As is the case almost every Oscar ceremony that I can remember, the previous year’s Oscar winners in the four acting categories will return to present at the Academy Awards. This means Meryl Streep, Jean Dujardin, Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer will all be in attendance at the presentation. The four previous winners join Mark Wahlberg and his stuffed teddy bear, Ted, as the only presenters announced thus far. Have a look at the official statement after the jump.
Read more on Last Year’s Winners Streep, Dujardin, Spencer and Plummer Return to Present at Oscars…
“I am a star. I’m a star, I’m a star, I’m a star. I am a big, bright, shining star. That’s right.”
With this ending pep talk, Dirk Diggler reclaims his rightful place in the limelight as Paul Thomas Anderson burgeons onto the scene as a formidable filmmaking talent. Since Boogie Nights took critics and viewers by surprise and effectively cemented itself as his breakout film, Anderson has trickled out a handful of films, all of which he’s written and directed. A self-taught student of the art, he’s come into his own as a modern American auteur in the vein of Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles before him. Taking pride in generating a truly original narrative (all of his six films are based on his original screenplays with the exception of the loose adaptation that drives There Will Be Blood), Anderson is of the lesser-populated writer-director breed in the species of film-helmers in Hollywood.
Read more on Writer’s Block: Paul Thomas Anderson…
Categories: Article, Writer's Block Tags: Boogie Nights, Burt Reynolds, Inherent Vice, Joaquin Phoenix, Julianne Moore, Magnolia, mark wahlberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master, There Will Be Blood, tom cruise
The Academy’s annual Oscar luncheon took place on Monday afternoon. AMPAS always gets the group of nominees together for a sort of “class photo,” which results in a fun game of “Where’s Waldo?” to find your favorite stars and filmmakers. Who do you spot? Have a look at the bigger picture after the jump. Read more on 2013 Academy Award Nominees Luncheon Photo…
 Probably our longtime readers favorite time of the year, the Awards Circuit Community Awards for Year 2012 had their nominees announced on this week’s “Power Hour.” With the public vote making some interesting choices, a nice, eclectic variety of nominees were chosen. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln leads with eleven nominations including Best Picture and Best Director. Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty nabbed seven nominations for Picture, Director, and Lead Actress for Jessica Chastain. Also with seven nominations, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables capturing Best Actor, Supporting Actress, and Best Picture.
Many films managed six nominations in total including Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained that managed a Supporting Actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio, the most nominated actor in ACCA history. Stephen Chbosky’s homage to high school was well-received as The Perks of Being a Wallflower not only landed Best Motion Picture but also three acting nominations for Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, and Emma Watson respectively.
David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook also captured three acting nominations for Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert DeNiro along with a Cast Ensemble nomination. As the momentum picks up for Ben Affleck’s Argo in the Oscar world, the film captured a modest five nominations for Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing, and Cast Ensemble.
ACCA final voting will open on Friday and be open for one week. The winners will be announced on the February 17 episode of the Awards Circuit Power Hour! Check out the full list of nominees below:
Read more on Awards Circuit Community Awards goes big for ‘Lincoln’ and ‘Perks’…
 And the Nominees are:
- Asad (South Africa/USA)
- Buzkashi Boys (Afghanistan/USA)
- Henry (Canada)
- Death of a Shadow (France/Belgium)
- Curfew (USA)
There’s no better platform for up-and-coming filmmakers to show what they’re capable of than the Live Action Short Film Oscar® category. Just ask current Director’s Guild of America president, Taylor Hackford, who in 1979 won the Academy Award for his live action short, Teenager Daughter. Hackford went on to make a splash in Hollywood with films like Ray and Officer and a Gentleman, both of which were heavy awards players in their respective years on top of finding strength at the box office. Furthermore, this category is known for broadening its scope by introducing our home turf to some innovative and talented filmmakers from outside our borders. International cinema has gradually found its footing in the states, but it’s thanks to the embracing arms of such prestigious film bodies like AMPAS that allow these foreign cinematic visions to break through. This year, there is only one full production from the United States while the rest of the shorts are co-produced by other countries. These five nominees are exceptional, perhaps more so than any prior year in recent memory, and truly any one of them are deserving of the grand prize. However, the hard truth is that only one can win come the evening of February 24th, 2013. I’m here to tell you what short film that will be… Read more on Oscar Circuit: Live Action Short…
Categories: Oscar Circuit Tags: Asad, Bryan Buckley, Buzkashi Boys, Curfew, Death of a Shadow, DGA, Henry, oscar predictions 2013, Sam French, Shawn Christensen, Taylor Hackford, Tom Van Avermaet, Yan England
 This week, we have some of the dichotomy that makes this column so much fun. Yes, some of the better 2012 releases are hitting Blu-Ray/DVD today, but there’s also one of the very worst coming out as well. It’s no secret that I despise terrible films, and all the more so when they’re among the only titles available, but luckily that’s not the case this time around. The crappy flick can safely be ignored due to the relatively strong quality of the rest of the slate. I have a quartet of enjoyable movies that I had to bandy about for my top choice today. I’m always a fan of competition for the #1 slot, so this was a fun week to write up. For my PICK OF THE WEEK, I was able to narrow it down to do films…a slightly dark romantic comedy and a documentary. Most of you are well aware that I had a soft spot for rom-coms and rom-drams as it were, but I wound up going with the doc here. Which one is it? Well, it’s the criminally under-appreciated: Read more on Joey’s DVD Picks of the Week (2/05/2013)…
 As we wrap up our coverage of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, I’m quickening the pace by lumping some of my remaining reviews together. I’ll be doing quick looks at a trio of films that underwhelmed me to some degree. I’ll be talking about ‘Lovelace’, ‘Touchy Feely’, and ‘Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes’ briefly here, but look for full reviews later this year when they hit theaters. ‘Lovelace’ is the one I think most of you are interested in, so that will get a slightly longer write up here, while the rest are just briefly touched upon.
Lovelace (**½)
The co-directors of ‘Howl’ (a personal favorite of mine a few years back) Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have crafted a pretty standard biopic of porn star Linda Lovelace here. They do some interesting things with the way they present the story, but the real selling point here are the performances of Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard. The latter is real good, but the former is the revelation. If the movie was slightly more engrossing I could see her making a play for a Best Actress nomination this year. It still might happen if the film is a hit, but I have my doubts.
Read more on SUNDANCE: ‘Lovelace’, ‘Touchy Feely’, and ‘Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes’…
Categories: Festivals, Film Reviews Tags: Allison Janney, Amanda Seyfried, Bobby Cannavale, Chloe Sevigny, Early Review, Ellen Page, festival round up, Frances O'Connor, James Franco, Jessica Biel, Josh Pais, Juno Temple, Kaya Scodelario, Lovelace, Lynne Shelton, Peter Sarsgaard, review round up, Robert Patrick, Ron Livingston, Rosemarie DeWitt, Scoot McNairy, sharon stone, Sundance Film Festival, Wes Bentley
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