Monthly Archives: December 2005

Oscars: It’s in the mail

Attention Academy voters: Wedged into your mailbox this weekend, behind delayed greeting cards and year-end charity appeals, is your ballot for the 78th annual Academy Awards nominations.

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The Voice of Independent Artistry

Queen Latifah — former host of The Independent Spirit Awards, celebrating cutting-edge, low-budget filmmaking (not to mention, although I’m about to, a former Grammy host) and onetime political firebrand — is now the spokeswoman for big-box discounters Wal-Mart, whose public-relations … Continue reading

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Awards for these gentlemen, please

Tom O’Neil is the guy who almost single-handedly transformed awards season from a glowing consideration of artistic merit into nothing more than a crass horserace, sort of the way network news steamrollered issues in favor of mere polling during Presidential … Continue reading

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Answering the question: Where will you put your trophy?

There was a short-lived TV series a few years back called “City of Angels,” about an inner-city hospital. As such, the show was far more earnest than it needed to be (and, given the talent assembled — Paris Barclay was … Continue reading

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Globes: The Point of ‘Match Point’ (spoilers!)

No sooner do I kvetch about one overpraised movie (“A History of Violence,” below) than another comes along — Woody Allen’s “Match Point,” or, as I like to call it, “Woody Allen Thinks About Scarlett Johansson in That Way — … Continue reading

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From Bad to Worse to…Award

Time was, the Razzies were the only “worst of” list jumping on the awards season bandwagon in any notable fashion. Now you can’t turn around without getting blindsided by newfangled institutions such as The Notable People of 2005 That Miu … Continue reading

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Globes: A History of Hygiene (spoilers!)

I generally get where critics are coming from, even if I disagree with their assessments. But there was one movie this year whose reviews still having me scratching my head, and now that it’s figuring into the Awards picture, I’ll … Continue reading

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Awards Overload

A new book posits that there are about 9,000 movie awards given out in a given year. Thats more than the number of actual movies that come out, according to The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards and the Circulation of … Continue reading

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Crushed under the Awards Campaign Machinery

Why do you suppose studios campaign hopelessly for yet bury small films in the middle of awards season? Yes, one imagines its to stoke the egos of the films participants, but by all but ensuring that these movies never emerge … Continue reading

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Awards overload

So now they’re going to have an Emmy for material you can watch on your phone. Which means some bit of flash animation a kid cooks up in his bedroom could share televsion’s most prestigious award alongside David Chase or … Continue reading

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