Oscar's big omissions…
It’s often said that hindsight is 20/20, and that by looking to the past we’re able to see things with perfect clarity. When it comes to the Oscars, hindsight is often used to criticize choices that were made by Academy members in a given moment. By looking over the entire history of the Academy Awards, one can nitpick their selections for days: How Green Was My Valley over Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane for Best Picture (1941)? A crime! Stanley Kubrick’s groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey not even nominated for Best Picture (1968)? A travesty! Jimmy Stewart left off the ballot for his career-best performance in Vertigo (1958)? An abomination! Hoop Dreams – arguably the greatest documentary film ever made – not nominated for Best Doc (1994)? Wha? What!? WHAT?!?! …Well, you get my point with this. Thanks to hindsight, we can go on and on looking back at past mistakes.
Read more after the jump.
Read more on When Hindsight Doesn’t Apply: 10 Big Oscar Snubs Since 2000…
 The buzz for this film out of Sundance has been deafening. Pictures of the poster have been floating around the internet for a while but this is official now. Am I underestimating the film in terms of Oscar prospects? Check out the full image after the jump. Read more on Fox Searchlight Releases ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’ Poster!…
 There’s no doubt that I was in the minority in praising Judd Apatow’s last film ‘Funny People’ as his best yet, but I know I’m not in the minority of loving his two previous flicks ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’ and ‘Knocked Up’. Today we bring you the first trailer for his newest directorial work ‘This is 40′, and it looks like a cross between ‘Knocked Up’ (which is a pseudo sequel to) and ‘Funny People’ in all of the best ways. I think this could be the most mature work of Apatow’s career and could get him the sort of respect as a filmmaker that’s somewhat eluded him to date. You can see the trailer after the jump, but it appears like this is one to really get excited for this Christmas. Take a gander below…
Read more on Trailer for ‘This is 40′ hits!…
 The promo machine for the summer blockbusters is in full effect. After presenting footage at Cinema Con, Universal has released the first track from the Snow White and the Huntsman called “Breath of Life.” The song is written and performed by Florence + the Machine. With those ominous drums and Florence’s voice and choral arrangements, the track definitely fits in with the tone of the trailers and the Evil Queen character it’s written about. It’s surprising that a major summer film would release a single as a part of it’s film marketing but this song is pretty great.
Read more on Hear “Breath of Life” from Snow White and the Huntsman…
 Via The Hollywood Reporter–Stellan Skarsgard and Hiroyuki Sanada have signed on to join the cast of The Railway Man. The film which also stars Jeremy Irvine and Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, details the true story of Eric Lomax, “a victim from World War II’s “Death Railway” sets out to find those responsible for his torture.” Skarsgard will play the best friend of Lomax (Firth) who accompanies him back to the place of his torture and Sanada will play a Japanese officer whom Lomax is tracking down. Jeremy Irvine is set to play the younger version of Firth’s character.
Read more on Skarsgard and Sanada Board “The Railway Man”…
 To Our Entire Readership,
It’s our deepest sadness that I announce that John Foote’s wife, Sherri Foote, passed away early this morning.
If anyone knows John, they know they’ll likely never witness a man more in love another person or more devoted. Please send John and his daughters your condolences here and we wish her a peaceful sleep.
Read more on A Moment of Silence for Sherri Foote, John’s wife…
 As the Awards Circuit grows into one of the finest assemblies of film and television fanatics on the web, our team must constantly keep up with the demand of our readership and the news. I’m proud to announce that former Editor and Owner of the AwardContenders.com, Mark Johnson has joined our Awards Circuit family as a Staff Writer.
With a unique vision and wonderful witty writing style, Mark brings a positive outlook on film and will undoubtedly fill in the gaps of the site with creativity and excellence.
Here’s a little about him: Read more on Intoducing…Mark Johnson!…
 After showing her acting mettle in two David Fincher films, The Social Network and her Oscar nominated turn in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Rooney Mara has been seriously in demand. She’s just finished filming a movie with Terrence Malick and is currently shooting The Bitter Pill with Steven Soderbergh and has added two more films to her slate. According to The Hollywood Reporter Rooney is attached to star in an adaptation of Brooklyn, about a young woman who is torn between her family in Ireland and and American man in the 1950s. Mara has also signed on to take over for Carey Mulligan in a new Spike Jonze film about a man who falls in love with a computer voice.
Read more on Rooney Mara to star in new Spike Jones film and ‘Brooklyn’ adaptation…
 This year was the first time that I’ve ever attended the Tribeca Film Festival, despite it taking over numerous theaters in Lower Manhattan every year around this time. The screenings/after-parties are interesting enough, but I’m always most interested in what the award winners are. Well, the 2012 winners have been announced, and after the jump you can see the press release detailing it all for your reading pleasure. Take a gander below…
Read more on 2012 Tribeca Film Festival Award Winners!…
 I was planning to hold my tongue on this issue, but I keep getting asked about it these past few days, so I’m going to bite the bullet and rant away. At CinemCon, a number of theater exhibitors discussed potentially relaxing the rules of the movies that forbid texting. They seem to think that they’re alienating teenagers who spend their money (up to $14 for a showing in Manhattan now) en mass to see the latest releases each weekend. My retort to that…WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE? Now, I get it…I’m lucky, I get to go to screenings a bunch and (for the most part) fellow critics tend to shut up and watch the movie, so why should I be complaining. For me, this is a bigger issue than just texting. For me, it’s the continued destruction of the theater going experience. Now, I freely admit that texting isn’t as bad as outright talking on the phone during a movie, but it’s a slippery slope. It used to be that a small child in the theater or an annoyingly loud person was the worst thing you could expect at the multiplex, but now many of you I’m sure would long for those days. After the jump I’ll rant on about this, but as clear as I can say it…this is a TERRIBLE idea. I’ll go as far as to say that this weekend, any of you seeing a movie at your major theater chain (AMC, Regal, etc) should ask for the manager and let them know how against this you are. My rage continues below…
Read more on Could movie theaters soon allow texting?…
 It was a rather safe bet that Darren Aronofsky’s next film ‘Noah’ would not be a one man show, so it was only a matter of time until the cast expanded beyond leading man Russell Crowe. There were (and still are) rumors of Liam Neeson taking the part of an antagonist/villain of some sort in this post-apocolyptic take on the biblical tale, but for now he remains on the sidelines, though Crowe is no longer alone. Joining the production are actresses Jennifer Connelly and Saorise Ronan, with Connelly working a second time now with Aronofsky after ‘Requiem for a Dream’ earlier in their careers. After the jump I’ll speculate a bit on their potential roles, but I like how this movie is shaping up quite a bit…
Read more on Jennifer Connelly and Saoirse Ronan join ‘Noah’…
 While the announcement of films playing at the Cannes Film Festival did not include ‘The Gangster Squad’, a piece by The Playlist suggests that Sean Penn is coming to Cannes with a new performance, and since he only has one film in the can…well…you do the math. This could possibly make a lot of sense considering Warner Brothers recently gave its prime release date to Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’. Could the studio be planning to launch Ruben Fleischer’s flick a bit earlier than expected? Hit the jump to see my thoughts, but in short…I sure hope so.
Read more on Could ‘The Gangster Squad’ play at Cannes?…
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