Hounddog Review
Like many films shown at Sundance this year, Towelhead combined different styles (humor and drama), but does it more successfully than most. It's the story of a thirteen year old girl who is half Lebanese / half WASP whose physical development is quite ahead of her age. Towelhead (aka Nothing is Private) was written, directed and produced by Alan Ball , the same fellow who wrote the screenplay for the similarly themed American Beauty a few years
The likeliest culprits most people will point to are the Best Picture nominees themselves. Ever since expanding their top category to include a maximum of 10 films back in 2009, the Academy has done a solid job at ensuring that commercially successful works are recognized. Over the past couple of years, big box office hits like Avatar , Inception , Django Unchained , and Gravity were putting together Oscar campaigns in addition to drawing in large cro
As you may already be well aware of, the Academy made some very significant changes to the format of this year's Oscars event. In addition to the usual attempts at cutting back on the "thank you" speeches and quickening up of the program, the ceremony this year completely removed the performances of the best song nominees. Yet it was curious (read: it didn't belong) to see interpretive dance routines in the presentations for Best Original Sc
Filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius' black-and-white silent film homage, The Artist , led the way with six Globe nods total; co-writer/helmer Alexander Payne's The Descendants and director Tate Taylor's The Help were close behind. That heavily-praised dramedy and popular literary adaptation (respectively) managed to snag five nominations each, putting them one ahead of Descendants star George Clooney's latest directorial effort, The Ides of March and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris , which each stacked up four nods. Steven Spielberg's latest dramatic offering, War Horse , was right behind that pair with three nominations in technical categories; Albert Nobbs also managed to secure three nods, in the areas of acting and original music, Moviefestivalhub.com while Moneyball landed three for Best Drama, Actor, and Screenp
We also saw an increase in the number of animated feature films that get nominated from three to five, meaning the majority of major animated movies are nominated for an Oscar by default. Also by default, the Pixar film of the year
If you missed our live-chat for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards this evening, don't fret, we have the winners and a brief recap of the ceremony for you. In short, The Hurt Locker took home the big categories, beating out Avatar and the predictable choices won for the four acting categor
The stage at the back of the audience was utilized for the geeky cool actors to present the ten best pic nominees throughout the evening. They included Ryan Reynolds, Chris Pine, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeff Bridges, Charlize Theron and Keanu Ree
Directed by Martin McDonagh, In Bruges stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Ray and Ken, two Irish hitmen sent to Belgium to carry out an assignment for their boss Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes. When a previous botched mission leads Harry to give Ken unexpected orders regarding Ray, the two find themselves at odds with each other and must decide how to proc
In 2014, however, the Academy seemed to slip back to their more obscure choices. Clint Eastwood's American Sniper was the only Best Picture nominee to gross over $100 million by the night of the ceremony and had made more than its seven competitors combined. The average domestic total for a nominee this year was just $77.6 million: an average which is respectable, but a far cry from the averages of the past two years, where multiple blockbusters contended for Best Pict
Hosting this year's show was the comedic pair of Alec Baldwin and previous Oscars host Steve Martin. The two did a great job of keeping the atmosphere light and no doubt, helping viewers not only tune in, but to stick aro
The other issue that some will raise is the bloated nature of the telecast. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. EST, Sean Penn didn't announce that Birdman had won Best Picture until 11:48 p.m. In between all the awards being handed out, viewers were expected to slog their way through comedy bits that arguably fell flat, musical performances, and several commercial breaks. In this day and age, fans can find out who wins in real time via social media and see any speeches they're interested in watching online shortly after the original telecast. The need to see the show live has decrea
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has officially announced its nominations for the 2012 Golden Globes show - and, just like any year, there are many obvious selections, a few surprises, and more than a handful of choices that are bound to rub moviegoers of all shades the wrong (or, in some cases, the right)
Several indie and lesser-known critical-darlings received little-to-no love from the Hollywood Foreign Press, including titles like The Tree of Life , Warrior , Drive , Martha Marcy May Marlene , and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . Similarly, there were more than a few surprising snubs (no Best Director nod for David Fincher on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ? No Winnie the Pooh for Best Animated Feature?) and certain films fared far better than anticipated (namely, The Ides of March ). However, there were also more than a few no-brainers (ex. Meryl Streep being nominated for The Iron Lady ) and some rather unexpected choices (ex. Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Lov