Reacting to reports that Iranian director Asghar Farhadi could be prevented from attending the 89th Academy Awards where his film The Salesman is nominated as best foreign language film, the Motion Picture Academy today said that the situation is “extremely troubling.” More
The director of an Oscar-nominated film can’t attend next month’s Academy Awards after President Trump banned entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim majority nations for 90 days, according to the leader of an Iranian-American group in Washington. More
It’s Hollywood’s most underrated award ceremony. More
There were celebrations across Australia – and Vanuatu – as news of a record 13 Oscar nominations for three Australian films, Lion, Hacksaw Ridge and Tanna, landed on Wednesday. More
Stop us if you’ve seen this one before: Mel Gibson has a new son. He also has a couple of new Oscar nominations for “Hacksaw Ridge.”
Gibson and girlfriend Rosalind Ross welcomed a baby boy on Friday, the actor’s rep confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. Lars Gerard Gibson weighed in at 5 pounds, 5 ounces. He’s the “Mad Max” actor’s seventh son, and his first child with Ross.
Gibson, 61, and Ross, 26 — she’s a writer and champion equestrian…
Awards season heats up this week with the announcement of the 2017 Oscar nominations, previewing Hollywood’s biggest night of the year. More
Los Angeles (AFP) – All eyes will be on Hollywood Tuesday as the list of nominees for this year’s Oscars is unveiled with critical darlings “La La Land,” “Moonlight” and “Manchester by the Sea” set to fare well. More
Oscar’s never been much of a song-and-dance man. Consider his treatment of 1952’s Singin‘ in the Rain, widely considered the best movie musical of all time (it ranks No. 1 on the AFI list of the greatest movie musicals). Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen’s toe-tapper scored just two nominations — a supporting actress mention for screechy-voiced star Jean Hagen and another for music scoring — and won neither.
Consider, too, how often the Motion Picture Academy overlooked Hollywood’s top musical performers. During the course of his career, Kelly got just one best actor nom, for 1945’s Anchors Aweigh, and, as compensation, a 1952 honorary Oscar recognizing his choreographic work. Similarly, Fred Astaire was ignored until he was given an honorary Oscar in 1950 and then, late in life, a supporting actor nom for his appearance in the 1974 disaster pic The Towering Inferno. Ginger Rogers got no Oscar noms for dancing backward and in heels — instead, she won an Oscar only when she played it straight in 1940’s Kitty Foyle. And most of Judy Garland’s musical work earned little applause — although she won a special juvenile Oscar after starring in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz, her next nom didn’t come until 1954’s A Star Is Born, which was as much soul-searing drama as it was light-hearted musical.
So why has Oscar so often given musicals and musical performers such short shrift? Possibly because they make it look too easy. Or maybe because they look as if they simply are having too much fun.
Enter La La Land, which Lionsgate opens in exclusive engagements Dec. 9. Damien Chazelle’s homage to old-fashioned boy-meets-girl Hollywood musicals, a pastel-hued $30 million romance starring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling, is already a hit on the festival circuit, picking up the audience award in Toronto and charming critics (it has a 96 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes). And before any Academy voters dismiss it as a mere trifle, no matter how winning,…
For those who track Oscar odds the way that other people follow horse racing or college football, the Gotham Independent Film Awards hold a special place. The awards, given by the Independent Filmmaker Project, and held,…
The Gotham Awards are to the Oscars what the Iowa caucuses are to a presidential election and the NFL’s preseason games are to its regular season: they’re the first “results” to come in, so they get a lot of attention, but the reality is they don’t really tell us much of anything about what’s to come.
This is not to rain on the parade of Moonlight, the big winner at Monday night’s 26th annual Gothams — it took best feature, best screenplay, a special ensemble prize and the audience award, and, at the end of the day, it may well pose the greatest threat to presumptive best picture Oscar favorite La La Land. Nor is it to diminish the moment in the spotlight enjoyed by the others invited up to the podium — best actor Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea), best actress Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Ezra Edelman, director of best documentary O.J.: Made in America.
But, as much as we may want to ascribe greater “meaning” to the Gothams, the reality is that the winner in each of its categories is chosen by four or five more or less random people from the film industry — some more associated with the indies (e.g. Emily Mortimer) than others (e.g. Jonah Hill) — whereas Oscar nominations are chosen by hundreds and Oscar winners are determined by thousands. Needless to say, the handful of Gotham voters is miles away from being a scientific sample for the large pool of ultimate Academy voters.
If one wants to get a good read on how the indie film community feels about this year’s crop of films,…