My dream Oscar ballot: part one

Posted by · 1:00 pm · January 21st, 2012

With the Oscar nominations looming, I take a look at the films I’d most like to see recognized in crafts categories, ranging from “The Tree of Life” to “13 Assassins” to “Immortals.”

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'Super 8' leads the way with Motion Picture Sound Editors nominees

Posted by · 8:13 am · January 20th, 2012

The Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) used to announce its list of nominees after the Oscars did, meaning the Best Sound Editing category was the one field without much in the way of precursor clues for predicting. That changed recently and now we can get an idea of where the sound branch might lean in the field.

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Tech Support: Wrapping up guesses throughout the Academy's craft categories

Posted by · 1:31 pm · January 19th, 2012

Rounding out my picks in the Academy’s crafts branches, from Best Music to Best Visual Effects.

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Tech Support: Guessing the nominees throughout the Academy's craft categories

Posted by · 7:49 am · January 19th, 2012

In five days, the nominations for the 84th annual Academy Awards will be announced. It seems extraordinary that another season has nearly passed. And with a silent film and a somewhat fantastical (not-so-) children’s film poised to dominate the major categories, one realizes how quickly trends can change in Hollywood. But now it’s time to make our final picks across the crafts categories.

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'The Artist,' 'The Descendants' win big with Golden Globes (plus live blog)

Posted by · 12:27 pm · January 15th, 2012

Join us as we note the hits, misses and surprises of tonight’s Golden Globes ceremony.

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'War Horse,' Scorsese win with North Texas critics

Posted by · 3:33 pm · January 9th, 2012

The North Texas Film Critics Association (yep) has gotten together to announce this year’s list of winners. And it was “War Horse” that came out of top, with Martin Scorsese winning directing honors. No were to be found “The Artist.”

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'Tintin,' 'Harry Potter' and 'Transformers' out front with Visual Effects Society nominations

Posted by · 12:37 am · January 9th, 2012

The Visual Effects Society has announced its list of nominees for the organization’s 10th annual ceremony, and leading the way wasn’t one of the live action blockbusters on the whittled-down slate of 10 advancing Oscar contenders. It was Steven Spielberg’s animated offering “The Adventures of Tintin,” which landed six nominations across the feature film categories.

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Santa Barbara fest taps Bichir, Mara, McCarthy, Oswalt, Serkis and Woodley for Virtuosos Award

Posted by · 11:24 am · January 5th, 2012

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced, along with its film schedule, the recipients of this year’s Virtuosos Award. And they cast the widest net yet, honoring Demián Bichir, Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Patton Oswalt, Andy Serkis and Shailene Woodley.

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Art Directors Guild nominees include 'Anonymous,' 'Captain America' and 'Drive'

Posted by · 7:12 pm · January 3rd, 2012

The Art Directors Guild and the Costume Designers Guild announced its slate of nominees this evening, and the surprises were few and far between. One of them, though, was the exclusion of “War Horse” in the period category.

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Celebrate 100 years of Paramount on your iPad

Posted by · 4:17 pm · January 2nd, 2012

Paramount Pictures has launched a new app for the iPad that celebrates the studio’s landmark 100th anniversary this year. The 100 Years of Movie Magic app “is an exploration of the studio’s incredibly rich and storied history,” the iTunes blurb reads. Every studio should do something like this.

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Predicting the 2011 PGA nominees

Posted by · 10:57 am · January 2nd, 2012

This year’s PGA nominees will do little to clear up the Best Picture scenario at the Oscars. Why? Because the guild will be chalking up a full slate of 10 nominees once again, despite the fact that the Academy’s final line-up could be anywhere from five to 10. So what will the PGA spring for?

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Round-up: Raising a glass to 'Tintin'

Posted by · 7:45 am · December 30th, 2011

Also: the invisibility of Tate Taylor, and the dark horses in the Oscar race

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The Lists: Top 10 Steven Spielberg films

Posted by · 10:58 am · December 27th, 2011

For the fifth time in his career, director Steven Spielberg has offered up a drama (“War Horse”) and an entertainment (“The Adventures of Tintin”) in the same year. But for the first time ever, he has two films in theaters at the same time. So it seems now is as good a time as any to run through a list of the “best” films of the famed director’s career.

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Oklahoma critics march in step, spring for 'The Artist,' Clooney and Williams

Posted by · 3:11 pm · December 23rd, 2011

The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle has spoken up and added nothing to the precursor conversation, going with a slate of typical winners. Most annoying, they totally got their “Obviously Worst Film” and “Not-So-Obviously-Worst-Film” awards mixed, but whatever.

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'Drive,' 'A Better Life' and 'Attack the Block' among scores not eligible for Oscar this year

Posted by · 5:03 pm · December 22nd, 2011

The Academy has announced a list of 97 film scores eligible for consideration in the Best Original Score category this year. Typically, it’s this announcement that brings the bad news of this or that score either not being submitted or being ruled ineligible for whatever reason.

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Joe Letteri and Andy Serkis on the progression of performance capture in 'Apes' and 'Tintin'

Posted by · 3:27 pm · December 22nd, 2011

In 2011, New Zealand-based visual effects company Weta Digital was at it again with another banner year in the CG filmmaking landscape, perhaps the company’s biggest year to date. At the forefront were visual effects supervisor Joe Letteri, director of Weta Digital, and actor Andy Serkis, steward of the performance capture form and the face for a technology that could potentially, at some point, become a standardized tool in the filmmaker’s arsenal.

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Tell us what you thought of 'The Adventures of Tintin'

Posted by · 7:41 pm · December 21st, 2011

The film hits theaters today.

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Utah critics award 'Drive,' '50/50'

Posted by · 10:02 am · December 21st, 2011

The Utah Film Critics Association has chosen “Drive” as the Best Picture of the year. The film also won Best Supporting Actor for Albert Brooks and Best Cinematography. The group handed two awards to Jonathan Levine’s “50/50,” Best Actor for Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Best Original Screenplay.

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