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Note: Due to the holiday weekend last week, there was no column. This will cover the last two weeks in Oscar happenings. Sorry for the delay.

Oscar News

  • The 97 eligible scores list was released by the Academy, as was the list of 39 eligible songs.
  • The Academy released the official poster for the 84th Awards, and it is already getting a lot of criticism for the films it chose to highlight.
  • Among the critics groups to release their winners were Austin (Best Picture: Hugo), the Black Film Critics (The Help), Oklahoma (The Artist) and Utah (Drive).

Review Round-Up

  • War Horse, the latest live-action film by Steven Spielberg, picked up a 72 on Metacritic, although even its most devoted praise acknowledges that it is corny and old-fashioned.
  • The Adventures of Tin Tin, the first animated film by Steven Spielberg, picked up a 68 on Metacritic, although even its most devoted praise acknowledges that it is lightweight and shallow.
  • David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has a 71 score from Metacritic. Most of the criticism has been on the flimsiness of the plot, but Rooney Mara has gotten rave reviews across the board.
  • Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has become one of the year’s biggest critical punching bags. With a 44 score on Metacritic, the film has a few supporters, but most charge the film with being manipulative and vapid.
  • Although Meryl Streep is picking up solid notices for her Maragaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady only has a 52 on Metacritic. Most reviewers cite the film as a dull biopic only brought to life by the central performance.
  • Although Glenn Close is picking up solid notices for her lead character, Albert Nobbs only has a 53 on Metacritic. Even the most vehement detractors, though, cite Janet McTeer as the film’s standout.
  • A Separation received a whopping 93 on Metacritic, making it one of the best reviewed films of the year. The Iranian masterpiece, though, has an uphill battle in any non-foreign language category come January, though.

Oscar Box Office

  • War Horse might have been the biggest winner of the Christmas weekend, picking up $15 million in only one day of release.
  • Young Adult, We Bought a Zoo and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo all had disappointing openings, although the latter film could still pick up steam on word-of-mouth.

Oscar Farewell

The Oscar family didn’t lose any members this week.

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