Thompson on Hollywood

Oscar Nominations Led by King's Speech with 12; Winter's Bone Makes Top Ten, Bardem Lands Actor Nod

With the announcement of the Oscar nominations, momentum shifts toward The King's Speech, which led the fray with twelve nominations, including best picture, actor, supporting actor and actress, director and original screenplay. The Coen brothers western True Grit followed with ten nominations, including picture, actor, supporting actress, director and adapted screenplay. Producer Scott Rudin is grinning as he produced both True Grit and The Social Network, which earned eight nominations, including picture, actor, director, and original screenplay. Chris Nolan's Inception also earned eight, but while the writer-director landed a nomination for original screenplay (his second), he didn't get director, which is a sign that the film was not in the top five of the ten slots, and is unlikely to land best picture. Ben Affleck's The Town was shut out of contention except for Jeremy Renner, last year's discovery for The Hurt Locker, who nabbed his second nomination.

By Anne Thompson
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January 25, 2011 2:04 AM
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Behind the Visual Effects on Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan is one of those movies that is creepy, scary, believable and psychologically taut partly because he deploys 250 visual effects shots to such good effect. They aren't obvious, or on a big-budget scale. While we probably figured out that Nina morphing into a Black Swan at the film's finale is a visual effect (the most complex in the film), most of the film's effects are far more subtle.

By Anne Thompson
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January 19, 2011 9:05 AM
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Golden Globe Wins Impact Box Office and DVDs

While the Golden Globes don't have an impact on Academy Award nominations--ballots were due last Friday--they can give winners a serious box office boost, reports Anthony D'Alessandro. See the chart of this year's Golden Globes box office bumps below. In contrast to last year, which saw a number of contenders on DVD by Golden Globes night, distributors took the old-fashioned route this year and unspooled their kudo crop during the late fall/early winter frame known in the trade as Oscar Alley. They also returned to the tried-and-true platform release. That's due to the Academy’s expansion of the best picture category, which makes it easier for off-season fare to get recognized. Distributors don’t have to stress out about opening a high-brow title in the fall; they can comfortably choose the best release date which will maximize B.O. and still gain exposure on DVD at awards time.

By Anthony D'Alessandro
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January 18, 2011 9:19 AM
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BAFTA Nominations Analysis: The King's Speech Reigns

The BAFTA Awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, have announced their nominations, dominated, natch, by Tom Hooper's The King's Speech with fourteen. The film presumably has already made a strong showing on Oscar ballots which were due last Friday.

By Anne Thompson
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January 18, 2011 5:30 AM
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Golden Globes: Portman Wins Actress Drama for Black Swan, Kids Are All Right Gets Comedy

You can feel the warmth in the house for True Grit star Jeff Bridges, who presents the Golden Globe to Natalie Portman, winner of best actress drama for Black Swan. The Fox party goes wild.

By Anne Thompson
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January 17, 2011 3:34 AM
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At the Critics' Choice Awards: Winners Are Social Network, Inception, Firth, Portman, Leo, Bale

Paramount had a good night at the Broadcast Film Critics Associations's Critic's Choice Awards Friday night, winning three prizes for The Fighter, including best ensemble, supporting actress (Melissa Leo) and supporting actor (Christian Bale), a young actress award for Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit and doc prize for Waiting for Superman.

By Anne Thompson
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January 15, 2011 6:18 AM
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Weekly Wrap: Awards Weekend; Guild Nominations, Bond 23 Proceeds; Mara's Salander

AWARDS:

By Sophia Savage
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January 14, 2011 7:00 AM
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Aronofsky vs. White at the New York Film Critics Awards

EW critic Lisa Schwarzbaum does a swell job of putting what happened Monday night at the New York Film Critics awards in perspective.

By Anne Thompson
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January 11, 2011 11:54 AM
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Directors Guild Reveals Five Male Front-Runners, Skips Women

If there was any doubt as to which films were the front-runners in the Oscar race, they were quelled by the Directors Guild announcement of their nominees. The DGA tends to match Oscar nominations four for five. A movie almost never wins best picture without a DGA nomination, and the DGA winner has been the Oscar winner all but six times since 1948. As expected, first-time nominees Darren Aronofsky and Tom Hooper and vets David Fincher and Chris Nolan are in the running for the DGA's top prize. If the industry still harbors any grudges against David O. Russell for his past on-set behavior, the directors, at least, recognized him with his first DGA nomination for The Fighter.

By Anne Thompson
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January 10, 2011 5:13 AM
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Dancers on Black Swan's Lesbian Action/Horror, Critiquing The Fighter, Exit Through The Gift Shop

- It was inevitable that Black Swan would be divisive inside the ballet community. The Guardian pre-screened Black Swan for some of Britain's finest dancers. Here's a taste of their reactions:Tamara Rojo, The Royal Ballet: "I really have a problem with this film using an actress, not a dancer, to play Nina: the director seems to think that, in a few months, you can learn a profession that it takes years just to understand, let alone be good at. And in the film, Nina is supposed to be awesome."