Oscar News

• The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced this week that they are constructing an Academy Museum. The museum will focus on cinema as an art form and its impact on culture.
• David Poland tried to get to the bottom of the new Best Picture voting system this week.

Review Round-Up

• Oscar winner George Clooney's The Ides of March, which he wrote, directed and appears in, opened to good but not stellar reviews this weekend. With a 67 on Metacritic, critics tend to like the film but view it as lightweight and not nearly as impressive as his previously Oscar nominated Good Night, and Good Luck.
• Real Steel, which has poised itself as a dark horse tech category competitor, doesn't seem to have succeeded in that manor. The film, which has a strong-for-the-genre 56 score, hasn't gotten the glowing reviews for the effects work that it would need to overcome its larger competitors.

Oscar Box Office

• 50/50 opened in a disappointing fifth place last weekend, taking in only about $8 million.

Oscar Farewell

• Diane Cilento, who got an Oscar nomination for her performance in Tom Jones, passed away this week at the age of 78. She was once married to Oscar winner Sean Connery and Oscar nominee Anthony Schaeffer.
• Veteran character actor Charles Napier passed away this week. The 75 year old appeared in the classic escape scene in Best Picture winner The Silence of the Lambs.

Oscar News

• The honorees at this year's Hollywood Film Festival, all of whom are possible Oscar contenders, will be Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50), Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life and Take Shelter) and Felicity Jones (Like Crazy). The Help, which also features Chastain, will receive a special award for its ensemble.
• Monday is the deadline for submissions for Foreign Language Film and the Short Film categories.

Review Round-Up

• 50/50 is coming out of seemingly nowhere to pick up some really strong reviews from critics. The Seth Rogen-written film has a 72 from Metacritic, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt getting real strong notices for his lead performance.

Oscar Box Office

• Moneyball brought in $19.5 million last weekend, making it one of the strongest sports movie openings ever, and a formidable fall hit.
• Oscar winner The Lion King was again the top film at the box office last weekend, for the second weekend in a row.

Oscar Farewell

• David Zelag Goodman, who was nominated for an Oscar for writing Lovers and Other Strangers, passed away this week at the age of 81.

Oscar News

• Eddie Murphy was announced as the host for the 84th Academy Awards next year. The Oscar nominated actor and comedian will lead the Brett Ratner produced show on February 26, 2012.
• The lineup was announced for the 55th London Film Festival, running the middle of October. Among the films in the running are Oscar hopefuls Carnage, This Must Be the Place, Martha Marcy May Marlene and Wuthering Heights. The opening film is Alfonso Cuaron's 360.
• J. Edgar, the new film from Oscar winner Clint Eastwood, will have its world premier opening the AFI Fest in November.
• Shame, the Venice and Telluride hit starring Michael Fassbinder and Carey Mulligan, was picked up for release by Fox Searchlight. There is no release date set for the graphic film.

Review Round-Up

• Contagion, the global thriller by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh, got solid if not glowing reviews this week. While most critics compared it to Soderbergh's Oscar-winning Traffic, they did not have the same enthusiasm for this latest film.

Oscar Box Office

• The Help, which spent a third week as the number one film, also held the top spot at the box office for 25 consecutive days. That is the longest streak in over 12 years, since 1999 Best Picture nominee The Sixth Sense.

Oscar Farewell

The Oscar family didn't lose any of its members this week.

Oscar News

• The Toronto Film Festival is in full swing, and there are already some films getting strong reviews that look to turn into Oscar contenders: Alexander Payne's The Descendants (with praise for leading-man George Clooney) and David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Among the films to get less-than-stellar reviews are Madonna's W.E.
• The Venice Film Festival is also running, and among the films screening there are George Clooney's The Ides of March and Roman Polanski's Carnage. Both of those films have gotten solid, but not stellar, response.
• The Telluride Film Festival is this weekend, and among the films supposedly playing at the secretive film festival are The Descendants, The Artist and the as-yet-unseen Albert Nobbs.
• In a controversial interview that has gotten a lot of attention, Sean Penn has spoken out against The Tree of Life, which he one of the principal players in. He says that while it was one of the best scripts he has ever read, the movie is too hard to follow.

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Oscar News

• At an anniversary screening this week in Los Angeles of City Slickers, Billy Crystal announced that he would love to return as host of the Oscars if asked.

Review Round-Up

• The 62 Metacritic score isn't overly promising for The Help, but it is getting near unanimous raves in one category. Most of the praise has been geared towards previous Supporting Actress nominee Viola Davis.

Oscar Box Office

• The Help opened last weekend with a strong $26 million.
  
• Midnight in Paris broke the $50 million mark this week.

Oscar Farewell

• GD Spradlin, the memorable character actor who appeared in Best Picture winner The Godfather, Part II, died this week at the age of 90. He also appeared in Apocalypse Now.

Oscar News

• The Academy this week announced the winners of this year's Honorary Oscar Awards: Oscar nominated actor James Earl Jones and Oscar winning makeup artist Dick Smith will win Oscars for lifetime achievement, and Oscar nominee Oprah Winfrey will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The awards will be presented in November.
• The Oscars announced the producers of this years telecast: Brett Ratner and Don Mischer. Mischer produced the 83rd Oscars ceremony this year.
• Tom Sherak was reelected the President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Sunday night. He was elected to a one-year term for the third time.

Review Round-Up

• Although a lukewarm 68 of Metacritic wouldn't suggest it, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes is getting some surprisingly rave reviews from various corners of the film criticism landscape. In Time, Richard Corliss compares the film to the original King Kong, and others are calling it the best action movie in years.

Oscar Box Office

• July 2010 became the highest grossing month ever for the movie industry, with $1.4 billion in tickets being sold.
• The eighth Harry Potter film and the third Transformers film both crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide.

Oscar Farewell

• Takuo Miyagishima, who won several technical Oscars, died this week at the age of 83.
• Silvio Narizzano, the British filmmaker whose Georgy Girl was nominated for four Oscars, died at the age of 84.

Oscar News

• The Venice Film Festival announced their lineup for this year's September festival. Among the films are George Clooney's The Ides of March, Roman Polanski's Carnage, Tomas Alfredson's Tinker, Tinker, Tailor, Spy and Todd Solondz's Dark Horse.
• Many of the films vying for Oscar attention will be appearing and premiering this year at the Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to most of those playing at Venice listed above, Moneyball, A Dangerous Method and PJ20 will play Toronto.

Review Round-Up

No major Oscar contenders have been released in the last two weeks.

Oscar Box Office

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 became the fastest film ever to reach $900 million worldwide. It did it in 15 days.

Oscar Farewell

• Michael Cacoyannis, the Cypriot filmmaker whose Zorba the Greek was nominated for 7 Oscars, died at the age of 89. He himself was nominated for 3 Oscars for writing, directing and producing Zorba the Greek.
• Polly Platt, the respected producer, writer and designer, died at the age of 72. Her art direction for Terms of Endearment was Oscar nominated, and her other credits include Broadcast News, Pretty Baby and The War of the Roses.

Oscar News

• The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony recieved 10 Primetime Emmy nominations this week.
• Among the Primetime Emmy nominees this year were Oscar winners Kathy Bates, Matt Damon, William Hurt, Cloris Leachman, Melissa Leo, Gwenyth Paltrow, Martin Scorsese, Maggie Smith, Kate Winslet, and Oscar Nominees Alec Baldwin, Laurence Fishburne, Paul Giamatti, Taraji P. Henson, Greg Kinnear, Diane Lane, Laura Linney, Elizabeth McGovern, Tom Wilkinson, Mare Winningham and James Woods.

Review Round-Up

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 opened to strong reviews from critics, garnering an 87 on Metacritic. The reviews praised the visuals, which should be enough to push it into consideration in most of the technical categories next year.
• Disney's newest hand-drawn film, Winnie the Pooh, also has critics cheering. It has a 74 on Metacritic, and critics agree that the film is warm, charming and traditional.

Oscar Box Office

• The latest Harry Potter film is already breaking records, selling over $32 million in advance ticket sales and then taking in $43.5 million at midnight screenings Thursday night.

Oscar Farewell

The Oscar community didn't lose any of its family this week.

Oscar News

• Glenn Close could be returning to the Oscar field this year with Albert Nobbs. Roadside Attractions has purchased the film, which features Close as a woman posing as a man in 19th century Ireland.

Review Round-Up

No possible Oscar contenders were released this week.

Oscar Box Office

• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides became the eighth film in history to make $1 billion worldwide. The other seven films to hit that mark have won at last one Academy Award.
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon set an Independence Day box office record, taking in almost $100 million last weekend.

Oscar Farewell

The Oscar community didn't lose any of its family this week.

Oscar News

• The Weinstein Company has set up a December release and awards run for W.E., written and directed by Madonna.
• Oscar winner Diabolo Cody announced this week that she will make her directorial debut with Lamb of God.

Review Round-Up

• Oscar favorite Tom Hanks probably won't be returning to the Kodak Theatre this year with Larry Crowne. Hanks' second feature as a director has a weak 42 on Metacritic. Most critics said the film is nice and inoffensive but bland and charmless.
• Transformers 3 also got a 42 from Metacritic, but critics praise the film's visual effects. Both of the earlier films picked up technical nods, so look for this one to too.

Oscar Box Office

• Cars 2 became the 12th Pixar film in a row to open at number one at the box office.

Oscar Farewell

The Oscar community didn't lose any of its family this week.

Oscar News

• Oscar winner Warren Beatty announced his long-awaited return to the big screen this week in a Howard Hughes biopic which he will direct and star in. Beatty won an Oscar for directing Reds.
• The Tree of Life, probably the first sure-fire Best Picture nominee of 2011, has garnered some unusual attention this week after a Connecticut movie theater had to post a sign that no refunds would be given just because you didn't like the film.

Review Round-Up

• Like it's predecessor, Cars 2 is getting Pixar some of the weakest reviews of its career. With a 58 on Metacritic, most critics agree that while the film will entertain small children, it doesn't have the depth or humor of most Pixar films.

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Oscar News

• There will be a major change to the Best Picture slate this year, with a fluctuating number of nominees in the category. Between five and ten Best Picture nominees will be in the running, changing every year based on the voting. A film now has to have at least 5% of the number one votes to contend for the big prize.
• The Visual Effects, Animated Film and Documentary categories will also have changes as to how nominees are selected.
• The Academy also announced 178 new members this week. Among the new voters for the Oscars are former nominees and winners Jesse Eisenberg, Tom Hooper, Ellen Page, Aaron Sorkin and a posthumous membership to filmmaker Tim Hetherington.
• Among the winners at the Tony Awards last Sunday were Oscar winners Frances McDormand, Tim Chappell and Lizzie Gardiner, and Oscar nominee Trey Parker.

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Due to vacation last week, there was no column. Therefore, this will cover the last two weeks in Oscar news. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Oscar News

• In an interview with the New York Times, Peter O'Toole complained vocally about his record eight Oscar losses, and how he feels like his honorary Oscar wasn't an honor at all. He was promoting the BluRay release of his Oscar-nominated performance in The Stunt Man.

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