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Oscar News

  • The Academy released the official short list for Best Foreign Language Film, and there are 65 eligible films up for contention this year. Among the recognizable films on the list are Mexico’s Bitiful (directed by Oscar nominee Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and starring Oscar winner Javier Bardem) and Thailand’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (winner of the 2010 Palme d’Or).
  • The Academy also released the official short list for Best Documentary Short. There are 8 eligible films this year.
  • Best Picture contender The King’s Speech picked up another Audience Award, this time at the Hampton’s Film Festival, beating out other contenders 127 Hours and Black Swan.
  • The American Society of Cinematographers announced this week that it will give its 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award to Roger Deakins. Deakins has been nominated for the Oscar 8 times, yet has never won.ย  This year he will have 2 films eligible for the Oscars: The Company Men and True Grit.
  • Bruce Davis, the Executive Director of the AMPAS, has announced that he will retire at the end of 2011. Davis has been the Executive Director since 1989, and has worked for the Academy for 30 years.
  • Despite speculation, the Academy is not pushing the Oscar date up in 2012.

Review Round-Up

  • Clint Eastwood has two Best Director Oscars already, and it looks like Hereafter will not bring him a third. The film has a low-for-Eastwood 53 on Metacritic and 59% on Rotten Tomatoes. Eastwood fans, such as Time‘s Richard Corliss, say the film has immense rewards, but many find the film slow and flimsy.
  • Conviction is getting wildly mixed reviews, ending with a barely-fresh 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 58. Despite their views on the film, critics have good things to say about Hilary Swank and especially Sam Rockwell, who could be entering the Oscar race for the first time.

Oscar Box Office

  • The Social Network managed to hold onto the top spot at the box office for the second weekend in a row. It grossed another $15.5 million, but only dipped by 31% from the weekend before.
  • Disney’s Secretariat managed a third place finish with $12.7 million.
  • Documentary Waiting for “Superman” crossed the $1 million mark, a strong feat for any documentary. It brought in over $600,000 for the weekend.

New Trailers

  • Undertow: Peru’s submission for Foreign Film looks like it could be right up the alley of the traditionally-conservative Foreign Film Committee.

Oscar Farewell

For the second week in a row, this week saw us lose no Oscar nominees.

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