Hello there, Awards Circuit fans! We started things off very ironically by posting the winners of a recent awards show. An awards show this early in the year, you say? Why, yes, the MTV Movie Awards is the red-headed stepchild of the award shows since it airs after the Oscars®, and certainly after everyone’s mostly forgotten about the nominees that had their theatrical run almost a year ago. I will say, however, quality triumphed for once thanks to major wins for The Weinstein’s Silver Linings Playbook and Disney•Marvel’s The Avengers. Read more on Circuit Round-Up (Week Ending 4/21)…
Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tarantino is known best for his non-linear story-lines and excessive on-screen violence. His first completed feature film, Reservoir Dogs (1992), screened at the Sundance Film Festival and received immediate praise. The critics followed suit in their admiration of the film and its director. Tarantino’s success continued with two successful screenplays: True Romance (1993) – directed by Tony Scott – and Natural Born Killers (1994) – directed by Oliver Stone. The latter was revised heavily by Stone and his writers, but Tarantino was still given story credit.
Alabama Worley’s thoughts while watching Clarence negotiate himself out of a chaotic and botched drug deal pretty much sum up the general consensus on the films of Quentin Tarantino. Although True Romance (1993) was optioned off and eventually directed by Tony Scott, in one of the late director’s best and most underrated pictures, it’s still indicative of Tarantino’s origins as an iconic contemporary screenwriter. With a relatively modest, though distinct body of works, no one has changed the landscape of pop culture and modern cinema quite like Tarantino over the course of his career spanning just over two decades. The self-taught student of film who’s famously been quoted as saying, “When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, ‘no, I went to films,’” looks to emulate greats like Sergio Leone, Howard Hawks, Brian De Palma, and Martin Scorsese in his own works.
And you thought the awards season was over? The MTV Movie Awards have announced their nominations and FINALLY existing (somewhat) in a post-Twilight world, the same group that made edgy choices back in the 90s like awarding Menace II Society (1993) and Se7en (1995) their top award can start looking at some of the cool, ecletic group of pictures and give them their proper citations.
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
The calendar year for most people runs January through December, but for such Oscar-obsessed people as you will find writing here at The Awards Circuit the year ends with Oscar Sunday. Everything we do at this site leads to and culminates in the big ceremony. We’ve spent countless hours going back and forth trying to figure out just where the pieces fit best into the jigsaw puzzle that the Academy Awards race has become, and I have to tell you, I have never seen a year quite like this.
Alan Arkin – Argo Oscar Scene: “Argo fuck yourself”
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook Oscar Scene: “When life reaches out with a woman like this it’s a sin if you don’t reach back, I’m telling you its a sin if you don’t reach back!”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master Oscar Scene: Lancaster Dodd processing Freddie Quell
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln Oscar Scene: Thaddeus Stevens facing off with Mary Todd Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained Oscar Scene: Dr. King Shultz introducing himself to Django
There may be no category as up in the air this time around as Best Supporting Actor. Very few people are confident about their picks, and this is certainly as wide open as any the category has seen in years. It’s also noteworthy for featuring five nominees who are each prior winners, including one actor seeking his third Oscar. At least a three horse race, Best Supporting Actor may very well come down to who actually gave the best performance of the group. There are 100% other factors to consider, but with this tight a contest, it’s conceivable that voters actually took quality into account. The gentlemen nominated all are favorite sons to one degree or another, so lets dive in and take a look at them, shall we?
(The annual “Will Win/Should Win” of the Awards Circuit has been our most popular yet most challenging series where each writer let’s their final thoughts be known on the Oscar categories. Each writer will reveal their choices everyday leading up to the Oscar ceremony. Think you can do better? Let your final thoughts be known in the comment section or by joining our Oscar Pool. -CD)
Christoph Waltz hosted NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” last night and participated in a spoof of his Oscar-nominated film, Django Unchained. While there are many that may be offended by the act, as a catholic, I couldn’t help but laugh until I cried. It was absolutely hilarious. Check it out!
With all the craziness of awards season, I hadn’t fully noticed the big story circulating among the writers branch that the two great screenwriters Mark Boal and Quentin Tarantino were squaring off in the Original Screenplay category once again. The last time the two dueled was in 2009 when Boal’s The Hurt Locker triumphed over Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.
In the 2009 season, many had assumed it was a no-brainer that Boal would emerge the victor after winning the Writers Guild of America Award and after the impressive showing the film had with the major guilds. Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, though an audience favorite, had to settle with Christoph Waltz being the sole representation for the film in Oscar’s Supporting Actor category. Coincidentally, Waltz is nominated again this year for his performance in Django Unchained. Read more on The Tarantino Effect – When Will Oscar See Him as a Director, Not a Writer…
The Writers Guild of America will be announcing their winners tomorrow, Sunday, February 17. All season long there have been many instances, which I’m just as guilty of, where we doubt Argo’s chances in an awards show. The BFCA and Golden Globes seemed expected. The Producers Guild of America was cool. The SAG Ensemble win was jaw-dropping. The Directors Guild of America was a fine achievement and something that should have happened anyway. For me, the BAFTA win was very telling since Argo never seemed like it would appeal to an overseas group like BAFTA when films like LesMiserables and Life of Pi were nominated alongside it.
ChrisTerrio’s script is beloved among critics and audiences however, of all the seven nominations that Argo has received with the Academy Awards, the Adapted Screenplay category is clearly a three-horse race with Tony Kushner (Lincoln) and David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook). Please note the WGA is not an indicator of Best Picture like PGA, DGA, and SAG. This is citing the screenplay and the screenplay alone. If that was the case, masterpieces like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) would have had more a shot for a Motion Picture mention. Read more on 2013 Writers Guild of America Preview…
Woody Allen made history when “Midnight In Paris” earned the filmmaker his third Oscar and 15th nomination for screenwriting last year.
Whether viewed as a consolation prize for a well-regarded film that has no chance of winning Best Picture, or a sign that a film in the discussion for the Academy’s highest honor has broad and far-reaching support, the Writing categories – Adapted Screenplay and Original Screenplay are not always that easy to predict. A case could be made that more adventurous films land in the Academy’s screenplay categories, but with regard to the Original Screenplay category, only five films (Thelma & Louise, The Usual Suspects, Almost Famous, Talk To Her, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) have won the Oscar since 1990 without landing a Best Picture nomination. Three Best Picture nominees are competing in this category and it would seem that for the other two nominees, being featured in the clips package will be as close as they get to scoring a win this year.
The Oscars are less than two weeks away. It seems everyone and his mother is choosing Argo to take it all in the end, which is perfectly sound since the film did pick up Producers Guild, Directors Guild, SAG Ensemble, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and – a bit surprisingly – BAFTA. If Ben Affleck had been nominated for Best Director, there would be no argument that the film would be taking it on Oscar night, but Affleck was snubbed, and 2012 was an amazing year for cinema. I suspect Oscar is going to want to spread their love in a lot of areas for different films.
Argo is nominated for seven Oscars, with two of them being in Sound Mixing and Sound Editing – two categories I wouldn’t name as Argo‘s strong points. Terence said it best on this week’s Power Hour, Argo winning Best Picture is an expected achievement, but there are some problems with the thinking that the film could pull in a sweep in categories like Sound Mixing, Original Score, and Adapted Screenplay. The LA Times article that cited the votes of four Academy members had some scratching their heads, as they went for their favorite film in every single category in which it was nominated. Read more on Oscar Predictions – State of the Race and Peaking at Oscar Ballots…
When it comes to the Oscars, one of the questions I hear most often is what the heck is the difference between Sound Mixing and Sound Editing? So I figured I would start with explaining their differences first, before diving into the nominees for Best Sound Editing.
Few realize how integral cinematography is to the film experience. Without the technical prowess of “the man behind the camera,” we are lost, the magic of movies disappears, and our eyes are left to gaze at nothing more than an amateur home video caught on tape. A cinematographer is the visual liaison between the viewer and the film’s universe. To understand and wholly appreciate a director’s vision, the cinematographer must literally point us in the right direction. At the best of times, those “directional paths” almost eclipse the film itself thanks to a cinematographer’s artistic imprint that leaves an impression that stands in equal measure to all the quality elements that make a film great. Such work is usually rewarded in the form of an Oscar® nomination, and this year five heroic men of their great craft have been honored. Below, I will break down each contender, their film and their chances of winning an Academy Award at the 2013 Oscar® ceremony. Read more on Oscar Circuit: Cinematography…
The Weinstein Company is pretty proud of Quentin Tarantino’s latest effort, Django Unchained. Aside from the two Golden Globe wins for Best Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz) and Best Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino), and along with the five Oscar nominations the film received (including Best Picture), Django Unchained has officially become Tarantino’s highest grossing film to date (domestically). Have a look at The Weinstein Company’s official release after the jump.
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)…
Photo: Leonardo DiCaprio in Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained”
We are in the final stretch of Phase 1 of awards season. Oscar ballots are due this coming Thursday, January 3rd, with nominations being announced exactly one week later. If there’s any time to pay attention to the “buzz” and “word on the street,” this past week was that time. Trying to keep the pulse on the season is always challenging, but this year the Golden Globes, SAG, Critics’ Choice, and a slew of the upper-tier critics’ awards were announced in such close proximity that it can be argued those groups captured the films and performances with the buzz at that particular moment. Which films and performances have the buzz now?
Over our Christmas break, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables opened with many audience members either defending or trashing it, either for poor directorial choices or offensive, cheap, revenge porn tactics. What’s interesting about the two is that they were both the talk of the town the past week, whether you liked it or not. Right when voters were checking off their ballots. Could 5% of the Academy come to the rescue for either film? Read more on Oscar Circuit – The Final Stretch and End of the Year Honors Begin!…
Quentin Tarantino’s career-long itch to put his stamp on the beloved Spaghetti Western finally takes form with the release of Django Unchained to begin the Christmas weekend. It’s going head-to-head with Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the epic musical drama, Les Miserables. Rounding out the long weekend is Gus Van Sant’s latest, Promised Land.
Django Unchained
Language: English
Rating: R
Genre: Action/Drama/Western
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Jamie Foxx
Django, a bounty hunter and former slave, sets out with the help of his mentor to free his wife from a brutal plantation owner. See what Clayton had to say about Tarantino’s latest. Read more on Weekend Openings: 12/25-12/28…
It’s all about the critics’ awards this week as we dive into the choices by the Critics Choice Movie Awards, Golden Globe Nominations, Screen Actors Guild Nominations and a slew of other groups that announced last week.
Add another tally to the impressive amount of critics awards Zero Dark Thirty has won. The African-American Film Critics Association has named the Bigelow film the best film of 2012. However, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere, proved to be the big winner taking home four prizes including Best Actress, Screenplay, Independent Film and Music. Other big winners included Ben Affleck taking Best Director and Denzel Washington winning Best Actor. Check out the rest of the winners after the jump! Read more on Zero Dark Thirty, Middle of Nowhere win big with African-American Film Critics Association…
Contrary to popularbelief, I am not a member of the Houston Film Critics Society. But you’ll be hard pressed to see me arguing with the nominations they’ve released. Lincoln leads the diverse groups of chosen films with 8 nominations, with Les Miserables and The Master behind it with 6. They also threw some love to Cloud Atlas and Judi Dench and Javier Bardem in Skyfall. Check out the nominations below for Picture and everything else after the jump!
Via Kris Tapley over at HitFix/In Contention, he took a look at the ballot for the Writers Guild of America upcoming awards and took note of several omissions that include Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables, Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, and Michael Haneke’s Amour. He counted fifteen in total.
Tarantino has never been a member of the WGA but has found success with his other films Inglourious Basterds (2009) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Tapley has explanations for many of the contenders that won’t be getting a boost from the WGA. I encourage you to take a look. The nominations for the Writers Guild Awards will be announced on January 3, the day Oscar ballots are due. The list of films DISQUALIFIED are listed below and after the jump. Read more on Writers Guild of America Disqualifies Several Films for their Awards!…
Add another tally to the impressive amount of critics awards Zero Dark Thirty has won. The African-American Film Critics Association has named the Bigelow film the best film of 2012. However, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere, proved to be the big winner taking home four prizes including Best Actress, Screenplay, Independent Film and Music. Other big winners included Ben Affleck taking Best Director and Denzel Washington winning Best Actor. Check out the rest of the winners after the jump!
Contrary to 
Via Kris Tapley over at 
