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.