Awards Watch at MCN

The Contender Chart

"Actors respond to movies that have more focus on the acting. People at the top of their craft, they feel more connected to them, and enjoy them more, as opposed to Avatar."

Mo'Nique Does Not Do Woo

The Genial Life Of Writers On Film In Light Of The Last Station
And - Andrei Konchalovsky, From Tarkovsky To Stallone

The Country Music-Style Drama Behind The Songs Of Crazy Heart

Cool Brez On His Oscar-Nom Slumber Party With The Academy Kidz

"Bloomin heck. In The Loop nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. Bonk me purple.."
Reactions to the Nominations

Dana Stevens Ponders ... Did Wes Anderson Get Shafted by Oscar And Other Thoughts

How Do Distribs Hope To Capitalize On Their Oscar Nominations?

Obligatory Generic Oscar Nomination Report

Tom Bernard's Take On Indie Oscars

Here Comes The Unearthly Avatar-District 9 Brawl

Trailering Oscar Surprise The Secret Of Kells

Matt Pais Lists The Snubs

Football Over Rugby? Seriously?

Mighty Bigelow: DGA Goes Hurt Locker; At 58, She's First Distaff Nod In 61-Year-History

"They're both about soldiers battling insurgents in hostile environments. They both should make their little-known leading men sought-after stars. They both stand to be nominated for multiple Academy Awards. Their directors even used to be married."
Setting The Binary Oscar Stakes

Ads Still Available For Oscar Show

"I was on the phone with Mo'Nique this morning and I was like, 'B----, you got f---ing so many awards, where you gonna put them, man?' We just sat there and reminisced how we were running from the law to make the movie. Yeah, we had two cents to make the movie and all we had was a dream…"
Life Is But A Drama For Lee Daniels

The Updated Critics Scoreboard

If Ann Magnuson Ran The Oscars ...

Dreams of Dancing For Oscar

PGA Surprises By Going With The Hurt Locker, 9th Lowest Grossing Nominee... Up & The Cove, As Expected

The Globe/Oscar Disconnect

Which SAG Winner Won't Win Oscar Night?

Ballots Due Today!! ... At Some Point

SAG Awards - A Poor Oscar Predictor In The Best Picvture Race - Goes Inglourious, Extends Bullock's Run, Reaffirms Bridges, Mo'Nique, Waltz

"If I were a woman I might be a lesbian. I don't not fancy girls anyway."
Styling With Tom Ford

Welcome To The Dahl House: Anderson And Baumbach On Writing Fantastic Mr. Fox

"I think a lot of movies are about inarticulate people who can speak. So, I have to stop writers from 'writing.' I like to get writers who don’t want to write."
Jim Sheridan Talks Brothers To Time Out

Avatar And An Education Lead BAFTA Noms

Huh! How 'Bout That? Three Of Nine On Oscar's Foreign Lingo Shortlist Are Berthed At ... Sony Pictures Classics

Oscar's Foreign Shortlist Brings Lingo Down To 9 Entries, Including Prophete, Samson & Delilah, White Ribbon

Sasha Stone Says Dig Into The Pile o' Movies - There Just Have To Be Enough In There To Fill The Best Picture Slots

Globes Winners Get First Down, Driving Towards Oscar Goal Line

We Love You Avatar, Oh Yes We Do, We Love You Avatar, Will Oscar, Too?

The Drama!
"The split wins are dividing camps over which movie has the edge leading up to the announcement of Academy Award nominees Feb. 2"

Golden Globes To Avatar, The Hangover, Bridges, Bullock, Downey, Streep

The Critics Choice Awards Go To Hurt Locker, Hangover, Avatar, And Up ..

"This is the film M. Night Shyamalan has been trying and failing to make for the past 10 years."
LaSalle Nails The White Ribbon

Globe Predictions From Jack Mathews

Globe Talk
Hornaday On Cameron v. Bigelow
Meryl v. Meryl And Other Matchups
No Brad and Angie on the Red Carpet? Say It Ain't So!
A Look Back At MTV's Favorite Globe Moments
The Rumoured Effects Of A Golden Globe Win
Today's Column: Ten Reasons the Globes Are Better Than The Oscars .. Next Week's Column: Ten Reasons the Oscars Are Better Than The Globes

The HFPA In All Its Glory
"Members write mainly for gossip sites, generating hype about the awards, and are known for their habit of getting snapshots taken of themselves with celebrities after interviews.... Among their number are Alexander Nevsky, a former Russian bodybuilder; Mira Panajotovic Vukelich, an English teacher of Serbian origin, and the British jazz writer Howard Lucraft — who’s still listed as an active member at the age of 93."

"The producers are aiming for a 10 percent ratings increase, so they are also boosting their star wattage, placing people like Taylor Lautner, the 'Twilight' hunk, at the table with the cast of 'The Hurt Locker."

Orson Welles Gives Us The Oscar Wild Card

Second Guessing - Not The Awards, The Campaigns

Sasha Stone Counts Down The Best Director

The Iowa Critics Go Up In The Air And Crazy Heart, Too

(500) Days Of Gwen Stacy?! Fleming Rumors Marc Webb In Lead To Web-Sling Spidey 4

Bigelow And Boal On The "Jauntiness" That Is Jeremy Renner

The Fantastic Mr. Thank You

H'wd Foreign Press Association Would Like 10% More Of You To Watch Globes, KThxBye

GLAAD Award Nominees Include Precious, A Single Man

"I've always loved movies and am now in love with writing them, so if I can keep doing this at all it would be pretty major!"
Movies And "The Seduction" Of Journalist And Hurt Locker Writer Mark Boal

ACE Nominations Include District 9, Julie & Julia,Up, The Hangover ...

Kilday On Lee Daniels' Oscar Chances

Enigmatic National Board Of Review Fetes Its Winners, Including Up In The Air

Fox Gets Up In Pixar's Chicken Shed

Will DVD Release Redeploy Hurt Locker's Oscar Chances?

Avatar Gets Some More Love In The ASC Nominations

The WGA Nominates The Hangover, Avatar, Crazy Heart, Star Trek, Earth Days, And More ..

Directors Guild Noms Docs: Agnès, Food, Cove, Anvil, Garbage, English Surgeon

Jason Reitman Offers Up His Directors Guild Ballot

What Was It Like For The Non-Pros Getting Re-Fired In Up In The Air?

Fake Oscar Winner Meets Four Year Jail Term

Will Sci-Fi Finally Get Noticed?

The Annual Foreign Language Oscar Column

The Oscar-Centric Weekend Times
Dargis Dissects The Stations Of The Hurt Locker
Earlier - Her Vital Profile Of Kathryn Bigelow
And - Adding Gold To Corman's Gelt
Plus - Scott Gets In The Igloo With Max
Plus - Holden Onto Samantha Morton
And - An Archive Of Warhol Photographs Goes Missing
Plus - Rawsthorn On The Potential Of An Apple "iSlate"
And - On The Street With One Of NYC's Last Instant Photographers
And - Riff-Rafferty Sez Being George Clooney Harder Than It Looks
And - Kehr Not Impressed By Depth
Plus - Carr On The Silence Of The Mo'Nique
And - Doug McGrath Sez It's Oscar Time For Doris Day

The Ohio Film Critics: Clooney, Waltz, Mulligan Mo'Nique

David Thomson BioDicts A Prophet's Jacque Audiard: "Too Gripping, Too Entertaining"

Fox Awards Posts Avatar Script And Searchlight Raises You Crazy Heart, Fantastic Mr. Fox And (500) Days (all pdf)

Art Directors Guild Draws Up Noms, Including Avatar, Sherlock, Hangover

The DGA Nominations: Hurt Locker, Avatar, Precious, Up in the Air, And Inglourious Basterds

Toronto Film Critics Give First Jay Scott Prize To Enfant Terrible Filmmaker Xavier Dolan

Films Ineligible For Writers Guild Awards Include Education, Single Man, Road, Basterds

Precious Leads With 8 NAACP Image Noms

The Online Film Critics: Hurt Locker, Basterds, Hurt Locker, Basterds, Hurt Locker ...

District 9 + Star Trek = Avatar Loss At The Oscars?

"Like a prawn dropping from a spacecraft, District 9 is unexpectedly back in the middle of the awards field. Or is it?

Wild Things, Lovely Bones, Crazy Heart Scores Will Have No Oscar Joy

No Screeners, No Oscar Push For Moon

PGA Nominates 10, Including Star Trek, An Education, Invictus, District 9

The Kansas City Film Critics Go Up In The Air

Six Nominated For The ICG Publicist's Les Mason Award

Acad Rules Bright Star Not Original, But Adapted

"Weirdly, Lars von Trier makes great movies but his posters are not very good."
Gaspar Noe Talks Avatar, Hurt Locker, Posters And Prostitute Cards To Vice

Screenwriter John August Dissects The Oscar Nomination Procedure

Avatar Bests Polar Express As Highest-Grossing IMAX Attraction

National Society Of Film Critics Opens Hurt Locker, Bypasses Pandora Box; Nods To Bigelow, Renner; Coens Script; Agnès; Mo'nique, Waltz/Schneider, More ...
And - The Updated Scoreboard

Dublin Film Critics Offer Gongs, Top To Let The Right One In

"When people ask me how I am like Edith Piaf, how I am like Luisa Contini, then I become very mad. I am an actress and they are characters I am playing. Why is that so hard for some people to understand?"
Marion Cottilard Sez No Method For Her

Listening To Star Trek's Sound Designers

Sasha Stone Gives Us The State Of The Race

An Ebert Reader Has Preconceptions About Princess And The Frog

Bob Strauss' Top 10 Includes Epic Defense Of The Strategies of Inglourious Basterds

"Welles is long gone. I was recently asked if I was worried about being typecast. Give me a break! It is my first film role. But if what that means is I will go on to play Lear, Falstaff, Prospero... Bring it on. I’d be happy with half of those."
Peter Aspden Coffees With Orson Welles

Downsizing The Campaigning

Jack Mathews Parallel's NASCAR And OSCAR
"They're cars and drivers who have no chance of winning but fill out the field."

Phoenix Critics Pick Inglourious Basterds
And - St. Louis Critics Go Up In The Air
And - The Florida Film Critics, Too

The Updated Critics Awards Chart - With 20 Groups In, It's Up In The Air On Top

The Chicago Critics Like The Hurt Locker, And The Hurt Locker And The Hurt Locker

The Big Chart Of Top Tens Is Here!

Did WeinsteinCo Truly Cancel Booking Of Nine, Confused That Meridian, Mississippi's Temple Theater Has Eric Church Playing On A Sunday?

It's Hurt Locker And Up In The Air For The Houston Film Critics

Tom O'Neil Breaks Down The Avatar Oscar Noms One Possibility At A Time

"One of the questions so far this year is a perennial one: whether certain performances should be considered lead or supporting."

Detroit Critics Are Up While The Utah Critics Are Up in the Air

The Winding Indie Road: A Look At The Hurt Locker's "Classic Independent Package"

274 Films Are Oscar-Eligible

Mr. Fox Not Eligible For Oscar For Fantastic Costumes?

Jean-Marc Vallée Dit He Had To Resist Temptation To Be Tres Sumptuous With Young Victoria

"The dolphin-killers are angry, too. They have physically assaulted several of us, although fortunately there have been no injuries. I was assaulted yesterday, but I got the assault on video."
Has The Cove Changed Anything? Likely Not: Doc Subject Ric O'Barry Returns To Taiji, Japan And The Picture's Not Pretty

"The two of them took turns saluting each other in such a warm and personal way that the sophisticated crowd 'awww-ed' several times. It could have been a wedding. Or maybe a bar mitzvah."
Ryzik A Tad Patronizing On Reitman Pere And Fils And Their Emotional And Financial Investment In Up In The Air

Dana Stevens Falling More And More In Bad Love With Jeff Bridges In Crazy Heart

Dennis Cozzalio Considers Film Crickets With A Blind Spot Toward The Blind Side

Anthony Minghella's Last Notes On His Draft Of Nine: He Turned In The Entire Rewrite

"Dang, SAG It!"
The Last Of The Early "Precursor" Award Nomination Comes In... Same As Everywhere Else...

A Telegraph Rugby Writer Weighs Invictus

The Las Vegas Critics Hail Hurt Locker, But Save A Little Love For Star Trek

63 Songs In The Running For Oscar

Chicago Crickets Chirp Half Dozen Times Each In Noms For Wild Things, Up In The Air

"We're not just in the game now—we are moving ahead of it. I'm revved up because I'm not happy that independent cinema has taken such a beating the last few years. Everybody is making movies about toys. I am and want to make movies about people. And hopefully, with the help of the critics, we can steer these films toward success."|
Journal Dubs Harvey Once More Awards Show Mover-And-Shaker

Winning The Critics Hearts Doesn't Mean Winning Oscar's

Hurricane Karina Asks, Why Do Critics' Groups All Honor The Same Films?

With The New Critics Awards Comes The Updated Critics Scoreboard
And - The Lists of Critics Awards

" President Barack Obama had a campaign because he had something to prove. I'm finished."
Mo'Nique Not Interested In Chasing Oscar?

Wednesday Awards
Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Love Up In The Air
Austin Critics Love The Hurt Locker
Toronto Critics Love Hunger And Inglourious Basterds

The San Diego Critics Love Quentin & The Basterds

Scott Croons For Crazy Heart

The Nominees React To The Joy Of A Golden Globes Nomination
"We're waxing up our lederhosen already. We hear that's what you wear. Because it's foreign press. Right? So you wear, you dress, as your favorite nationality."

The Golden Globes Nominate Up In The Air, Nine, Avatar, Inglourious Basterds And Many More...

The San Francisco Film Critics Heart The Hurt Locker, Too

Awards Monday...
The BFCA Nominations - Inglourious Basterds, Nine, Avatar, Up In The Air and The Hurt Locker Lead The Way

Awards Sunday ...
The Boston Film Critics
The Alliance of Women Film Journalists
The Indiana Film Journalists
The New York Film Critics Online
And - The Full List of Critics Awards So Far

LAFCA Crickets Chirp Hurt Locker Picture/Director, Up In The Air Scribes; Waltz, Mo'Nique; Tie Cove/Beaches For Doc; Music, Crazy Heart; District 9 Design; White Ribbon Cine

Sarah Ferguson Protects Young Victoria

Is The Messenger Lurking In The Oscar Shadows?

Jack Mathews And Anne Thompson Debate The Relative Merits Of Precious As Oscar Material

The Women Film Critics Love Julie and Julia, But Not So Much Antichrist, Precious And Up In The Air

A Lesson In Oscar Math

Robert Cargill Says There Aren't Enough Oscar Movies ...

"I'm not picky, quite honestly. It's simply that I recognise pretty quickly the stuff that I don't like. And I also recognise the impulse that is dragging me towards a piece of work. And perhaps as you get older, that impulse comes less often."
Daniel Day-Lewis Talks Nine And Just A Little About Acting

“Unless you are hardy and determined,” she wrote, “the director’s role is not for you. Wait until the profession has emerged from its embryonic state and a system has been evolved by which the terrific weight of responsibility can be lifted from one pair of shoulders. When that time comes I believe that women will find no finer calling.”

Does Acad Disdain Dark Screenplays?

Even Mandela Wanted Freeman To Play Him

Glenn Kenny Tens Nine

"Ultimately, both Precious and The Blind Side may be reductive depictions of the complex realities of race and, especially, class."
New Carpetbagger Has Insights

Harvey Weinstein Offers Swears Of Support To Fotog At Single Man Pour

"I'm 47 and the hottest 32-year-old director in Hollywood made me feel hip by making a movie of my book. I guess I'm not completely over the hill."
Walter Kirn On "Up In The Air" And Up In The Air

DC Film Crickets Chirp For Up In The Air, Mulligan, Mo'Nique, Waltz, Bigelow

Moon Gonged For Brit Indie Best Debut

The Elder Lions Of Invictus

No Oscar For Oprah This Year

A Pair Of Stroppy Academy Members Demand Al Gore Forfeit Davis Guggenheim's Inconvenient Oscar

T-Bone Burnett Accompanies Crazy Heart

Jane Campion Articulates Why Bright Star Is Not Costume Drama

Debruge Watches All 61 Foreign Language Film Oscar Winners

"Brainy And Desolate"
Anthony Lane Scores Up In The Air In Fewer Words And Less Sniffy Disdain Than Usual

The Live Action Shorts Short List Of Ten

Enigmatic National Board Of Review Over The Moon Over Up In The Air

Up In The Air With Jason Reitman: Further Sound Byteage

"It's always healthy to be taken down a notch, even though it's humbling. For any film, it’s inevitable."
H'wd And Fine Talks To Geoffrey Fletcher, Screenwriter Of Precious

The Times Rolodex Revealeth Itself Once More With Three Pieces At Once On A Single Film Figure
An Interview With A Single Man's Tom Ford At BevHills Hotel Goes Out Of Control As Holson Concludes With A Confusing Encounter With Up In The Air's Jason Reitman
And - Cathy Horyn On Intense Artifice Of Ford's Style
With - Sunday Preview: Dishing And Slimming With Single Man's Colin Firth

Kyle Buchanan's 5 Notable Spirit Omissions

Moving Image Source On Clint
Jonnie Rosenbaum On The "Tough Questions" Of White Hunter, Black Heart
And - Fujiwara Double-Features Changeling And Gran Torino
Plus - Seitz On Revenge Missions In Eastwood's Work

Variety Surveys Directors 2009
Anderson On Bigelow And Cameron Plus Daniels
And - Swart On Campion And Eastwood
Plus - Kaufman On Coens
And - Five Rookies Score
Bonus - The Sound Of Hurt Locker

Never Get Out Of The Balcony
London Film Critics Circle Names Apocalypse Now Best Film Of Past 30 Years

The Indie Spirit Noms
Feature: 500 Days of Summer, Amreeka, Precious, Sin Nombre. The Last Station
Doc: Anvil, Food Inc., More Than a Game, October Country, Which Way Home.

The Gothams Love The Hurt Locker

Artforum's Traditional First Top 10 Of The Season Is Here: John Waters Tops Import Export

Queenan Finds Serious Man Queer; Tries To Find Similar Anomalies In Other Filmmakers' Work

Marketing Mavens Check In Up In The Air

Screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher Pulls Precious From Push

Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Awards Swept By Protege Of Edward Yang

"I only wish that Ant could still be reached by phone and told that the message came through, truly, madly, deeply–if you recall, his first film was the story of a couple separated by death, but defiant."
David Thomson First-Reviews Nine, Last Script By His Late Friend Anthony Minghella

Ansen Dis-Embargoes Invictus

Even Oscar Has Money Concerns

How Actors Can Aid Their Oscar Case

"McCarthy portrayed a land that is naked of sun. The color green doesn't exist. In fact at night, the only light and color is from the red fire. To create true light and the truth of this apocalyptic world—that was my role."
Paving The Way For The Road

Xan Brooks Reviews Lovely Bones From Royal Premiere

A Linkfest To The Academy's Animated Shorts Shortlist

"We had to count on the sky and everything looking right. We had mostly miserable, freezing, snowy weather, so we were lucky."
The Luck Of The Road

Scott On The Blind Side Vs. Precious

Taking Kodi Smit-McPhee Along The Road

Ten Make Oscars Animated Shorts Short List

"Armond White's review buys into the narrative that there can only be one acceptable presentation of black life. He's flattening the black experience, and in that way, he denies our humanity."|
"To Blacks, Precious Is 'Demeaned' or 'Angelic'"

Not Everyone's Happy About Oscars Documentary Short List

The Oscar Round Table: Take 4
"Less money is being spent early in derby season for campaigns this year. That’s obvious — and ominous."

Adjusting The Buzz

Anne-T's 16 Qs For Single Man Tom Ford

25 Things The Academy Got Right In The 2000s?

Goodridge Susses His 2010 Outlook For Non-Studio Awards Contenders

A Few Motley Musings On "The Festival Effect" And Oscar

Daniel Day-Lewis Sez He Tried To Avoid Dancing In Nine

Oscar Picks Hamish Hamilton To Direct, Known For Rock Concert, MTV Lensing; Also Up For NFL Halftime Gig

The Doc Short List Is Announced And Michael Moore Isn't On It

From MTV Music Awards To Directing The Oscars

The PGA Says Precious "Sheds Light On Provocative Social Issues in an Accessible and Elevating Fashion" And Gives It The Stanley Kramer Award

Cieply On The Crazy Heart Of Jeff Bridges' Oscar Chances

Samson & Delilah Win In Oz

Taking A Stab At The Doc Feature Oscar Shortlist

The IDA Announces Doc Award Nominees

So How About Some Fine Concept Art For Fantastic Mr. Fox From Artist Chris Applehans?

Best Quote From The Oscars So Far ..
"I can't believe it - a man at last. The thought that when I get home I'm going to have a two-legged man in my room is so exciting."

Oscar's Got Video Of The Saturday Honoraries To Calley, Corman, Bacall And Willis

An Obit For The A-List Actor
With - H'wd's New Leading Leading Men
And - Michael Sheen Sez, "I Am Officially The King Of Hollywood"

Cieply On The Honorary Oscars Ceremony Saturday Night That Clocked In At An Oscar-Sized 3:18

WeinsteinCo And University Of Minnesota Team With A Single Man Book Tie-In

Corman According To Scorsese, Matheson, Shatner, Hopper, Howard, Dante, Demme, Sayles, Stallone, Spheeris

"I have no desire to go on a trip. My perfect day is sitting in a room with some blank paper. That's heaven. That's gold and anything else is just a waste of time. Anything that doesn't take years of your life and drive you to suicide hardly seems worth doing."
Cormac McCarthy Talks Up The Road

David Rockwell Styles The Oscar Stage Again

James Cameron Is The VES King Of The World

The Denver Dollar$ Behind Precious

Oscars List Of 20 Animated Film Submissions Is Here

Turkish Honor For Greek Great Angelopoulos Postponed After Quarantined For Swine Flu At Athens Airport

Sasha Stone Is Thinking Hangover For Globes

Art Of The Title Sequence Sews Up Coraline

"They hear you're 75 or 80 and figure you're probably dead. They don't know who you are anymore. Since Into the Wild, it seems to me that certain people's perception of who I am has changed."
H'wd & Fine Chats With Hal Holbrook

"Gabby Sidibe told me that 'Push' was a book that every black girl read. So when Anthony Lane wonders why it's called Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire, instead of just Precious, there’s your answer. Precious is an adaptation of what for many people is a classic."

Sheffield Doc/Fest Announces 2009 Awards

The European Film Award Noms, Led By The Prophet

Thomson On Why We Should Care About The Honorary Oscars

Cove 7 Noms; Burma VJ And October Country 5
Cinema Eye Announces Nonfiction Feature Nominees For 2010 Edition

British Doc Awards Include Afghan Star, Burma VJ, Yes Men

Steve Martin And Alec Baldwin Suit Up For Oscars

Oscar Entries Due For Cartoons

Dressing To The Nine

"At the Globes, everyone is sitting around and drinking. I'm going to be drunk, and I'm not going to rehearse. So, it's the perfect gig for me."

"Please. You got the role because you've got two Oscars and you look like Amelia Earhart. Period."

Copy The Emmys, Hire NPH, Streamline, "Less Hoofing," More Jokes
Writing About 2010 Oscars, Tube Cricket Reveals What She Really Wants To Do Is Produce-Direct