'12 Years a Slave' dominates Chicago film critics awards

Posted by · 6:36 pm · December 16th, 2013

Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” kept up its regional precursor dominance tonight winning the Best Picture prize from the Chicago Film Critics Association. The group’s acting winners filled out accordingly with nary a surprise to be found.

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Jay Z, Coldplay and U2 make the Oscar eligibility cut for Best Original Song

Posted by · 3:04 pm · December 16th, 2013

On the heels of our piece detailing the unfortunate ineligibility of “Please Mr. Kennedy” from “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the Academy has announced 75 original songs in competition for the Best Original Song Oscar at the 86th annual Academy Awards.

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Tom Hanks joins Palm Springs fest's starry list of honorees

Posted by · 3:00 pm · December 16th, 2013

Tom Hanks will receive the Chairman’s Award at the Palm Springs festival for his work in “Captain Phillips” and “Saving Mr. Banks,” making him the latest A-lister to join the fest’s awards gala. Others include Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey.

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90s nostalgia as Weinsteins and Miramax reunite for 'Shakespeare in Love' sequel

Posted by · 2:15 pm · December 16th, 2013

A new 20-year deal between The Weinstein Company and Miramax gives the Weinsteins access to the creative library they left behind at their old company — meaning sequels to “Shakespeare in Love” and “Rounders” are in the works.

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How 'Please Mr. Kennedy' was born and why it's not eligible for Oscar consideration

Posted by · 1:04 pm · December 16th, 2013

With nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Association in the span of a week, not to mention being a stand-out track on the year’s prestige “musical,” produced by recent Academy Award winner T Bone Burnett with pop superstar Justin Timberlake on the mic, you would think “Please Mr. Kennedy” from the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” was on a collision course with Oscar. But due to stricter AMPAS rules, the tune will not be on the list of songs eligible to compete in the Best Original Song category at this year’s Academy Awards. That’s no skin off Burnett’s back.

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Kristopher Tapley's top 10 films of 2013

Posted by · 10:30 am · December 16th, 2013

HitFix Editor-at-Large Kristopher Tapley runs down his top 10 films including “Out of the Furnace,” “Spring Breakers,” “The Place Beyond the Pines” and “Gravity.”

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'Philomena' and 'Before Midnight' top Women Film Critics Circle awards

Posted by · 10:04 am · December 16th, 2013

After a colorful list of nominations last week (check them out here if you missed them), the Women Film Critics Circle has deemed “Philomena” the best film of 2013…about women. The film picked up two other awards as well (the only other two for which it was nominated, in fact, making it a sweeper). “Before Midnight” also scored a hat trick.

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'12 Years a Slave' rules Online critics awards, nabs three acting wins

Posted by · 9:00 am · December 16th, 2013

The Online Film Critics Society showed a lot of love to “12 Years a Slave” in their voting, as the film claimed Best Picture and three acting awards. “Gravity,” however, once more pipped it to Best Director.

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'12 Years a Slave' wins seven from St. Louis film critics

Posted by · 8:58 am · December 16th, 2013

You didn’t think “12 Years a Slave” was done winning awards today, did you? Another group, the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, has singled it out as the year’s best after the film dominated the group’s list of nominations last week. Steve McQueen’s drama picked up seven awards in total.

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Indiana film critics board the '12 Years' bandwagon

Posted by · 8:33 am · December 16th, 2013

The Indiana Film Journalists Association has hopped onto the runaway “12 Years a Slave” train, ticking the film off for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Musical Score awards today. But they provided a little more intrigue in other acting categories, giving prizes to Adèle Exarchopoulos and Barkhad Abdi, and a runner-up tip of the cap to “American Hustle” star Jeremy Renner (his first mention of the season).

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'12 Years a Slave,' 'Gravity' tops with Dallas-Fort Worth critics

Posted by · 8:33 am · December 16th, 2013

“12 Years a Slave” and “Gravity” came out on top in the voting for the Dallas-Forth Worth Film Critics Association Awards — though “Dallas Buyers Club,” obviously enough, got some love too.

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'12 Years a Slave' leads Southeastern film critics winners

Posted by · 8:13 am · December 16th, 2013

The Southeastern Film Critics Association went for “12 Years a Slave” in a big way, handing it prizes for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to Best Picture.

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'American Hustle' and '12 Years a Slave' lead Critics' Choice Movie Awards nominations

Posted by · 7:47 am · December 16th, 2013

“American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” led the way with this year’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nominations with 13 apiece. David O. Russell’s Abscam comedy had the added benefit of padding in the comedy categories, however, a luxury “12 Years a Slave” couldn’t boast.

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Roundup: Why an Oscar for James Franco is no laughing matter

Posted by · 3:45 am · December 16th, 2013

In today’s roundup of notable online news and views, James Franco speaks in defence of his and A24’s playful awards campaign for “Spring Breakers,” which is bearing fruit with the critics. Meanwhile, who has the best ‘do in “American Hustle?”

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'12 Years a Slave' tops with San Francisco critics, but 'Gravity' wins four

Posted by · 3:12 pm · December 15th, 2013

Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” was a big favorite with the San Francisco Film Critics Circle this year, picking up four awards from the group including Best Director. But it was “12 Years a Slave” that the group named Best Picture of the year. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Cate Blanchet took top acting honors, while James Franco nabbed his second prize of the critics circuit. “American Hustle” won two awards, for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and Best Original Screenplay.

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On the curious nobility of Peter O'Toole's unlucky Oscar history

Posted by · 2:27 pm · December 15th, 2013

With eight Best Actor nods, the late Peter O’Toole holds the record among actors for most Oscar nominations without winning. Looking over his nominated performances, from “Lawrence of Arabia” to “Venus,” we reflect on the dignity of that unlucky statistic.

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'12 Years a Slave' wins four from Houston film critics

Posted by · 1:10 pm · December 15th, 2013

Also handing out awards today was the Houston Film Critics Society. The group also went with “12 Years a Slave,” bringing the film’s Best Picture tally up to six, for those keeping score at home. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sandra Bullock picked up top acting honors, while Jared Leto and Lupita Nyong’o maintained their impressive dominance in the supporting ranks.

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'12 Years a Slave' wins big with Kansas City film critics

Posted by · 12:34 pm · December 15th, 2013

The Kansas City Film Critics Circle has tapped Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” as the year’s best, falling in line with a number of regional critics as of late.

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