In Contention

Believe it or not, there’s a bit of an Oscar angle to today’s big game. This year’s Super Bowl pits the San Francisco 49ers against the Baltimore Ravens, and on the offensive line of the latter, defending Joe Flacco’s blind side throughout the game, will be Michael Oher, subject of the 2009 Oscar-winning film “The Blind Side.”

Filed in: HitFix · In Contention

Ben Affleck, Lena Dunham, Rian Johnson win Directors Guild awards

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:32 pm · February 2nd, 2013

Check off one more box on the “Argo” industry tour of awards season goodies. The Directors Guild of America (DGA) has crowned Ben Affleck with the award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film, this just a week removed from big wins from the Producers and Screen Actors Guilds.

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'Anna Karenina,' 'Life of Pi' and 'Skyfall' win at the 17th annual Art Directors Guild Awards

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 9:13 pm · February 2nd, 2013

The 17th annual Art Directors Guild awards were also held this evening. On the film side, as always, awards were given in three categories: period, fantasy and contemporary.

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'Wreck-It Ralph' wins big at 40th Annie Awards

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:57 pm · February 2nd, 2013

This year’s Annie Awards did a nice job of spreading out the wealth. “Brave,” “ParaNorman” and “Rise of the Guardians” all won multiple prizes. Indeed, the one film that seemed snubbed throughout was Tim Burton’s “Frankenweenie.” But it was “Wreck-It Ralph” that ended up with the most prizes, including the award for Best Animated Feature.

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Coming next week: the Oscar Guide 2012

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 12:08 pm · February 2nd, 2013

Just a note that last week’s examination of the Best Documentary Short Subject category indeed represented the beginning of this year’s Oscar Guide

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'Red Tails' defeats 'Beasts,' 'Django Unchained' and 'Flight' at the NAACP Image Awards

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 6:43 pm · February 1st, 2013

I suppose it’s a bit of a surprise that the George Lucas-produced “Red Tails” beat out some stiff Oscar competition in Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” and Robert Zemeckis’s “Flight,” so there it is.

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 104 — 'Argo' steamroller

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 8:19 am · February 1st, 2013

In this week’s podcast, Kris and Anne discuss the “Argo” guild sweep so far. Will that stretch into the DGA Awards this weekend?

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Roundup: How 'The Hobbit' made the VFX shortlist sight unseen

Posted by Guy Lodge · 5:55 am · February 1st, 2013

Also: ‘Argo’ an illegal hit in Iran, and Hackford to relinquish DGA presidency

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Tech Support: Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers on finding the rhythms of 'Silver Linings'

Posted by gerardkennedy · 7:45 am · January 31st, 2013

To say that comedies find difficulty being nominated for Best Film Editing would be quite the understatement. So the nomination of Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers for David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook” is a testament to the esteem in which their colleagues hold them and their film.

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Roundup: Is 'Paperman' Disney's best in years?

Posted by Guy Lodge · 3:47 am · January 31st, 2013

Also: How the ‘Argo’ campaign nailed it, and can ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ bounce back?

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The Long Shot: Lifting the cloud on 'Silver Linings'

Posted by Guy Lodge · 8:10 pm · January 30th, 2013

In praise of the ‘lighter’ option in this year’s Best Picture race.

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Oscar Guide 2013: Best Documentary – Short Subject

Posted by Kristopher Tapley · 10:09 am · January 30th, 2013

This year’s Oscar nominees in the Best Documentary, Short Subject category are, as ever, a varied an eye-opening bunch. But emotion reigns throughout, always a key to capturing voters’ hearts and securing support.

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