Thompson on Hollywood

Broadcast Film Critics Give Ten Nominations to Inglourious Basterds and Nine

The Broadcast Film Critics Movie Awards nominations in a whopping 25 categories are dominated by Inglourious Basterds and Nine, with ten nominations each, followed by Avatar, with nine and The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air with eight and The Lovely Bones with six. While not every category will match up with the ultimate Oscar nominations (some have six slots), this list of ten best picture nominees could be close to the final Oscar list--no District 9, The Lovely Bones, Star Trek or The Last Station (which got savaged by At the Movies).

By Anne Thompson
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December 14, 2009 10:29 AM
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Oscar Watch: The Hurt Locker's Bigelow Heads for Best Director

It's not surprising that the Alliance of Women Film Journalists went with The Hurt Locker and Kathryn Bigelow as best picture and director (they threw a mess of other achievement prizes at her as well--she'd better show up). And gave Jane Campion some props for her Bright Star direction and screenplay. Nor is Manohla Dargis off-base when she complains about the lack of women film directors today. The AWFJ may want to cut back on duplicative awards. They also gave two apiece to Agnes Varda and Mo'Nique.)

By Anne Thompson
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December 14, 2009 12:33 AM
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New York Film Critics Online Winners Led by Avatar

Best Picture: AvatarBest Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt LockerBest Actress: Meryl Streep, Julie & JuliaBest Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious BasterdsBest Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious BasterdsBest Foreign Language Film: The White RibbonBest Documentary: The CoveBest Animated Feature: UpBest Cinematography: Robert Richardson, Inglourious BasterdsBest Music: Crazy HeartBest Ensemble: In the Loop

By Anne Thompson
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December 13, 2009 10:37 AM
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Jeremy Renner Talks The Hurt Locker

Jeremy Renner has been breaking out for a long time. The 38-year-old Californian has starred in more than 20 movies, from S.W.A.T. to Dahmer and now, delivers the performance of his career as a fearless, focused dismantler of bombs in Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq thriller The Hurt Locker. There's a good chance that he could land in the fifth slot for the best actor Oscar. My flip cam interview is divided in three parts:

By Anne Thompson
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December 10, 2009 6:53 AM
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Oscar Talk Episode Thirteen: Avatar, Lovely Bones, Crazy Heart, Parties

Kris Tapley and I discuss the week's frenetic doings: National Board of Review, parties for The Hurt Locker, Crazy Heart and The Lovely Bones, and the upcoming sci-fi monster Avatar.

By Anne Thompson
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December 6, 2009 12:30 AM
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Things I Heard on the Oscar Party Circuit

'Tis the season for Oscar parties. They come in different shapes and sizes.

By Anne Thompson
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December 4, 2009 11:31 AM
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Oscar Watch: Precious, Up in the Air Lead Pre-Holiday Guru Vote

You can assume that most of the voters on Gurus 'O Gold have seen all the movies at this point except The Lovely Bones, Avatar and It's Complicated. So, these press people believe that Invictus (Newsweek's David Ansen reviews it) and Nine are in the race. Here's the new top ten. Keep in mind that in some ways what this list represents is 1) best marketing to date and 2) voting pre-critics groups, National Board of Review, Gothams, Indie Spirits, BAFTA, Golden Globes and Guild nominations and awards. Also, many Oscar campaigns this year are breaking late, for whatever reason. Screeners are just arriving this week.

By Anne Thompson
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November 26, 2009 2:54 AM
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Pre-Toronto Gurus 'O Gold

The old Gurus 'O Gold gang is back, 16 strong. We first selected 15 top contenders, given that the Academy voters will be choosing ten this year. It's all meaningless really, until more of them have been seen. You're just voting on track record and elements. Telluride and Toronto will start to tell that tale. Whether or not a studio will even attempt to launch a serious campaign will be determined by the fest reaction. Awards marketing budgets are tight this year.

By Anne Thompson
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September 3, 2009 5:53 AM
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Kathryn Bigelow Talks Hurt Locker

Summit picked up Kathryn Bigelow's riveting, intense Iraq thriller The Hurt Locker out of Toronto, where I interviewed the director at the start of her long road to the Oscars (below). Jeremy Renner breaks out with this movie, which drew raves when it opened June 26 in limited release. Finally, The Hurt Locker didn't need ten best picture slots this year: the movie overcame considerable obstacles en route to landing on many critics' ten-best lists and winning one award after another.

By Anne Thompson
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July 30, 2009 8:22 AM
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Trailer Watch: The Hurt Locker

Summit picked up Kathryn Bigelow's riveting, intense Iraq thriller The Hurt Locker out of Toronto, and has posted the latest trailer here. Jeremy Renner, who stars in the new TV series The Unusuals, could break out with this movie, which is set for June 26 release.