Film Misery

One of my observations from the weekend’s Critics Choice and Golden Globe nominations is that Nine no longer stands a chance in many of the major Oscar categories, but what about the tech categories? Musicals have long been an Academy favorite for their cinematography and art direction. However, one category has been unfairly skewed in [...]

Two of the biggest precursor awards have already announced their winners and we’re still a few weeks away from the Academy even announcing their nominees. If you ask me, the Awards season schedule needs a change that doesn’t keep us waiting forever for the big awards to come along. By the time the March Oscar [...]

When it comes to predicting the Oscars for Art Direction, the Art Directors Guild is of little help. They break down their awards into three categories, five nominations each, based on the type of film. This makes it quite difficult to find a crossover between an Art Directors Guild nomination and an Oscar nomination. Traditionally, [...]

Grade: C- For a film about a director searching for inspiration, Nine plays out like its own director was uninspired. Rob Marshall, the director behind the camera, borrows from his other films, fails to utilize his all-star cast, and delivers an uneven, disjointed cinematic experience. The result adds to the list of failures in the [...]

After this round of Oscar updates, Nine somehow manages to stay atop the list of 50 movies to see before the 2010 Oscars. This tells me that it’s time for a new formula as Nine is not a frontrunner in many categories anymore, but gained its points for the technical nods expected and for being [...]

The Oscar nominations will be announced February 2, 2010, which gives us just over a month to make our final predictions. By now every major contender has received a theatrical release. Reviews are in, precursors are being handed out, and the Oscar speculation is about to peak. The Oscar predictions for Best Picture have been [...]

James Cameron’s enormous budget sci-fi film almost replicated its opening weekend returns with a huge second weekend. Avatar held off the blockbuster might of Sherlock Holmes, the family appeal of Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel, and the romantic comedy draw of It’s Complicated to become the number one film for the second week [...]

Read of the Day: Another end of the decade list I can mostly agree with – the 30 Best Films of the Decade. [Film School Rejects] News of the Day: The Utah man who inspired Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rain Man passed away at 58. [MSNBC] Review of the Day: Nine is still being predicted [...]

Once again, the predictions weren’t too much of a shocker. Inglourious Basterds, Precious, and Up in the Air lead the pack with three nominations a piece. Check out the nominations and how I did below: Screen Actors Guild Nominees 2009 Best Ensemble Cast An Education The Hurt Locker Inglourious Basterds Nine Precious How I Did: [...]

The first of the major awards bodies to give out nominations to mainstream films announced an hour ago their nominees for 2009. The Broadcast Film Critics Association favored Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Rob Marshall’s Nine, giving each film ten nominations for their upcoming Critics Choice Awards, which are to be aired January 15 on [...]

Read of the Day: Alan Bacchus continues his extensive look at the past decade by reviewing the emerging auteurs. He includes Paul Greengrass, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo Del Toro and many more. [Daily Film Dose] News of the Day: MovieClips.com has launched with over 12,000 movie clips. It’s still not as reliable as YouTube for scenes [...]

Read of the Day: Lou Harry directly compares the women of Nine to the women in the same roles in 8 1/2. Advantage? Honestly, I’d have to say Nine. [Variety] News of the Day: Paul Greengrass has dropped out of the fourth Bourne film. The film already is not based on one of Robert Ludlum’s [...]

The Satellite Awards are given out by the International Press Academy, and unlike most precursors who desperately want to mimic the Oscars, these guys try their darndest to look like the Golden Globes. They were formerly known as the “Golden Satellites” and they seek to award the best that film has to offer while separating [...]

Read of the Day: Apparently sex doesn’t sell as a new study reveals that nudity or sex in films doesn’t affect their box office. [IFC Independent Eye] News of the Day: The Fido Awards, which recognizes dogs in films, were announced with Dug from Up taking home a prize. [The Guardian] Review of the Day: [...]

Read of the Weekend: Tom O’Neill has looked back over the past two decades to examine the 20 closest Oscar races. [The Gold Derby] News of the Weekend: Apparently our “liberal” neighbor to the North isn’t as open-minded as we Americans imagine. Several gay films were seized by Canadian border authorities on their way to [...]

Read of the Day: Alan Bacchus continues his look back on the decade by analyzing the boom of the documentary. [Daily Film Dose] News of the Day: Leona Lewis will be singing the theme song for James Cameron’s Avatar. It promises to be less campy than “My Heart Will Go On.” [Empire] Oscar Note of [...]

Read of the Day: Elbert Ventura says that November 11 could be observed as American independent cinemas’ birthday, for it is the anniversary of the release of John Cassavetes’ Shadows. [Slate] News of the Day: It’s official – there will be 5 Best Animated Feature nominees this year. The Academy has revealed the 20 shortlisted [...]

Here’s a delicious way to start your Tuesday morning. Check out a montage of rehearsal footage from the upcoming musical Nine. Each of the fantastic supporting actresses involved in the production gets their moment and more of the musical numbers are teased. Check it out:

In the past several years it has been the trend that by October frontrunners in the Oscar race have emerged and the list of possible nominees is nearly set. However, there are always those movies that creep up at the eleventh hour and blow everybody away. Even though most of the Awards probable films are [...]

More release date shuffles have occurred today for some Oscar possibles. The Weinstein Company has pushed back their much anticipated musical film Nine to a very limited December 18 release with a wide release coming on Christmas Day. This was expected as its previous November 25 release put it in competition with the Weinstein’s own [...]