ACADEMY AWARDS

HitFix profiles a hugely competitive Best Actor category. Names include Christian Bale, Joaquin Phoenix, Matthew McConaughey, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba and Forest Whitaker.

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Roundup: Sony's Oscar plans for 'Blue Jasmine'

Posted by Guy Lodge · 4:13 am · October 1st, 2013

Also: Charles Ferguson’s cancelled Hillary Clinton doc, and Cuaron on ‘crap’ 3D.

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Unlikely 'Captain Phillips' star Barkhad Abdi on learning from Tom Hanks and finding empathy for a pirate

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 4:20 pm · September 30th, 2013

Against all odds, Barkhad Abdi is starring opposite Tom Hanks in a Hollywood movie, an unlikely figure in the Oscar race. He tells HitFix what he learned from a legend on set and how he found empathy for the pirate he was tasked to portray.

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'Nebraska,' 'Furnace' and 'Walter Mitty' set to screen as AFI Fest centerpieces

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:31 am · September 30th, 2013

Scott Cooper’s “Out of the Furnace” has mostly dodged the 2013 fall festival circuit, but with first a Rome fest announcement and now placement as an AFI Fest centerpiece, it’s looking to make some noise just before it opens theatrically. Meanwhile, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “Nebraska” will also play the fest as centerpiece screenings.

Filed in: HitFix · In Contention

TCM to premiere new documentary 'Oscar' in February

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 11:15 am · September 30th, 2013

Every year Turner Classic Movies gets home audiences in an Oscar state of mind with its annual “31 Days of Oscar” showcase. Held every February, it’s a month-long celebration of Oscar-winning films leading up to the annual Academy Awards ceremony, and this year, the showcase will kick off with the premiere of a brand new documentary about the awards’ 85 years of history. It’s called, what else… “Oscar.”

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Off the Carpet: Shapeshift

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:35 am · September 30th, 2013

What a difference a week makes…

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Iran surprises by picking 'The Past' as foreign language submission

Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:50 am · September 30th, 2013

Which take on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will come out on top?

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Roundup: Weinstein on 'the most competitive season I've ever seen'

Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:22 am · September 30th, 2013

Also: The state of animation, and the movies behind ‘Breaking Bad.’

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Tell us what you thought of 'Don Jon'

Posted by Guy Lodge · 6:15 am · September 27th, 2013

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut opens in limited release today.

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Roundup: The 'real' start of the Oscar race

Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:42 am · September 27th, 2013

Also: Tom Sherak’s new appointment, and when Kerry met Cicely

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Bennett Miller's 'Foxcatcher' moves out of the Oscar race to 2014

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:47 pm · September 26th, 2013

If you want a press release to land somewhat quietly, drop it at 10:00pm ET. And not that the news of “Foxcatcher” didn’t cause plenty of commotion a few hours ago, but it was obviously a willful decision from Sony Classics to let the news out when they did. I’ve been in screenings all day and just now got back to my desk to assess all of this, but the news is this: Bennett Miller’s latest is officially a 2014 release.

Filed in: HitFix · In Contention