Tag Archives: Academy Awards

Leo, ‘The Revenant’ & ‘Mad Max’ win big at 88th Oscars

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Let’s not bury the lead here. Last night at the 88th Annual Academy Awards, audiences were witness to a feat once thought maddeningly impossible: Leonardo DiCaprio won the Oscar for Best Actor. We did it! His movie, Revenant, went into this years Oscars with 12 nominations and came away with 3; in addition to Leo’s momentous win, the Academy also awarded the painstakingly gritty film’s director Alejandro G. Iñárritu with his second consecutive Best Director win (see last year’s Birdman) and it also won for Best Cinematography. The film with the most wins of the night was Mad Max: Fury Road. It swept the majority of technical categories including Best Sound Mixing and Editing, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, and Production and Costume Design. Spotlight surprised at the end of the ceremony when it was crowned Best Picture; earlier in the night it won Best Original Screenplay. Elsewhere, Inside Out was named Best Animated Feature, 87-year-old composer Ennio Morricone was recognized for his already iconic score set to Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, and Ex Machina deservedly managed to beat out Star Wars, Mad Max, The Martian, and The Revenant for Best Visual Effects. Click here for the full list of winners.

The show itself, though it ran long by 30+ minutes, was relatively entertaining throughout. Host Chris Rock ran with the #OscarsSoWhite diversity problems surrounding the telecast leading into it. No doubt his controversial monologue resonated with audiences; muted laughs and applause told the story well. Personal highlights throughout the night included surprise appearances from Star Wars, Toy Story, and The Minions characters and a powerfully emotional musical performance by Lady Gaga. And of course, Leo is now an Oscar-winning actor.

‘Birdman’ & ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ win big at the Oscars

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Prior to the 87th Academy Awards, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel garnered the most nominations and what do you know–the two films ended up walking away with the most statues at four apiece. Birdman took home the most coveted award of the evening as it was crowned Best Motion Picture of the Year. Helmer Alejandro G. Iñárritu was crowned Best Director and the film’s original screenplay and cinematography were also awarded. Grand Budapest Hotel was recognized for its achievements in production design, music, costume design, and makeup and hairstyling. Following close behind with two wins was Whiplash scoring Oscars for film editing, sound mixing, and supporting actor J.K. Simmons. Frontrunner Boyhood walked away with a single win for supporting actress Patricia Arquette. The Theory of Everything star Eddie Redmayne won for his leading role in the Stephen Hawking-inspired film, surpassing frontrunner Michael Keaton (Birdman). Julianne Moore nabbed an Oscar for her dramatic turn in Still Alice. Elsewhere, The Imitation Game won Best Adapted Screenplay and Disney’s Big Hero 6 was named Best Animated Movie.

Click here to view the full list of winners.

‘American Sniper’ & ‘Birdman’ lead the charge at the Oscars this year

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‘Tis the season for awards. On the heels of the Globes wrapping up, the Oscars is raring to go. Today the nominees for the 87th Academy Awards were announced in earnest and they eight films vying for Best Picture are American Sniper, Birdman, Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash. Alexandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman), Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel), and Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) are competing for Best Director. Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel garnered the most nods with nine apiece. American Sniper and Boyhood followed closely in second with six nods each. Foxcatcher, Interstellar, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash each scored five nominations.

With every award show there are snubs. I could rant about how the sci-fi epic Interstellar only received technical and musical nods, with nothing to show for its superb director Christopher Nolan and actors Matthew McConaughey and Jessica Chastain. But no, I’m here to splay my fury about the fact that The LEGO Movie–which was previously deemed a frontrunner for Best Animated Feature–was NOT nominated for Best Animated Feature! Looking past the nearly $258 million the movie made domestically, The LEGO Movie is a technical marvel with a unique presentation, fun characters and voice cast, and a memorable story that managed to capture the imaginations of all ages. The movie was and continues to be more than popular amongst critics and movie-goers alike. It was defeated at the Globes by How to Train Your Dragon 2, which was a shocker. But the fact that it’s not even in the running here is truly unfathomable. I don’t get it. A snub for the ages. Making the cut are Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Song of the Sea, and The Tale of Princess Kaguya. Ever heard of those last two? Neither have I. At least co-director Phil Lord is able to take it in stride; he tweeted, “This is not a tragedy. Congrats to incredible crew and cast of The Lego Movie, who made a classic.” He also attached this image of an Oscar made of LEGOs. It’s true: “Everything Is Awesome” received a nom for Best Original Song, but still, everything is not awesome.

Cool off with me by watching this funny clip from Conan. During the nom announcements this morning, Academy president Cheryl Boone Issacs flubbed Mr. Turner cinematographer Dick Pope’s name calling him “Dick Poop.” Shortly after becoming a trending topic on Twitter, the late night host took it to a whole other level.

The Academy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, airs February 22 on ABC. Click here to view the full list of nominees.

2014 Oscar nods are in!

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The nominations are here for the 86th Academy Awards. There are nine films vying for Best Picture and they are American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena. 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street. David O. Russell (American Hustle) Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity), Alexander Payne (Nebraska), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), and Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) are up for Best Director. American Hustle and Gravity are the most nominated movies this year with 10 apiece. As for snubs, people are buzzing that star Tom Hanks and director Paul Greengrass were not recognized for their respective contributions to Captain Phillips; also no love for Sam Rockwell (The Way, Way Back), Scarlett Johansson (Her), Pixar’s animated Monsters University, and Ed Sheeran’s phenomenal song “I See Fire” from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Click here for the full list of nominees.

Ellen DeGeneres hosts the Oscars live Sunday, March 2 at 7PM EST on ABC.

2013 Oscar nods are in!

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As we inch closer to the 85th Academy Awards the nominations tallied by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were announced today. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln received the most nominations, 12 of them in fact. The period piece is up for Best Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones), Best Supporting Actress (Sally Field), Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner), Cinematography, Costume Design, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, and Sound Mixing. Life of Pi is close behind with 11 nods including Best Picture, Best Director (Ang Lee), and Best Adapted Screenplay (David Magee). The remaining Best Picture contenders are Amour (5 nods total), Argo (7), Beasts of the Southern Wild (4), Django Unchained (5), Les Miserables (8), Silver Linings Playbook (8), and Zero Dark Thirty (5). Daniel Day-Lewis is up against Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and Denzel Washington (Flight) for Best Actor. Clawing for Best Actress are Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and Naomi Watts (The Impossible). The movies up for Best Animated Feature are Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates!, Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph.

Who got snubbed? The biggest shockers are those who were not nominated for Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master), and Ben Affleck (Argo; he also wasn’t nominated for Best Actor). Big acting snubs include Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained) and John Hawkes (The Sessions). No technical nominations for Flight or Prometheus. Not a single nod for Rian Johnson’s Looper, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, and the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas. And blockbuster The Avengers only managed to land a single nod for Visual Effects.

Jump after the break to see all the nominations. The 85th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane, airs live Sunday, February 24 on ABC. Watch some of MacFarlane’s latest promos below.
 Continue reading 2013 Oscar nods are in! →

2012 Oscar nods are in!

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A few days back the Golden Globes celebrated the best in the TV and film, bestowing the highest of honors to movies like The Descendants, The Artist, and Hugo. Following the Globes is the Academy Awards and just last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees. Martin Scorsese’ss Hugo is the most celebrated film going into the Oscars leading the pack with 11 nods. The family friendly 3D flick is up for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Art Direction, Costume Design, Film Editing, Music, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Special Effects. A mouthful, I know. The Artist is close behind with 10 Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius), Best Actor (Jean Dujardin), and Best Supporting Actress (Bérénice Bejo). The remaining Best Picture contenders are The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, and War Horse. Dujardin is pitted against Demián Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and Brad Pitt (Moneyball) for Best Actor. And the following ladies are duking it out for Best Actress: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), and Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn). Major snubs include Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part II for Best Picture (it only landed the usual technical nods for Art Direction, Makeup, and Special Effects); Leonardo DiCaprio (J Edgar) and Michael Fassbender (Shame) for Best Actor; Andy Serkis (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) for Best Supporting Actor; The Adventures Of Tintin for Best Animated Film; and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross’ major contribution to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with their Original Score.

Hop after the break to see all the nominations. The 84th Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, airs live Sunday, February 26 at 7PM on ABC. Continue reading 2012 Oscar nods are in! →

Oscar winners: ‘The King’s Speech’ receives top honors

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Hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco failed to bring excitement to this year’s Academy Awards. Despite all the hype leading up to the film industry’s biggest night, the young pair did not leave up to the promise of injecting the show with a younger, hip vibe. Hathaway tried too hard (so much giddy giggling) while Franco didn’t try hard enough (was the soap actor high as a kite or what?). Most jokes fell flat, including the opening Inception-y dream sequence. The auto-tuned bit was quite enjoyable, however. But let the numbers speak for themselves: In the 18-49 demo, ratings dropped twelve percent from last year (11.7 rating vs. 13.3); this year’s ceremony attracted 37.6 million viewers compared to last year’s Alec Baldwin/Steve Martin treat which garnered 41.7 million. Since the show itself really wasn’t all that memorable, let’s just skip right past it and onto the winners.

The King’s Speech ruled the night with wins in the major categories including Best Picture, Best Actor (Colin Firth), and Best Director (Tom Hooper), and Best Original Screenplay (David Seidler). The Social Network took home three wins; Aaron Sorkin was recognized again for Best Adapted Screenplay, as was Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Best Original Score. The film also received Best Achievement in Film Editing. Though it’s still a damn shame that Christopher Nolan was not nominated for his directing, Inception did managed to snag four awards including Best Achievement in Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland was not ignored; it won Best Achievement in Art Direction and Costume Design.

Other notable winners include Natalie Portman as Best Actress (Black Swan), Christian Bale and Melissa Leo as Best Supporting Actors in The Fighter, and Best Animated Feature was Toy Story 3. The animated flick was also recognized for Randy Newman’s “We Belong Together” original song. Sadly Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop did not receive Best Documentary. Look after the break for the rest of the Oscar winners. Continue reading Oscar winners: ‘The King’s Speech’ receives top honors →

2011 Oscar nods are in!

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Today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for this year’s Academy Awards show.  Leading the pack is The King’s Speech with 12 nominations, followed by True Grit with 10.  In addition for being up for Best Picture, The King’s Speech is also being recognized for its actors (Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter are up for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress, respectively) director (Tom Hooper), and screenwriter (David Seidler).  True Grit is also up for Best Picture, Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen), and Best Adapted Screenplay (the Coens).  Actors Jeff Bridges and the young but brilliantly talented Hailee Steinfeld nabbed Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nods, respectively.  127 Hours, Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, and Winter’s Bone round out the coveted Best Picture category.

Time to talk snubs.  First up: Christopher Nolan, the man behind Inception.  Though the fantastical mind trip nabbed 8 nods (including Best Picture and Screenplay), Nolan was not recognized for his superb direction.  Next: Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) and Mila Kunis (Black Swan) are noticeably absent from the Best Supporting Actor/Actress category.  Then there’s the Best Animated Feature category; though Toy Story 3 is locked for the win, Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me deserves a spot there amongst TS3 and How to Train Your Dragon.  As critically acclaimed as Ben Affleck’s The Town was this past year, the flick only picked up a nod for Best Supporting Actor (Jeremy Renner).  And finally there’s Tron: Legacy; it’s one thing not to nominate Daft Punk’s wonderfully electric score, but it’s quite laughable that the Academy did not nominate the movie for Best Visual Effects.

Look after the break to see the full rundown of all 24 award categories.  The 83rd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway, airs live Sunday February 27 at 8PM on ABC.

[Via EW] Continue reading 2011 Oscar nods are in! →

James Franco and Anne Hathaway to host Oscars

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Today it was announced that actors James Franco and Anne Hathaway will serve as co-hosts of the 83rd Academy Awards.  They follow last year’s hosting duo Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.  Says Oscar telecast producers Bruce Cohen and Don Mischer: “James Franco and Anne Hathaway personify the next generation of Hollywood icons— fresh, exciting and multi-talented. We hope to create an Oscar broadcast that will both showcase their incredible talents and entertain the world on February 27. We are completely thrilled that James and Anne will be joining forces with our brilliant creative team to do just that.”

Injecting some fresh, young blood into the prestigious award show is a nice way to switch things up, but will Franco and Hathaway’s comedic experience (or lack thereof) prove to be entertaining enough to draw in viewers?  At 32 and 28 years old, respectively, Franco and Hathaway have only dabbled in comedic roles.  Franco is best know for his role as Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man films, but he also has Pineapple Express under his belt; and there’s this. Hathaway’s career hit its stride when she starred in The Princess Diaries and she recently shined as SNL host last weekend.  When you think about it these two might just make a hilarious Oscar duo, or it might all go up in flames. What’s interesting is the Franco is a likely contender for Best Actor for his work in the critically acclaimed film 127 Hours and Hathaway has a shot at a Best Actress nom for Love and Other Drugs.  It’ll be fun to see how they handle that situation if it arises.

The Oscars air February 27, 2011 on ABC.

[Via Deadline]

Oscars: ‘The Hurt Locker’ trumps ‘Avatar’

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This year’s Academy Awards was actually quite entertaining.  Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin proved to be great hosts; the Neil Patrick Harris surprse opening number was a hit (the Paranormal Activity spoof was spot on); the horror film montage was long overdue; Ben Stiller dressed as a Nav’i blue humanoid with fishline-controlled tail was great; the Best Picture featurettes worked well; the dance routines performed for each song in the Best Original Score category was fun; the Best Actor/Actress introductions were touching; and there was even a “imma let you finish but…” moment by some strange woman.  AND the Best Director award went to a woman for the first time!  So those were the highlights; now let’s discuss the notable winners.

Let’s start with the king (or should I say queen) of the night Kathryn Bigelow and her brilliant film The Hurt Locker.  The critically acclaimed film nabbed six Oscar wins in the following categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.  Avatar, directed by Biglow’s ex-husband James Cameron, walked away with many technical awards including: Best Visual Effects, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction.  (Side note: District 9 totally would have won all these awards if Avatar had not been competition!)  Best Actor went to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), no surprise there; and Best Actress went to Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side).  Best Supporting Actor deservedly went to Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds); and Best Supporting Actress went to Mo’Nique (Precious), again no surprise there.  Precious also picked up Best Adapted Screenplay.

Other notable winners include: Pixar’s UP nabbed Best Animated Film and Best Score (well done, Michael Giacchino); and Star Trek won Best Makeup.  Look after the break for the full breakdown of the night’s winner and losers.  Overall, the 82nd Academy Awards show was entertaining, fun, and full of deserved wins.  Congratuations to Kathryn Bigelow & crew for The Hurt Locker.  James Cameron, go wallow in your boatloads of cash.

Continue reading Oscars: ‘The Hurt Locker’ trumps ‘Avatar’ →