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The year’s sound mixing category had relatively few surprises, just glancing at the tea leaves of the season. There was a typical 4/5 crossover between the Cinema Audio Society and the Academy, with “District 9” missing both here and in the sound editing field.
One might be quick to chalk this, in fact all of the [...]
OSCAR GUIDE: Best Sound Mixing
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:52 am · February 9th, 2010
Filed in: Daily
On the sound of ‘Avatar’
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 5:33 pm · February 8th, 2010
More on the sound mixing category in tomorrow’s Oscar Guide. For now, courtesy of the Soundworks Collection:
Filed in: Daily
SANTA BARBARA: Directors on directing, Virtuosos, ‘Provinces of Night,’ Bigelow
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 3:41 pm · February 8th, 2010
The fest feels incredibly easy-going this year. More than last. Maybe that’s because there aren’t as many films I’m interested in seeing. After “The Secret of Kells” last week and Atom Egoyan’s “Chloe” later this week, nothing really strikes my fancy.
Yesterday before darting back down the 101 for a Super Bowl party in LA, I [...]
Filed in: Daily
Gleiberman’s mea culpa
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:07 am · February 8th, 2010
A few weeks ago we directed you to an Owen Gleiberman piece focusing on the perceived Best Picture battle of “Avatar” vs. “Up in the Air,” that it was a battle of film culture significance. Obviously, as Gleiberman notes in his recent “my bad” post, that doesn’t appear to be the race anymore, and I’m [...]
Filed in: Daily
SUNDAY CENTS: Dear James, Suck it! Signed, ‘Dear John’
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 10:43 am · February 7th, 2010
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.
After spending only seven weeks at the top of the box office, “Avatar” was humiliatingly defeated by “Dear John” and doomed to obscurity forever by dropping to second place.
The new weekend victor earned a phenomenal $32.4 million to end James Cameron’s epic reign and finally give 2010 [...]
Filed in: Box Office · Sunday Cents
S&S slams awards “xenophobia”
Posted by Guy Lodge · 2:04 pm · February 6th, 2010
Being a fairly highbrow cineastes’ mag, Sight & Sound tends to keep a safe distance from awards season — which is probably just as well, if Nick James’s grim-faced editorial on the subject is anything to go by.
Like many British journalists, James’s analysis of the Oscar race is a little wobbly: he states that “Avatar” [...]
Filed in: Daily
WEEKLY WRAP: Oscar nomination week
Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:02 am · February 6th, 2010
• Did you hear? The 2009 Academy Award nominations were announced. “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” led the pack.
• Days before, Kathryn Bigelow nabbed the Directors’ Guild Award — the first woman ever to do so.
• Back to the Oscars, we collected reaction statements from 44 of this year’s nominees.
• I rounded up some of [...]
Filed in: Daily
OSCAR GUIDE: Best Visual Effects
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 1:30 pm · February 5th, 2010
The field of visual effects contenders didn’t seem to need the annual bake-off reduction to know which way the wind was blowing this year. Three films seemed to be headed for recognition from the outset, and on nomination morning, the category made for one of the least surprising collectives of the day.
Furthermore, it has also [...]
Filed in: Daily
FRIDAY FORECAST: 72 degrees and ‘Avatar’
Posted by Chad Hartigan · 11:26 am · February 5th, 2010
*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.
“Avatar” has swept aside the entire January schedule with relative ease and is aiming for an eighth weekend at the top of the box office. Considering it dropped only 10% last week despite some direct male competition from Mel Gibson and it now has 9 Oscar [...]
Filed in: Box Office · Friday Forecast
2/5 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:08 am · February 5th, 2010
• Scott Bowles writes up the forthcoming Leo/Marty thriller “Shutter Island.” [USA Today]
• Charting the piracy of this year’s Oscar nominees. [Waxy]
• Pete Hammond gets James Cameron to puff his chest out on “Avatar”’s box office potential, among other notes on the town. [Notes on a Season]
Filed in: Daily
“I’m rooting for the ex-wives here.”
Posted by Guy Lodge · 7:00 pm · February 4th, 2010
With the “exes” angle seemingly set to run and run in this year’s Oscar media coverage, The Guardian at least took a slightly sideways approach in their weekly podcast by roping in a third ex — “Terminator” star and James Cameron’s fourth wife Linda Hamilton — for her thoughts on the matter. (She has a [...]
Filed in: Daily
THE LONG SHOT: Now what?
Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:59 pm · February 4th, 2010
A whole 31 days ahead of the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, the race already feels like it’s winding down.
Of the precursors, only BAFTA and the lesser guilds (sorry, WGA, but you brought irrelevance upon yourself) lie in wait to distract us from a month of wafty speculation and idle editorializing. Trust me, you’re going to [...]
Filed in: The Long Shot
Yes…and more than one movie, actually…
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:44 am · February 4th, 2010
Alright. It must be said. I’m as guilty as anyone, perhaps more than most, at positioning this year’s Oscar race as a two-horse sprint to the finish between “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker.” But slowly it’s occurred to me that this Oscar race has been boiled down so quickly because it makes for such a [...]
Filed in: Daily
February winner predictions
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:18 am · February 3rd, 2010
These appeared at Movie City News’s Gurus o’ Gold page this morning, so you probably already saw them. Here they are in any case, since, you know, I guess it’s about that time:
Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker”
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker”
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”
Best Supporting [...]
Filed in: Daily
2/3 Oscarweb Round-up
Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:39 am · February 3rd, 2010
• Is it really an honor just to be nominated? [CNN]
• Nathaniel Rogers notes that, despite the 10, we still ended up with a typical Oscar mixture of “a mix of message movies, epics, dramas and war films.” [The Film Experience]
• Of Apparition’s dueling period pieces, Anne Thompson wonders what went wrong for “Bright Star” [...]
Filed in: Daily
