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The 2010 Academy Awards: Live Commentary

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Awards,

Oscar statues

When you throw in an extra host, add five more Best Picture nominees, take away the Best Song performances and nominate two formerly married directors—what do you get? A night that will surely be talked about.

Although many believe the will end with very few surprises, the possibility of an upset is still too great to ignore. Will the box office champ (Avatar) win Best Film as well? Or will The Hurt Locker - or even Inglourious Basterds - take the prize? Is Jeff Bridges a shoo-in for Best Actor…or could BAFTA winner Colin Firth sneak past him? Will Sandra Bullock have to deliver another acceptance speech, or will Meryl Streep take home her first Oscar since 1983?

To find out if the ceremony ends in a world of Hurt or Up in the Air, stay tuned here for the live results!

Click to continue reading The 2010 Academy Awards: Live Commentary

Read More | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

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2010 BAFTA Award Winners

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Awards,

The Hurt Locker

may be the overseas (and domestic) box office champ, but how would it fare with the international voters?

This weekend’s Orange British Academy Film Awards ceremony proved James Cameron’s movie might not be a shoe-in at next month’s Academy Awards. In fact, ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow could see her movie, , take the Best Film honor from him.

In total, the gritty war drama collected six statues including the first ever BAFTA for a female director. (Avatar and both took in two awards each.) Meanwhile, the top acting prizes went to two British stars: Colin Firth (A Single Man) and Carey Mulligan (An Education).

You can see a full list of winners after the jump.

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Read More | British Academy of Film and Television Arts

2010 Academy Award Nominations

Academy Award nominations 2010

After the list of nominees were announced this morning, two movies rose to the top of the pack. Avatar and The Hurt Locker - helmed respectively by James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow - both lead the field with nine nominations each. Thankfully, the formerly married directors still get along.

Even though this will be the first time since 1943 (when Casablanca won) that ten films will go up for Best Film, this year’s list only revealed a handful of surprises. Those who have been following other ceremonies during this awards season saw very little changes in the acting categories.

Here are some of the noteworthy mentions/omissions from today’s nominations:

  • Many had hoped The Hangover, Star Trek and/or (500) Days of Summer would go up for Best Picture. Many were left disappointed.
  • Is this the first time Daniel Day-Lewis wasn’t nominated for simply breathing?
  • Acting queen is up now up for her sweet 16th nomination for her role in Julie & Julia. (I believe I will one day see her 20th.)
  • Speaking of leading women, there will be three newcomers going up against vets Streep and (The Last Station): Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)—someone who wasn’t even an actress to begin with!
  • Disney/Pixar’s will be double-dipping it this year. The feature has been nominated in both the Best Film and Best Animated Film categories.

Click to continue reading 2010 Academy Award Nominations

Read More | Oscars

The Hurt Locker Racks Up More Critics Awards

The Hurt Locker

It’s time to hurry up and adjust your Netflix queues. In just one week, will finally become available on DVD.

Why should you hurry? Because if you don’t, you might just have to wait to watch one of the most critically-acclaimed movies of 2009. The Kathryn Bigelow-directed drama has already nabbed wins from critics in New York, Boston and Los Angeles. Now the Iraq-war set film has got a few other cities behind it as well.

After the jump, you can view year-end picks from the National Society of Film Critics as well as honors from Chicago, Florida, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Francisco.

Click to continue reading The Hurt Locker Racks Up More Critics Awards


2010 Golden Globe Nominations (Film)

Up in the Air

The 2009-10 awards season kicked into high gear this morning with the official announcement of the nominations. The event - which will be hosted by funnyman Ricky Gervais - will take place just over two weeks before the Academy Award contenders are revealed.

Here are some of the noteworthy mentions from this year’s list of film nominees:

  • leads all film nominations with six. The musical Nine follows with five while Avatar and Inglourious Basterds tied with four.
  • As expected, Meryl Streep has received another two mentions—unfortunately, they are both in the Comedy category (Julie & Julia, It’s Complicated). On the surprising end, Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side, The Proposal) and Matt Damon (Invictus, The Informant) both have two nominations as well—thankfully, in different categories.
  • Talk about drama! An ex-husband and wife will be competing against each other in the Best Director race. (Avatar‘s James Cameron and The Hurt Locker‘s Kathryn Bigelow.)
  • Despite backing from both Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, is not a contender for Best Film. Mo’Nique and Gabourey Sidibe were both recognized for their excellent acting though.

The 67th Golden Globe Awards airs Jan. 17 on NBC.

(You can find the full list of film nominees after the jump. Click here for the TV nominations.)

Click to continue reading 2010 Golden Globe Nominations (Film)

Read More | Hollywood Foreign Press Association

Film Critics Honor The Hurt Locker, Mo’Nique, Christoph Waltz

The Hurt Locker

Never heard of ? You soon will.

Despite opening last summer in limited release, the war drama about an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit in Iraq has already collected a large number of awards.

The movie has now been honored by critics in New York, Boston and Los Angeles for Best Film. Additionally, Jeremy Renner has been acknowledged for his acting work while Kathryn Bigelow has been praised for her direction.

Others receiving multiple honors in this year’s lists include Mo’Nique (Precious), (Inglourious Basterds) and George Clooney (Up in the Air). You can see more award winners after the jump.

Click to continue reading Film Critics Honor The Hurt Locker, Mo’Nique, Christoph Waltz


Up Blu-ray review

Up Blu-ray box artThis week, released their latest film, Up, on DVD and , and we’ve been going through all the content on the Blu-ray release over the past couple of weeks. We know that the movie did extremely well at the box office, and reviews for the actual movie were great - but how does the home release of Up hold, er, up? Hit that read link, and we’ll let you know our thoughts on one of the biggest home releases of the holiday season.

The Movie
As is typical with our Blu-ray and DVD reviews, we won’t actually be reviewing the movie itself in full, but we will say this: Up is another Pixar release that combines family fun and entertainment with some highly emotional storytelling, with a perfect balance.  The movie easily beats a lot of the cruft that you see other Hollywood studios pumping out on a regular basis. You’ve got lovable characters in Carl Fredrickson, Russell, and Dug, with dialogue that’s funny for kids, with some lines specifically aimed at adults. The movie even features miscarriage and death, but with subtlety, so the kids don’t get confused. It’s definitely worth seeing.

Click to continue reading Up Blu-ray review


This Week on DVD and Blu-ray: November 10, 2009

Up on Blu-rayHere are some of the options available this Tuesday:

  • The Accidental Husband: DVD
  • Ballast: DVD, Blu-ray
  • The Echo: DVD, Blu-ray
  • The General: Blu-ray
  • Godzilla: Blu-ray
  • Heat: Blu-ray
  • Ink: DVD
  • The Line: DVD, Blu-ray
  • Logan’s Run: Blu-ray
  • The Merry Gentleman: DVD
  • Monsters, Inc.: Blu-ray

Click to continue reading This Week on DVD and Blu-ray: November 10, 2009

Read More | Amazon

Complete feature list for Pixar’s Up Blu-ray and DVD releases

Up Special Features DVD and Blu-ray

and hit is big with Up, which marked Pixar’s tenth straight box office release that hit #1 on its opening weekend. The movie is set to be released on Disney DVD and on November 10th, with the DVD version being a 2-disc set, while the Blu-ray set if a 4-disc combo, with a ton of features. We just received a full list of the features on both the DVD and Blu-ray versions, and you can check those out after the cut.

Click to continue reading Complete feature list for Pixar’s Up Blu-ray and DVD releases


Box Office Breakdown: Harry Potter Casts a Big Win

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

After putting up with a frustrating delay, eager Muggles rushed to the theaters this weekend in droves. kicked off its extended debut with a record-breaking premiere ($22.2 million) at midnight Tuesday. The series’ sixth installment went on to earn $158 million over five days and officially became the biggest international opener of all time ($237 million).

Despite the numbers, there was one film Half-Blood could not beat: The Dark Knight. At this same time last year, the Batman sequel had also racked up $158 million in sales. But that film did it in only three days.

Click to continue reading Box Office Breakdown: Harry Potter Casts a Big Win

Read More | Variety

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