Both David Poland and Jeff Wells are going forth and pushing Zoe Saldana for an acting nod. Poland says: When I first saw the film, the remote possibility of Ms. Saldana getting a nomination for her performance was tantalizing. I rationalized that Sigourney Weaver’s turn, part CG and part human, was more likely to be the breakthough nomination. But I have been...
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Avatar shut out for Best pic (lol) — The Online Film Critics.¬† They are well-intentioned but don’t really predict nor influence the Oscars. They have always reflected, in my view, the “if the internet ran the Oscars.” They step outside the box, which will no doubt thrill people like themselves and people who are sick of the same ol’, same...
Movieline’s Stu Van Airsdale on Avatar’s potential box office: “More than one-third of its $232 million to date has been earned between a Monday and Thursday, and its $19.4 million this past Monday ‚Äî its 11th day of release ‚Äî is entirely unprecedented.” And: So if we had to pin a number on Avatar, let‚Äôs start at $1.3 billion, which...
In the past we used to compare Karger’s predictions to the Academy’s – but I don’t think I have time to dig them up at the moment — however, let’s just sum it up by saying he’s usually not more than one off in the categories. Best Picture probably doesn’t count since there are ten this year but many of his predix you can...
Awards Daily began life as Oscarwatch.com at the end of the 1999 and its first proper Oscar year was 2000, the year that Gladiator beat Crouching Tiger. I don’t have many memories that remind me that the Gladiator year was first but I know it must be since I wasn’t covering the Oscars the year American Beauty swept. A quick trip to the Wayback machine shows...
Synecdoche, New York (2008) The Hurt Locker (2009)¬† “Apart from this psychological process, Katherine Bigelow’s film has a masterful command of editing, tempo, character and photography. Using no stunts and CGI, she creates a convincing portrayal of the conditions a man like James faces. She builds with classical tools. She evokes suspense, dread, identification....
What makes a good screenplay? Ask a variety of people and you will likely get varying answers back. Original screenplays don’t do as well as adapted screenplays because their stories aren’t yet tested. Adaptations can go woefully wrong but if the source material has been approved the chances of the thing being good are vastly improved. Also a good indicator...
Erik Childress has posted his annual Criticwatch’s Whores of the Year – which has funny bits, no doubt. Pete Travers and Pete Hammond are two who take it annually from Childress but they’re probably used to it by now (we hope, because we love Pete and Pete!). Some of the quotes from lesser known critics have a funny ring to them when boiled down to the...
Tom O’Neil has some fun chiding his fellow Oscar bloggers for giving him hell way back when for his Inglourious Basterd prediction. He has a few good reasons why he thinks the film is as good as gold. Here is one: Remember how shocked everybody (except me) was when “Inglourious Basterds” reaped the most Critics Choice Award nominations and landed in all...