The Playlist

ACE Award Editing Nominees Include 'Zero Dark Thirty,' 'Argo,' Skyfall,' 'Lincoln,' 'Life Of Pi' & More

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 11, 2013 11:13 AM
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1 Comment

News

So, the editing awards right? It's usually the part of the Oscar broadcast that for many is a good time to hit the bathroom, or refill on cheese dip, but to those who know their awards history, it's an important category. Usually, a nomination for Best Picture and Best Editing indicates a strong than usual shot to take the big prize, and winning the category, has often proven in the past to be the first step to victory at the end end of evening. And today, the American Cinema Editors (ACE) announced the nominations for the 63rd Annual ACE Eddie Awards, which could indicate where the votes go in February.

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Armond White Says 'Ghost Rider 2' & 'Taken 2' Are Better Than 'Zero Dark Thirty' In 2012 Wrap Up

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 11, 2013 9:22 AM
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9 Comments

News

2013 is barely two weeks old, an Armond White is being his Armond-iest. In case you missed it, the cantankerous, contrarian film critic heckled Michael Moore at the the New York Film Critics Circle awards ceremony this week. In presenting the award for Best First Film to David France for the now Oscar nominated “How to Survive a Plague,” Moore reflected that “the Cardinal couldn’t get through Mass at St. Patrick’s,” citing the film's coverage of the ACT UP protests who interrupted Christmas mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in the '80s. And this set off Armond.

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Review: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Is A Dense & Intense National Security Procedural

By Rodrigo Perez
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January 10, 2013 4:30 PM
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50 Comments

Reviews

Spanning two presidential administrations and approximately eight years, “Zero Dark Thirty” is as dispassionate, clinical and grindingly thorough as an obsessed tactical procedural can get. But at two and a half hours, the hunt for Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is also as gripping and riveting as any film in this fact-finding methodology-based genre.

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Composer Alexandre Desplat Talks Scoring 'Zero Dark Thirty,' Working With Terrence Malick, Wes Anderson & More

By Drew Taylor
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January 10, 2013 3:06 PM
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1 Comment

News

Few film composers had a more amazing 2012 than Alexandre Desplat. The French composer, who rose to prominence based on his lush, nearly operatic score to Jonathan Glazer's woefully underrated supernatural melodrama "Birth," had an unparalleled 2012 which included scores to (deep breath) Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," Jacques Audiard's "Rust & Bone," Ben Affleck's "Argo," DreamWorks Animation's "Rise of the Guardians," and Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty."

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Oscar Nominations 2013: 'Lincoln,' 'Life Of Pi' & 'Silver Linings Playbook' Lead Academy Awards Field

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 10, 2013 8:51 AM
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26 Comments

News

So here we are. The moment that basically every film fan (even if some are openly hostile to the idea) sees as their Superbowl; the announcement of the Academy Award nominations, for the 85th time, in this case. Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone took to the stage at 5.30 PST to deliver the news, after months of the usual feverish speculation. So how did things turn out?

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'Zero Dark Thirty' Vs. 'Seal Team Six': How 2 Films Tackle Torture, 9/11 & The Hunt For Bin Laden

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 9, 2013 10:57 AM
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16 Comments

Features

Believe it or not, you're actually going to have more than one option this week when it comes to movies taking on the hunt for and killing of Osama Bin Laden. Yes, there's Kathryn Bigelow's awards season favorite, "Zero Dark Thirty," going into wide release on Friday. But hitting DVD and Blu-ray yesterday was The Weinstein Company's much lower budget "Seal Team Six: The Raid On Osama Bin Laden."

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Jason Clarke Talks 'Zero Dark Thirty,' Terrence Malick & Where He Was When He Heard Osama Bin Laden Was Dead

By Drew Taylor
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January 8, 2013 4:52 PM
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2 Comments

Interviews

This weekend, the 2012 movie that has generated as much critical praise as controversy, will finally be unleashed on the masses in wide release – Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty." A white-knuckle account of the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, it's a surprisingly human tale, focusing on a cluster of dedicated operatives (led by Jessica Chastain's note-perfect portrayal of CIA agent Maya) who brought down the architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. One of those operatives is played by Jason Clarke, as man as skilled at the art of "advanced interrogation techniques" (aka the torture scenes that have gotten people so riled up) as he is in greasing the wheels of an informant by buying him an expensive sports car in the middle of the night.

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Watch: The Sound Of Hunting Bin Laden Explored In 'Zero Dark Thirty' Featurette Plus 2 International Posters

By Cain Rodriguez
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January 7, 2013 6:40 PM
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0 Comments

News

With Oscar nominations being announced this Thursday and the film entering wide release this weekend, Kathryn Bigelow’s dense procedural “Zero Dark Thirty” is now set to be discussed by the public at large. As if on cue, two new posters and a featurette on the sound of the film have been released.

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My Favorite Films Of 2012 - Rodrigo Perez

By Rodrigo Perez
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January 4, 2013 1:03 PM
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10 Comments

Features

Cinema. Our cathedral in the dark for watching the lives of others flashing on a screen in hopes of a resonant echo, self-recognition, escape, catharsis, trying to make sense of this crazy world. One sometimes has to question the beings who would rather spend their time with fictional people in an unreal story instead of the real flesh and blood thing. But in the dark, sometimes, together we transcend our stations, and for a fleeting two hours, if we’re lucky, can be transported to a place that’s moving, poignant, and maybe even magical.

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Senate Gives 'Zero Dark Thirty' More Free Promo, Decides To Probe Ties Between CIA And Filmmakers

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 3, 2013 10:41 AM
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2 Comments

News

And you thought the ruckus around "Django Unchained" was bad. With Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" slated to go into wide release in just over a week, it appears the controversy over its presentation of "enhanced interrogation" (ie. torture) as one of the many methods used in shaking out information that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, is far from over. Both Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal have stressed in official statements that, "The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes." But since politics are involved, that will not suffice.

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