In any event, no ruminations on the Oscars would be complete without predictions, although I openly admit mine are blissfully unencumbered by any biases that might arise from actually seeing many of the movies nominated. But hey, I'm just a guy on the Internet exercising his right to spout off about things he knows nothing about. As I mentioned, I don't think Up has even a long-shot chance at winning the Best Picture Oscar. Unfortunately, it will probably have to settle for the honor of being nominated, because I also suspect that Fantastic Mr. Fox will be the winner for the Best Animated Feature due to the Academy's general adoration for the works of Wes Anderson. It would be something of a shame if Pete Docter walked away from the ceremonies empty-handed, especially since I still believe he was robbed of an Oscar in 2003, but it looks like it might happen again this year. At least he won't be losing out to such a vastly inferior movie like Shrek. I don't hold out hope that the Academy will recognize the movie in the Best Original Screenplay category. This marks the 6th time an animated movie has been nominated for a writing Oscar (the other 5 being Toy Story, Shrek, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and WALL-E; the number goes to 6 if you want to call Mary Poppins animated), but none of them have ever won and again, Up faces some very stiff competition.

In any event, I would still like to congratulate all the nominees and wish them the best of luck. We'll see you all on Oscar night.

Source:toonzone.net/

Golden opportunity at the Raspberry nominations

The announcement of the Oscar nominations on Tuesday means that even the dimmest among us will now be aware that we are knee-deep in awards season. Red carpets have been vacuumed and rolled out, trophies are being polished so that they sparkle brighter than the sun and the obligatory best- and worst-dressed lists are in fine fettle.

Don’t yawn. There is succour for those tiring of the endless parade of congratulation. Rescue arrived earlier this week in the shape of the Razzies nominations.



Officially called the Golden Raspberry Awards, the Razzies are a batch of “honours” doled out for the worst films of the year. Started in 1980 by the American publicist John Wilson, the Razzies traditionally are given out the night before the Academy Awards ceremony.

“We finally figured out you couldn’t compete with the Oscars on Oscar night, but if you went the night before, when the press from all over the world are here and they are looking for something to do, it could well catch on,” Wilson told the BBC three years ago.



The Razzies panel is made up of paying members, who cough up anything from $25 (Dh92) for annual voting rights to $500 (Dh1,800) for lifetime membership. For one night of the year, they cheer and celebrate poor talent, which is quite an admission for the self-congratulatory air of HollyWood.

Source:thenational.ae/

Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan and Helen Mirren lead Brit Oscar 2010 nominations

The 2010 Oscar nominations were announced yesterday with Colin Firth, Carey Mulligan and Helen Mirren all receiving nominations

The big Hollywood hitters - Avatar, Crazy Heart and The Hurt Locker - were all there in yesterday's Oscar nominations as announced by Anne Hathaway at 5.38am Los Angeles time.

Anne Hathaway reveals the 82nd Academy Awards nominees…

The nominations are in! Before we get all excited about who'll be wearing what, this year's Oscar nominations are in.

SEE 50 BEST OSCAR DRESSES OF ALL-TIME

Best Actor

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), Morgan Freeman (Invictus), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker).

Best Actress

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia), Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Carey Mulligan (An Education).

Best actress in a supporting role

Mo'Nique (Precious), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air), 
Penélope Cruz (Nine), 
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart).

Best actor in a supporting role

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), 
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), 
Matt Damon (Invictus), 
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), 
Woody Harrelson (The Messengers).

Directing

Avatar (James Cameron)
, The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow), 
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
, Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), 
Lee Daniels (Precious).

Writing (adapted screenplay)

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
, An Education (Nick Hornby), Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher),
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner)
, In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Ian Martin and Tony Roche).

Best Picture

Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau), 
District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham), 
An Education (FionolaDwyer and Amanda Posey)
, The Hurt Locker (nominees to be determined), 
Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender), 
Precious (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, producers)
, A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen)
, Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman), 
The Blind Side (nominees to be determined)
, Up (Jonas Rivera)



But Brit stars were holding their own in the list of nominees with Colin Firth nominated for A Single Man, Carey Mulligan for An Education and Helen Mirren for her role in The Last Station.

SEE OUR 50 BEST OSCAR DRESSES

Newcomer Carey Mulligan has wowed critics with her performance in An Education, the tale of a teenage girl coming of age in 60s London adapted from the memoirs of journalist Lynn Barber. Mulligan's reaction was ecstatic;

"This is beyond anything I've ever dreamed of. I've definitely never felt such excitement and nausea this early in the morning!"

An Education also scored a nomination in the Best Picture category.

Helen Mirren scored a nod for her portrayal of Sofya Tolstoy in The Last Station and made a statement this morning saying;

"I'm very happy and honored for Christopher, myself and our film. I think Tolstoy himself would have been perplexed by all this, but, Sofya his wife would have been over the moon. So in that spirit, I am too."

Mirren and Mulligan are pitted against each other in the Best Actress in a Lead Role category and will battle it out with Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia, Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side and Gabourey Sidibe for Precious.

Last up representing the Brits in the lead actors category is the delicious Mr Colin Firth who received his first ever Oscar nomination yesterday. Firth portrays a gay college professor in Tom Ford's very stylish directorial debut A Single Man. He'll be up against Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart, Morgan Freeman for Invictus, George Clooney for Up in the Air and Jeremy Renner in The Hurt Locker.


Source:instyle.co.uk/

Sandra Bullock Earns Oscar And Razzie Nominations In Same Week

For seven long years, she was the girl in that failed movie/ TV show that you vaguely recognized. In 1994, she took the bus ride from hell with Keanu Reeves and became America's new sweetheart. Now, after a decade and a half as the A-list star of various chick-flick hits, Sandra Bullock has begun a new stage of her career: Oscar nominee.

Oddly enough, Bullock's sweet success was made bitter by another distinction: a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress. Being simultaneously nominated as the best and worst at your job is something truly rare. Yet, for Bullock, such a dichotomy seems oddly appropriate.

"I could not begin to tell you about the plot of the movie, because we'd be here for one hour and 35 minutes. I literally can't. Next question," Bullock said at the premiere for "All About Steve," the film behind her Razzie noms. "It's not complicated, but if you had to summarize your life in one little sentence for the media, could you do it?"

It certainly would be hard to briefly summarize Bullock's life. Born to a German opera singer and her voice coach, Bullock's maternal grandfather was a rocket scientist and the family moved frequently all over Europe and the U.S. A high school cheerleader who quit college only three credits short of graduating, she moved to Manhattan and worked as a coat checker to support herself. After starting out in junk like the TV movie "Bionic Showdown: The Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman" and the short-lived TV adaptation of "Working Girl," she broke through in 1994's "Speed." (That's three sentences — we cheated.)

"The worst thing that ever happened [after I became famous] was I was in a toilet stall at a club, and a camera came in underneath," Bullock told us once of the downside of becoming a household name. "[It was] a still camera. I think I got everything covered pretty much, but you just go, 'Oh my God, do you think I won't just swing this stall door open and clock you one?' But first, you have to pull the pants up, and it could get to be messy. That's when you realize there are boundaries that will be crossed.

"Now I'm prepared for [fame], and I don't use stalls anymore," Bullock explained. "I hold it."

That fame is only going to soar further now that, at age 45, she pulled off the back-to-back hits "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side," the latter of which earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination as outspoken football mom Leigh Anne Tuohy. But despite her hugely successful year, the dichotomy of her Oscar/Razzie noms reminds fans that for every "Blind Side" she has an "All About Steve," for every "Speed" there's been a "Speed 2: Cruise Control," and for every "Miss Congeniality" her fans have had to sit through a "Two if by Sea."

Much like such stars as Bruce Willis, Jim Carrey and Dennis Quaid, all her decades of hits had never translated into an Oscar nomination — until now. There have been some apparent Oscar-bait movies ("28 Days," "Crash," "Infamous"), but according to Bullock, she wasn't even aiming for awards when she relented and agreed to be in "The Blind Side."

"I'd always assumed that the road to Oscar was planned. I thought people chose projects that were considered 'Oscar-worthy,' " Bullock said after learning about her nomination. "No one wanted to make this film. I didn't want to make this film for the better part of the year. Everyone is as blindsided — can I say that? — as I am."

Source:mtv.com/

Jeff Bridges, Jason Reitman React To Oscar Nominations

In the day since the 2010 Oscar nominations were announced, we've heard stories about honorees hearing the good news, freaking out and saying gracious things. Yet there are many nominees who still have stories to tell and thanks to give.



Golden Globe winner and front-runner for the best actor Oscar Jeff Bridges ("Crazy Heart") told a CBS affiliate, "[T]o be acknowledged like that by the guys who do what you do is a wonderful, wonderful feeling. And to bring attention to this movie that I'm so proud of. And happy that I'm a part of."

"We are very happy to have received these nominations and would like to thank the Academy and everyone that made this film possible — a special thanks to Focus Features and Working Title Films," said Joel and Ethan Coen, whose "A Serious Man" received two nods, including Best Picture. "Thank you very much."

Fellow director Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air") told a story about the history of his films during awards season and his relationship with his director father, Ivan Reitman. "Five years ago, when I woke up to see if 'Thank You for Smoking' was going to get nominated and it didn't, my father was the first to console me," he told The Hollywood Reporter. "Two years ago, when 'Juno' was nominated, he was the first to call. And today, words can't describe what it's like to share a nomination with your dad. This is the man who taught me everything about life and directing."

Another director and writer, Wes Anderson ("Fantastic Mr. Fox"), related the long tale of adapting "Fox" for the screen. "I am very honored to have received an Oscar nomination for 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' " he said in a statement. "Roald Dahl's classic story has been one of my favorite books since I first learned to read, and it was an amazing experience to work with my many, many very skilled collaborators and bring it to life as a stop-motion film!"

Bridges' "Crazy Heart" co-star Maggie Gyllenhaal, who was not nominated for a Golden Globe, said she was shocked by her Oscar nod for supporting actress. "I was completely surprised," she told a CBS affiliate. "I'm so proud of this movie. I'm more proud of my work in it than of anything I've done. But I haven't been nominated for anything else. I was just shocked. But thrilled. I mean, beyond thrilled. I was kind of shaking in the hallway this morning."

Carey Mulligan, a best actress nominee for "An Education," reacted with a similar sense of bewilderment. "You can have as many people tell you that you're going to get nominated, but it doesn't feel possible until it happens," she told THR. "I'm walking around the back garden of my friend's house where I'm staying, still pinching myself."

Christopher Plummer ("The Last Station"), conversely, took the nomination for his role as Leo Tolstoy in stride. "I'm just going to carry on with my life and be thankful and that's it," the 80-year-old said in statement. "My celebration days, which were huge, are now slightly modified, shall we say. At my exalted age, I can't quite do the old 24-hour nightly shifts that I used to."

Plummer's co-star Helen Mirren, who played Tolstoy's wife Sofya, said in a statement, "I'm very happy and honored for Christopher, myself and our film. I think Tolstoy himself would have been perplexed by all this, but Sofya, his wife, would have been over the moon. So in that spirit, I am, too."

Source:mtv.com/

Oscar beckons for Weta team

The visual effects team of nearly 1000 based in Wellington that helped bring the alien world of Avatar to life has put the movie on a path to Oscar glory.

The film received nine Oscar nominations, including for best picture. Nine New Zealand film industry figures are also Oscar nominees.

Weta Digital workers were behind Avatar and District 9 – two out of the three films nominated for the best visual effects award.

The Weta Digital team of Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones are collectively nominated for the best visual effects Oscar for Avatar.

Weta Digital's Matt Aitken has been nominated for the company's visual effects work on Neill Blomkamp's and Sir Peter Jackson's science-fiction thriller District 9.

Sir Peter could also add to his Oscar collection if the low-budget alien film wins best picture.

Other Kiwis who got the Oscar nod include Avatar set director Kim Sinclair for best art direction and sound recordist Tony Johnson for best sound mixing. Both were part of team nominations.

Weta's Mark Sagar has already won a Scientific and Engineering Oscar at the "geek version" of the awards for Avatar.

Wellington producer Finola Dwyer will also be at the glitzy Oscar ceremony, with her British film An Education, which is up for three awards. Sir Peter's The Lovely Bones was nominated in only one category, with Stanley Tucci getting a nod for best supporting actor.

Kiwi director Jane Campion's film Bright Star also got one nomination – Australian Janet Patterson for best costume design.

Yesterday, three men who worked on Avatar for Weta Digital talked of the hard work paying off.

Visual effect supervisor Wayne Stables said 950 staff had worked long days for three years on the film.

"I don't actually think that we're that surprised really at all [with the nomination]. It's a huge body of very high quality work. We're very proud of the work that we all did on it."

Eric Saindon and Guy Williams also supervised visual effects teams on Avatar.

Mr Williams said it had attracted a lot of workers to Weta Digital, and added to the company's fast-growing reputation.

Director James Cameron had showed the Weta workers some early images of Avatar without the visual effects about three years ago.

"We got really excited about it. We came out of it and thought `This is going to be an amazing film. I hope we get it [Oscar]."

Source:stuff.co.nz/

Reaction from Oscar nominees

Carey Mulligan, Jeff Bridges and Jeremy Renner reveal where they were when their Oscar nominations were read out.

They were all nominated in the best actor/actress category.

Science-fiction film Avatar and war movie The Hurt Locker led the way at this year's Academy Award nominations with nine each.

The ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on the 7th of March.

Source:news.bbc.co.uk/

'Precious' Director Lee Daniels Describes His 'Crazy' Oscar Nomination Morning

FROM MTV.COM: Lee Daniels' "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" has already received a slew of awards love, from film festivals and the Golden Globes to the Screen Actors Guild and the Independent Spirits. Its string of praise stretches back over a year, to when the film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, winning both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award.

But none of that acclaim makes the morning of Oscar nominations any easier, as Daniels told MTV News just hours after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made its 2010 selections.

Source:moviesblog.mtv.com/

Oscar Nominations: Hitler's pissed off about Star Trek

Star Trek, Director J.J. Abrams widely acclaimed "reboot" of the popular television and movie science fiction series, was widely expected to be one of ten Oscar "Best Picture" nominees. Instead it was snubbed for the competition, causing a loud, Worldwide outcry from Star Trek fans. The movie was marketed as "Best Picture Material."

Still, it didn't win. Avatar, Hurt Locker, District 9, and the surprise entry, The Blind Side, were named to compete for Oscar, Best Picture.

What happened and why Star Trek didn't get a nominations is anyone's best guess. But one thing is clear: Hitler's not happy. Just as he was unhappy about a number of life's happenings, lets just say he was more than a little worked up about Star Trek's miscue:


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Source:sfgate.com/