Thompson on Hollywood

If Critics Ruled the Oscars (They Don't): Avatar Heads for Nine Noms

Time's Richard Corliss has figured out a clever way to write about year-end critics awards and tee up a clickable gallery of Oscar hopefuls, short and sweet. Trouble is, he gives way too much credit to the critics. They do help to clue the Academy voters into what films they should watch on their screener piles. But in the end, what the voters think when they watch the movies is what matters---as well as how passionate they feel as they vote for their top ten best picture candidates. The ones at the top of the list get more weight than the ones at the bottom. Thus, if most voters put The Last Station, Nine, The Messenger, Star Trek and District 9 at the bottom, they won't make it.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 28, 2009 7:29 AM
|
7 Comments

More:

Holiday Movie Wrap: Avatar Beats Sherlock Holmes, Nine Flops

Over the holiday weekend, the two most popular topics on my Twitter feed were Avatar and Sherlock Holmes. While there was debate on Sherlock Holmes's merits, most of my tweeters approved of Cameron's blockbuster (as did critics--it scored 83 on both Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic). Avatar looks to challenge, if not beat, Titanic's box office records, based on its extraordinary performance in North America so far: $75 million over the holiday and $212 million to date. (Here's the LAT's box office report, and David Poland's analysis.)

By Anne Thompson
|
December 27, 2009 5:46 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

Avatar's VFX Master: Weta Digital's Joe Letteri

People in Hollywood tend to put film directors up on pedestals, and as far as Avatar is concerned, Jim Cameron deserves to be up there. I'm calling nine Oscar nominations for Avatar. But its one sure-shot win will be Peter Jackson and Joe Letteri's Weta Digital team for Avatar's visual effects. What they accomplished in the The Lords of the Rings trilogy and King Kong changed the way movies are made. And so does Avatar, which will have a huge impact on movie FX to come, from Tintin to Gemini Man. Nothing, it seems, will be impossible to put on film anymore.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 23, 2009 11:16 AM
|
5 Comments

More:

The Long Road to Invictus

Morgan Freeman was born to play Nelson Mandela.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 22, 2009 1:45 AM
|
3 Comments

More:

Oscar Duel: Yes, They're Fun, But Do Golden Globes Influence Oscar?

In this ongoing blog duel, Moviefone's resident Oscarologist Jack Mathews and I discuss the impact of the Golden Globes on the Oscar race. On Golden Globes nominations morning, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Robert Downey, Jr., Julia Roberts and Tobey Maguire were dancing on the ceiling. And Harvey Weinstein thought he had three sure-fire Oscar contenders with Nine, Inglourious Basterds and A Single Man.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 21, 2009 9:45 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Fourteen Questions for It's Complicated's Nancy Meyers

During a few scenes in It's Complicated, the latest comedy from writer-director Nancy Meyers (What Women Want, Something's Gotta Give), I laughed so hard that tears came out of my eyes.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 21, 2009 1:14 AM
|
7 Comments

More:

Oscar Talk Episode Fifteen: Avatar, Nine, It's Complicated, Crazy Heart, Top Ten

Kris Tapley and I get serious about what's going to happen in the next month. Avatar will gain momentum, we think, while Nine and Invictus could lose it. Which films will make it to the final top ten? We agree on the obvious front-runners. But what could sneak in? Quentin Tarantino likes Star Trek. Kris likes Crazy Heart and The Messenger. I like District 9. Could raucous comedy It's Complicated score some noms? We also slice and dice the best director category, and discuss our fave holiday films, revealing a considerable generational divide: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation vs. Meet Me in St. Louis.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 18, 2009 8:30 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Oscar Watch: No Costume Nom Possible for Fantastic Mr. Fox

For those who harbored hopes that Wes Anderson's animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox might be eligible for a costume prize, it isn't. My pal Jane in the Academy would happily vote for it--even if it was shot in stop-motion. But when we looked up the credits, we saw no designer. I checked with Fox Searchlight, and they confirm that there's no official costume designer for the film.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 17, 2009 10:04 AM
|
2 Comments

More:

Things I Learned at the Avatar Premiere

James Cameron basked in the glow as Avatar, his latest industry-changing event-film, earned a standing ovation at the Mann Chinese Wednesday night. At the after party Cameron beamed as he stood between two tall women, wife Suzy Amis and ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow. "You're on a roll!" he said to the Hurt Locker director. "You raised the bar," she said to Cameron.

By Anne Thompson
|
December 17, 2009 4:49 AM
|
8 Comments

More:

Five Things I Learned from the SAG Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are more revealing in many ways than the much-touted Golden Globes, because they reveal how the actors think. That's important because the actors branch of the Academy is by far the most dominant, some 1200 votes out of 6000. Thus you can glean from the nominations below several things: