
This past Sunday, December 9th, Scott Pelley outlined Hugh Jackman on 60 Minutes, where the Australian actor called Jean Valjean – the character he plays in Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables - the “role of a lifetime.” It’s the type of interesting work one has come to expect from the great news program. Watch the 12-minute interview after the jump.
Read more on Hugh Jackman Talks ‘Les Mis’ and More On ’60 Minutes’…
Spotlight on Scores was planning to cover this a bit later in the month, but why wait? The full score for Zero Dark Thirty is currently streaming online and available after the jump. With the critical good will for the film and its building momentum, could Desplat win the Oscar?
Read more on Listen to Alexandre Desplat’s score for Zero Dark Thirty!…
The prestigious American Film Institute has released their top 10 films and television programs for 2012. The American Film Institute’s annual awards are selected by scholars, film and television artists, critics and AFI Trustees. This year’s juries were chaired by producers and AFI Board of Trustees Vice Chairs Tom Pollock for movies and Rich Frank for TV. The awards luncheon will be held on Jany 11.
AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY
TV awards after the jump!
Read more on American Film Institute (AFI) names Top Ten Films and Television Shows for 2012!…
Categories: Article, News, Precursors Tags: American Film Institute, American Film Institute Awards, American Horror Story, Argo, awards, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Breaking Bad, Django Unchained, Game Change, Girls, Homeland, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Louie, mad men, modern family, Moonrise Kingdom, news, Silver Linings Playbook, the dark knight rises, The Walking Dead, Zero Dark Thirty
What do you get when you combine an apocalyptic setting, add a splash of Terrence Malick, two Smiths, a dash of CGI, and roll it up in heavy voice over? Obviously, you’ll get the trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth starring Will and Jaden Smith, as General Cypher Raige and his 13 year old son Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai’s craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. Check out the trailer after the jump!
Read more on Watch Will and Jaden Smith in trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘After Earth’…

Sacha Gervasi’s much-anticipated Hitchcock was supposed to deliver a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Master of Suspense’s masterpiece (Psycho) and its improbable success. Instead, this disaster became an outlandish fantasy around the film’s crazed director (Anthony Hopkins) and the strained relationship with his wife (and uncredited collaborator) Alma Reville (Helen Mirren, in one of the film’s few bright spots), as it fabricates that their marriage was saved only by working together on the film.
Read more on Snippet Reviews: ‘Hitchcock,’ ‘Killing Them Softly,’ and ‘Any Day Now’…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Anthony Hopkins, Any Day Now, Any Day Now review, Brad Pitt, Helen Mirren, hitchcock, Hitchcock Review, Killing Them Softly, Killing Them Softly review, Scoot McNairy, Snippet Reviews
Spotlight on Scores returns this week looking at one of Oscar’s favorite genres, the costume drama, movies filled with great costumes, ridiculous amounts of drama and a heavy string based orchestral score. So it made sense that this series would look at two movies that fit the bill: A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina. As before, I’ve tried grouping each score with another one similar to it and there will also be links (if available) to Youtube playlists so you can peruse the score on your own, and links to iTunes and Amazon if you want to purchase it.
Read more on Spotlight on Scores: A Royal Affair and Anna Karenina…

Thanks to reader Jamie for the heads up!
Washington Film Critics have announced their winners after just announcing their nominees a day ago. Zero Dark Thirty emerged victorious along with director Kathryn Bigelow.
Read more on Bigelow and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ hit big with Washington Film Critics…
Categories: Precursors Tags: Amour, Anne Hathaway, arts editor, beloved D.C. film critic, Best Acting Ensemble, Bully, Cinema of the United States, Claudio Miranda, Daniel Day-Lewis, Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), David O. Russell, Director, District of Columbia, Entertainment, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Hugh Bateup, Human Interest, Jessica Chastain, Joe Barber, Jonny Greenwood, kathryn bigelow, Les Miserables, Lincoln, longtime arts editor, Michael Haneke, Osama Bin Laden, ParaNorman, Peter Walpole, Philip Seymour Hoffman, President, Rebecca Alleway, Rian Johnson, Shame, Silver Linings Playbook, The Hurt Locker, The Joe Barber Award, The Master, Tim Gordon, time travel mind-bender, U.S. intelligence, Washington, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, Zero Dark Thirty

Washington Film Critics have announced their winners after just announcing their nominees a day ago. Zero Dark Thirty emerged victorious along with director Kathryn Bigelow.
Read the Press Release and check out the full list of winners down below:
Read more on Bigelow and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ hit big with Washington Film Critics…
Categories: Precursors Tags: Amour, Anne Hathaway, Arts, arts editor, beloved D.C. film critic, Best Acting Ensemble, Bully, Cinema of the United States, Claudio Miranda, Daniel Day-Lewis, David O. Russell, Director, District of Columbia, Entertainment/Culture, Film, Human Interest, Jessica Chastain, Joe Barber, Jonny Greenwood, kathryn bigelow, Les Miserables, Lincoln, longtime arts editor, Michael Haneke, Osama Bin Laden, ParaNorman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Precursors, Precursors 2012, President, Shame, Silver Linings Playbook, The Hurt Locker, The Joe Barber Award, The Master, Tim Gordon, time travel mind-bender, U.S. intelligence, Washington, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards, Zero Dark Thirty
BEST FILM
ARGO
DJANGO UNCHAINED
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
THE MASTER
ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, LIFE OF PI
Ben Affleck, ARGO
David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Paul Thomas Anderson, THE MASTER
Read more on San Diego Film Critics Society Nominations!…
It’s rare that we hear at the staff get surprised by a film existence, but I had no idea this movie even existed. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the trailer for Oblivion is so good it’s now on my radar as one of next spring’s must see films. The sci-fi film stars Tom Cruise as Jack Harper,one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs. When he rescues an attractive female stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands. Check out the trailer after the jump!
Read more on Trailer for ‘Oblivion’ starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman arrives!…
Categories: Trailer Tags: Andrea Riseborough, Entertainment/Culture, melissa leo, Morgan Freeman, news, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Oblivion, Olga Kurylenko, tom cruise, trailers, Zoë Bell
As we near 12.12.12, the big question of who will be #1 on, the rumored, the end of the world is, currently, up for grabs! Unsurprisingly, ‘Breaking Dawn Part 2‘ (Sum.) has been dethroned in several other countries around the world, being replaced with the happy holiday 3D flick, ‘Rise of the Guardians‘ (P/DW), a personal favorite of mine that I can’t wait to add to my movie collection! ‘Skyfall‘ (Sony) remains on top in many countries, though many stray down the American charts, finding favor with the epic movies about self-discovery like ‘Life of Pi‘ (Fox), which is #1 in China, and ‘Cloud Atlas‘ (WB). Read more on Box Office (12.09.12)…
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