Gold Derby
Tom O'Neil has the inside track on Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and all the award shows.
Gold Derby nuggets: Banned 'Hurt Locker' producer's Oscars speech | Stone & Hammond on 'Avatar' loss | Alec Baldwin on Oscars gig
• Eugene Hernandez does a crackerjack job reporting on how banned "Hurt Locker" producer Nicolas Chartier spent Oscar Sunday. He was feted by 300 people gathered at the Malibu home of reality TV/film producer Mike Fleiss, who co-hosted with WME Global chief Graham Taylor and his producer wife Lynnette Howell ("Half Nelson"). As Eugene writes, "The crowd was clearly biased in favor of 'The Hurt Locker' and when the movie won the final award of the night, an uproar was unleashed. Chartier silenced the crowd to listen to the televised speeches and then stepped onto a footstool for his own acceptance. Someone handed him a small plastic statue that looked a bit like an Oscar."...
Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Avatar Crazy Heart Inglourious Basterds James Cameron Kathryn Bigelow Mo'Nique Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Sandra Bullock The Blind Side The Hurt Locker Up in the Air
03/09/2010 14:29
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'The Hurt Locker' wins six Oscars, including history maker for director Kathryn Bigelow
The 82nd Academy Awards followed the script set down by pundits, as the front-runners for all of the major Oscars won Sunday night. "The Hurt Locker" led with six Oscars, including best picture and best director for Kathryn Bigelow, who became the first woman to win this award. The Iraq war drama also picked up prizes for original screenplay (Mark Boal), editing, sound mixing and sound editing. "Avatar" went into the night tied with "The Hurt Locker" with a leading nine nominations but had to settle for three Oscars for art direction, cinematography and visual effects (and a $2.4-billion and counting box-office take). See a complete list of all Oscar winners here. Lead actor went...
Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Avatar best actor best actress best director best picture best score best screenplay Carey Mulligan Crazy Heart Directors Guild of America entertainment news Helen Mirren Inglourious Basterds James Cameron Jeff Bridges Kathryn Bigelow Meryl Streep movie news Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Producers Guild of America Sandra Bullock The Blind Side The Hurt Locker Up Up in the Air
03/07/2010 21:38
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Poll: What film will win best picture at the Oscars?
For the first time since 1943, there are 10 nominees for best picture at the Academy Awards. Although "The Hurt Locker" has been the front-runner for the last several weeks, in the closing days of voting, the war drama faced attack on three fronts: 1) issues of accuracy, 2.) for perhaps being too accurate (an army sergeant claims the movie rips off his own story) and 3.) because its producer was banned from the ceremony for breaking campaign rules. Traditionally, most voters completed their Oscar ballots as soon as they arrived. However, this year -- with the introduction of the preferential method for determining the best picture winner -- more than 1,500 out of 5,800...
Academy Awards Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Avatar best picture entertainment news Inglourious Basterds Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire The Blind Side The Hurt Locker Up Up in the Air
03/07/2010 10:22
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Oscar predictions smackdown: Tom vs. Pete (the cliffhanger rematch)
Over the years, my Envelope colleague and good friend Pete Hammond (Notes on a Season) has trounced me now and then at Academy Award predictions, but I've had a nice run lately. I beat him last year. Most recently, when predicting Oscar nominees, I edged him out. Has my luck finally run its course? Will Pete rally? Usually we disagree in just two or three categories, but this year we clash in seven contests. Who do you think has the most correct Oscar predictions? Watch videos of me and Pete dishing the Oscars' bias against sci-fi films like "Avatar" and the question of whether or not Sandra Bullock really deserves to win best actress for...
Academy Awards George Clooney Inglourious Basterds Meryl Streep Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Quentin Tarantino Sandra Bullock The Hurt Locker Up in the Air
03/05/2010 22:58
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Oscar derby update: Buzzmeter experts clash over 'Avatar,' 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Inglourious Basterds'
"Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" may be tied with the most Academy Award nominations (nine), but most of The Envelope's Buzzmeter pundits believe "Avatar" is ahead to win best picture. Of our 21 Oscar oracles, 11 pick "Avatar" — Erik Davis (Cinematical), Edward Douglas (Coming Soon), Greg Ellwood (Hit Fix), Paul Gaita (The Circuit, The Envelope), Peter Howell (Toronto Star), Lou Lumenick (New York Post), Michael Musto (Village Voice), Mark Olsen (The Envelope), Steve Pond (The Odds, The Wrap), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone) and Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere). Nine foresee a top win for "The Hurt Locker": Brad Brevet (Rope of Silicon), Scott Feinberg (And the Winner Is), Marshall Fine (Star Magazine, Hollywood & Fine),...
Academy Awards Avatar Inglourious Basterds Jeff Bridges Meryl Streep Mo'Nique Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Quentin Tarantino Sandra Bullock Up in the Air
02/11/2010 14:02
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Can 'Up in the Air' turn USC Scripter into a win at Oscars?
"Up in the Air" won the USC Scripter Award on Saturday, competing against three of its competitors at the Oscars -- "District 9," "An Education" and "Precious" -- as well as "Crazy Heart." The fifth Oscar nominee is the adapted script for "In the Loop." As this award, now in its 22nd year, precludes stage-to-screen adaptations and foreign-language films, it is not surprising that the winner of the Scripter has gone on to take the Oscar just six times. But two of those instances came recently: last year, with "Slumdog Millionaire," and the year before, with "No Country for Old Men." The other repeat winners were "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), "L.A. Confidential" (1997), "Sense and...
Academy Awards Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Up in the Air Writers Guild of America
02/07/2010 08:29
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Gold Derby nuggets: James Cameron on 'Avatar' Oscar odds | 'The Hurt Locker': 4 producers on Oscar ballot | David Brown tribute
• Pete Hammond reports that "Avatar" director James Cameron "has been participating in almost daily eye-opening Q&A sessions with his craft nominees at the Zanuck Theater right after various below-the-line guild screenings of the film. Monday was the film editors, Wednesday the sound mixing team and Thursday the production designers. On Saturday night he will tributed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and receive the fest's top honor, the Modern Master award. He told me he considers it significant that 'Avatar' passed 'Titanic's' all-time domestic box-office haul with $601 million on Tuesday, the same day the film got nine Oscar nominations. A good omen? He says if it weren't for some upcoming 3-D pictures like...
Academy Awards Avatar entertainment news Gabourey Sidibe Kathryn Bigelow Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Producers Guild of America Quentin Tarantino Sandra Bullock The Blind Side The Hurt Locker Up Up in the Air
02/05/2010 14:38
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Gold Derby nuggets: 'Avatar' vs. 'The Hurt Locker' | Oscars boost box office | 'Avatar' and 'emotion capture'
• Steve Pond analyzes the matchup at the Oscars between "Avatar" and "The Hurt Locker" by delving into the numbers of academy members in each of the branches that nominated the movies. "First, we’ll start with the categories that nominated one film, but not the other. For 'Avatar,' that was Art Direction and Visual Effects. For 'The Hurt Locker,' Original Screenplay and Best Actor. So now we have four AMPAS branches going on record to say that they prefer one film over the other. Here, the numbers don’t favor James Cameron’s big hit: The art directors branch of the Academy contains 374 members, the visual effects branch 279. On the 'Hurt Locker' side, the writers...
Academy Awards Avatar best actor best actress best director best picture entertainment news Gabourey Sidibe George Clooney James Cameron Jeff Bridges Kathryn Bigelow Matt Damon Mo'Nique movie news Oscar nominations Oscars Penelope Cruz Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire The Hurt Locker Up in the Air
02/03/2010 17:04
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Can 'Up in the Air' win best picture at Oscars without an editing nomination?
Ever since the Oscars introduced an award for editing in 1934, only nine movies have won best picture without at least being nominated for the editing Academy Award. That's one explanation of how "Crash" pulled off a surprise win over "Brokeback Mountain" four years ago and why "The Departed" prevailed over PGA and SAG champ "Little Miss Sunshine" three years ago. Neither of those losing best picture contenders was in the running for the editing award at the Oscars. Two years ago Oscar champ "No Country for Old Men" did make the cut with the editors, although Joel and Ethan Coen, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes, lost to Christopher Rouse for "The Bourne Ultimatum." And...
Academy Awards Avatar best picture Inglourious Basterds movie news Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire The Hurt Locker Up in the Air
02/02/2010 12:17
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Oscars welcome dozen first-time acting nominees, including Sandra Bullock
This year's 20 acting nominees include five previous Oscar acting winners, another three previous Oscar contenders and 12 newcomers. "Julie & Julia" star Meryl Streep is the only two-time Academy Award-winner contending this year. She widened the gap for the most total acting nominations by earning her 16th nod today. And she broke Katharine Hepburn's record of an even dozen Oscar nominations in the lead race, landing what she must hope will he her lucky 13th bid. Streep's already staggering total of 15 previous bids exceeds the track record of the other four Oscar winners by four nominations. She has a supporting actress win for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and a lead actress win for...
Academy Awards best actor best actress Carey Mulligan Colin Firth entertainment news Gabourey Sidibe George Clooney Helen Mirren Invictus Jeff Bridges Matt Damon Meryl Streep Mo'Nique Morgan Freeman Oscar nominations Oscars Penelope Cruz Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Sandra Bullock Up in the Air
02/02/2010 08:11
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Oscar nomination breakthroughs: 'Avatar,' Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels ...
By reaping Academy Award nominations for best picture, "Avatar" and "District 9" have shattered a strong bias among academy voters. In the past, only two sci-fi films have been nominated for the top Oscars: "Star Wars" (1977) and "E.T." (1982). OK, three if we count "A Clockwork Orange" (1971), but should we? Prior to "Up" soaring into the Oscars' best-picture category, only one animated film had ever been nominated in that top race: "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). No woman has yet won the Academy Award for best director. Prior to Kathryn Bigelow's bid for "The Hurt Locker," only three female helmers were nominated: Lina Wertmüller for "Seven Beauties" (1976), Jane Campion for "The Piano"...
Academy Awards Avatar Kathryn Bigelow Oscar nominations Oscars Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire Up in the Air
02/02/2010 06:56
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Oscar derby update: 'The Hurt Locker' may defy the odds to win best picture, Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock pull ahead in the lead acting races
BEST PICTURE CATEGORY: Now that "The Hurt Locker" has pulled off a jaw-dropper at the Producers Guild of America Awards, all doubters must concede that it could seriously win the top Oscar. Over the past 20 years the PGA has predicted the best-picture Oscar 13 times, and this year the parallel between them is especially significant. Not only did PGA expand its list of contenders to 10 just like the Oscars, but the guild used the same preferential ballot used by the academy. But beware: "The Hurt Locker" doesn't fit the profile of the typical Oscar champ. In fact, it has four strikes against it. 1. "The Hurt Locker" doesn't feature well-known stars like typical...
Academy Awards George Clooney Jeff Bridges Mo'Nique Oscars Up in the Air
01/28/2010 13:17
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