Robert Redford’s latest film, “The Company You Keep,” saw its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival last September before heading on to Toronto and then bottling up for an April 5, 2013 release date. Based on the novel by Neil Gordon, the thriller centers on a former Weather Underground activist on the run after a journalist discovers his identity.

Continue reading »

I kind of fell for Noah Baumbach’s “Frances Ha” at last year’s Telluride Film Festival. I’m not a Baumbach acolyte, though I did like “Greenberg,” so that also made it a pleasant surprise, I guess. This kind of thing rarely works for me, though. Or at least, it has to hit a very precise target, and when that happens, it always feels pretty special. That’s what we always look for in a darkened theater, right?

Continue reading »

The Tribeca Film Festival, gearing up for its 12th annual showcase in Lower Manhattan from April 17 – 28, has announced its full line-up for the 2013 program.

Continue reading »

There was a time, I think, maybe, when the MTV Movie Awards were kinda neat. But when you’re talking about an organization that doesn’t want it even whispered that it was celebrating its 30th anniversary (lest the kiddies think it’s old school), well, you get “Best Shirtless Performance.”

Continue reading »

Barely a week after his film “Lincoln” only managed two Oscars from 12 nominations and deferred to “Argo” on Best Picture honors, Steven Spielberg seems as ubiquitous as ever. Fresh off the Academy Awards he was announced as head of the jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and he received a nice love letter in the New York Times last week pitting him as a sort of Godfather to Hollywood filmmakers. But it doesn’t end there.

Continue reading »

We were very proud around these parts back during the Sundance Film Festival as In Contention friend (and former contributor) Chad Hartigan won an award in the NEXT section over some stiff competition for his film “This is Martin Bonner.” The film was picked up for distribution last week by Monterey Media, but while you’ll have a chance to catch his work as a result of that deal, you might also have another opportunity at the Sundance Institute’s Next Weekend Film Festival, should it be a part of the programming (and indeed, it ought to).

Continue reading »

We might expect to see Pedro Almodóvar’s “I’m So Excited,” which hits theaters on June 28, at the Cannes Film Festival. Almodóvar’s last film, “The Skin I Live In,” premiered on the Croisette and news of his latest emanated from the fest in 2012.

Continue reading »

Lots of festival news this week. Next up, the Tribeca Film Festival has announced its opening night premiere for the 12th annual edition of the fest: Tom Berninger’s documentary “Mistaken for Strangers,” which chronicles Brooklyn-based band The National on tour.

Continue reading »

Excitement will be as high as ever for the Telluride Film Festival this year as it celebrates its 40th anniversary with an extra day added to the long Labor Day weekend festivities. Not only that, but a new venue has been announced bearing the name of the fest’s most famous regular, director Werner Herzog.

Continue reading »

Visual Effects Society Executive Director Eric Roth has issued an open letter and a “call to action,” imploring government and, certainly, industry attention be paid to the on-going plight in the world of visual effects.

Continue reading »

You didn’t think you had heard the last of “Beasts of the Southern Wild” star Quvenzhané Wallis, I hope. The youngest Best Actress nominee of all time was shrewdly announced on Oscar Sunday as the lead in the Will Smith-produced, Will Gluck-directed adaptation of the musical “Annie,” and today a release date has been announced: Christmas 2014.

Continue reading »

Collider has premiered the first poster for the Sony Pictures Classics release, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September.

Continue reading »

Charting the winners and losers of this year’s Oscar season.

Continue reading »

What can one really say at the end of a season this contentious, this exciting, this tight every step of the way other than: “Gee, that was fun.”

Continue reading »

In today’s podcast, Kris and Anne dig in on last night’s Oscar telecast, the sights and sounds, the winners and losers.

Continue reading »

Here’s a nice story that totally blind-sided me today. Did you know that Oscar-winning filmmaker Sean Fine (“Inocente”) is a huge Redskins fan? It goes deeper than that, actually, and a blog post from Stephen Czarda lays out the story, which led to Fine sporting some nifty burgundy and gold socks on the red carpet last night.

Continue reading »

Crowning off an industry awards running of the table, from the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards the night director Ben Affleck was passed over for a Best Director Oscar nomination through a guild circuit that brought high profile recognition from the likes of producers, directors, actors and writers, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Argo” has been named Best Picture of 2012 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Continue reading »

Daniel Day-Lewis has broken an Oscar record this evening. The “Lincoln” star picked up the Best Actor trophy for his performance in the Steven Spielberg film, making him the first actor to win three lead actor prizes.

Continue reading »