 2012 went in the blink of an eye. By July of last year, I was fearful of how the year would turn out for film. At that point my top two films, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Moonrise Kingdom were very good but nothing that I wanted to be in the top-tier of my annual top ten list since neither received a top-notch review from myself. September rolled around and film after film was blowing audiences, critics, and prognosticators away. There’s always a narrative a critic and blogger tries to write for the year. Is it the year of action films? Is it the year of big studios? While large studios definitely stepped up their games, it was documentaries that pushed the boundaries of storytelling and bringing enigmatic issues to the surface. I can only hope a worthy documentary manages to get their due in the future and hit the cultural zeitgeist that will “allow” Oscar to recognize.
As I unveil my personal ballot over the next few days, looking over the citations as a whole make me very proud of what filmmakers, performers, and studios are choosing to do with their narrative techniques. Of course, our beloved readership will have a different top ten, criticize choices, and scream anarchy for glowing omissions, but that’s what the Awards Circuit is about. Make your choices known not only in the comment section but also in the Awards Circuit Community Awards which are currently underway.
Without further ado: Read more on Editor Top Films of 2012 – The Year of the Film…
Categories: Article, Editor Tags: Amour, Arbitrage, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Bernie, chasing ice, Editor, End of Watch, Flight, Jeff, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Moonrise Kingdom, Red Hook Summer, Rise of the Guardians, Searching for Sugar Man, seven psychopaths, Silver Linings Playbook, Ted, The Central Park Five, the dark knight rises, The Grey, the house i live in, The Impossible, The Invisible War, The Master, The Painting, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Sessions, Top Ten of 2012, Top Tens, West of Memphis, Zero Dark Thirty
- Happy New Year (almost), readers of The Awards Circuit. In less than twenty-four hours, we’ll all be citizens of the year 2013, so get excited! I don’t need a crystal ball to know how many of you spent the last few days of the year. Based on the popularity of our “reaction” thread for Django Unchained and Les Misérables, I daresay much was being debated, loved and thrown to the wolves (nice knowing you, Tom Hooper!) amongst you moviegoers that saw these two awards juggernauts. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 12/30)…
Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 12/30)…
Categories: Circuit Round-Up Tags: anna belickis, Bradley Cooper, chasing ice, clayton davis, Daniel Ashtiany, Django Unchained, Jason Clarke, Jeff Orlowski, Joey Magidson, joeys dvd pick of the week, John H. Foote, Joseph Braverman, Les Miserables, Mark Johnson, Michael Ward, Nicole Melkonian, oscar predictions 2013, Promised Land, Robert Hamer, Terence Johnson, The Words, Tiff Chai, Tom Hooper
 Shortlisted for the 2013 Academy Awards, ‘Chasing Ice’ (2012) is considered a frontrunner in the Oscar race. Jeff Orlowski has agreed to answer a few questions before the holidays begin.
Q: How does it feel to be shortlisted for the 2013 Oscars?
JO: It somewhat goes without saying, but it is incredibly amazing to be on the shortlist. Our whole team is beside ourselves. There really are no words to describe how amazing it feels to be recognized like this. But most importantly, all the accolades are drawing more and more attention to the issue. That’s really the amazing thing about all of this. Read more on Chatting with Jeff Orlowski, Director of ‘Chasing Ice’…
 Of the several feature documentaries that have been shortlisted for the 2013 Academy Awards, ‘Chasing Ice‘ (2012) is considered a frontrunner in the Oscar race. To share some thoughts after the completion and making it onto the 2013 Academy Awards shortlist for best documentary is one of the producers, Paula Dupré Pesmen, who also produced the multi-awarded and 2010 Oscar winner, ‘The Cove’ (2009). While preparing for film festivals and promotional events, she answered a few questions.
Read more on Paula Dupré Pesmen, A Producer of ‘Chasing Ice’…
2011 Best Documentary Feature winners TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Rich Middlemas (L-R) for “Undefeated”.
One of the Academy Award categories that draws the most interest from my corner of the world is the Best Documentary Feature prize. Saddled with a fair amount of controversies throughout the last couple of decades or so, the Best Documentary Feature Film Oscar has succeeded in raising eyebrows and/or validating public sentiment in recent years. Reports have surfaced that 126 films have met the Academy’s eligibility rules this year; rules that have created their own unique brand of controversy.
Similar to the anticipation surrounding changes to the Best Original Song category this year, which now mandates five nominees, people both in and around the Oscar season have expressed next to no real idea whether these changes are going to make the nominees more commercial, less commercial, or ultimately have no impact whatsoever on the final nominees.
Read more on Waiting on the Documentary Shortlist……
Categories: Article Tags: Best Documentary Feature, Brooklyn Castle, Bully, Camp 14, Central Park Five, chasing ice, Detropia, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel, Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, Ethel, Far Out Isn't Enough, First Position, Garbage In The Garden Of Eden, Head Games, How to Survive a Plague, Iceberg Slim: Portrait Of A Pimp, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, love, Love Marilyn, Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present, Marley, Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, No Place On Earth, Paul Williams Still Alive, Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out, Samsara, Searching for Sugar Man, State 194, The Act Of Killing, The Ambassador, The Gatekeepers, The House I Live, the house i live in, The Imposter, The Invisible War, The Law In These Parts, The Queen of Versailles, This Is Not a Film, West of Memphis, Women With Cows, You've Been Trumped
 From the producer of The Cove (2009), Chasing Ice (2012) is one of the most profound and phenomenally shot documentaries to be released in 2012. From the beginning, the audience sees clip after clip of news footage about natural disasters that has happened within recent years, which successfully ends with a well-known reporter telling the world that there isn’t such a thing as global warming. I think this segment is meant to remind people of the dangerous encounters we’ve had with nature and it brings the audience into thinking about the serious fears awaiting in the future. Read more on Chasing Ice (***½)…
Read more on Chasing Ice (***½)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: Balog, barefoot photographer, chasing ice, cove, documentary, Environment, Environmental Issues, Extreme Ice Survey, Geography, Glaciers, global warming, ice, James Balog, John Coleman, natural disaster, phenomenally, photographer, Physical geography, producer, the cove, well known reporter, Year of birth missing
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