The American Film Institute issued its list of the year’s Top 10 movies (and television shows) today, and their selections have been quite close to the Oscar nominees over the past couple of years, so they’re worthy of some attention.  There were no great surprises in the chosen 10, which AFI lists alphabetically, with […]

  In a Broadway season with seemingly just one overwhelming favorite (that would be Neil Patrick–wait for it–Harris), the Tony Award nominations were bound to have their share of omissions and oddities.  The full list of nominees is here, but these are some of the major categories and thoughts: Best Play ACT ONE ALL THE […]

  The big prizes this weekend were the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards, LAFCA has a habit of showcasing its iconoclasm (the organization has only given its Best Picture prize to the eventual Oscar winner once in the past 18 years, for The Hurt Locker), and this year was no exception. Best Picture went […]

  Putting aside the question of whether the Golden Globes actually deserve to be considered important (hardly anyone not actively campaigning for their votes would know a Hollywood Foreign Press Association voter if they fell over one), the fact is that we collectively act as if they are, and that makes them so.  And to […]

Following up on Mitch Salem’s Best Picture overview, here’s an updated look at the odds for the major Oscar categories. After its winning streak at the various guild award ceremonies, Argo has traded places with Lincoln as the favorite for Best Picture.  London bookmakers would pay $1.15 on a $1 bet if Argo wins, a movement of +6 in […]

  The following are my final predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards (you can find a much more detailed analysis for all the major categories in our Why and Why Not? posts).  Keep in mind:  (a) I’m often wrong, (b) these are predictions and not my personal choices (Go, Team Her!), (c) the Academy loves […]

> The Academy limits the number of movie ads that can be aired on the Oscar telecast (until recent years, they didn’t allow any), so as not to make the night look like the awards are shilling for the studios.  (God forbid!)  It’s not clear whether that’s the reason only 2 movie promos made it […]

  Today’s shipment of critical praise comes courtesy of the National Society of Film Critics, a small (60-member) but prestigious group, which today gave Michael Haneke’s AMOUR one of its biggest boosts of the season, with awards for Picture, Director and Actress (Emmanuelle Riva).  Oscar nomination voting is now closed, so these prizes will only […]