She won't host, but Oprah Winfrey will take the Oscar stage as one better in 2012: A winner. Or at least a recipient: Winfrey joins actor James Earl Jones and legendary makeup artist Dick Smith among this year's trio of honorary Oscar winners.
Ever since Sundance, we've been contemplating the crop of of films, performances and various other contenders shaping up for this fall's awards-season harvest. But what of those worthy releases from the first part of the year -- the critical and/or commercial darlings who may enjoy some longevity when it comes time for Oscar voting? There are at least a couple every year; now, at 2011's midpoint, join Movieline in parsing out the likeliest among their ranks.
The film world awoke this morning to news that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had reformulated its Best Picture Oscar rules for the second time in as many years, allowing for anywhere from five to 10 nominees depending on a film's percentage of first-place votes. This is brilliant. It will also fail to fix what's fundamentally wrong with the Oscars.
Surprise! During a meeting of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors on Tuesday night, it was decided that the Best Picture voting system would be changed to allow for anywhere from five to ten nominees in a given year, depending on the quality of films available. The exact number of Best Picture participants won't be announced until the nominations are revealed in January. Oscar prognosticators, your jobs just got a whole lot more complicated. More of this at Movieline later today, but for now, click through for the AMPAS press release.
Weinsteinian Oscar speculation is fine and all, but what about the Razzies? "[A]s a Razzie pro," writes Dan Kois, "I'd say this: Don't sleep on Atlas Shrugged: Part I. It has a tiny profile, earning only $4.6 million at the box office, but it got a lot of highbrow press coverage for its awfulness. And unlike all these other movies, Atlas won't confuse voters come nomination day. I think it might be this year's The Hottie and the Nottie -- a real Little Movie That Can't!" And a breath of fresh Razzie air to boot! For your consideration, indeed. [Grantland]
And you thought Hollywood was done bestowing awards on the films of 2010. Ha! The 2011 MTV Movie Awards are here to honor the best and brightest that Tinseltown has to offer. Translation: the stars of Twilight. Click through for the complete list of popcorn trophy winners.
Look, it's too easy to get exercised about the proliferation of luxury gift bags at awards shows and their free distribution to multimillionaire celebrities. Families from Joplin to Japan recently lost everything they own in disasters lasting mere minutes, and here we are receiving press releases about the new "custom-designed 2011 MTV Movie Awards gift bag for celebrity nominees, presenters and performers attending the live event." That's life, I'm afraid. But as we all rummage through its high-end contents, maybe the question to ask ourselves is: "How much of this crap would I actually want?"
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced to its members that online voting is in the works for next year's Oscar race -- and could possibly be implemented as early as this year. But will the digital move make the Oscars susceptible to hackers and disrupt the Academy Awards race as we know it?
Last year the Tonys may as well have been called the "Movie Stars on a Stage! Awards" considering its handouts to Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Scarlett Johansson, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. This year, the pack of Tony nominees is considerably less cinematic -- but did a certain Hogwarts grad pull in a nod for not-really-trying-to-succeed? Actor nominees after the jump.
The MTV Movie Awards are always good for a few laughs: Maybe Jim Carrey shows up dressed like a hippie, or Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair are forced to reenact their "Best Kiss" from Cruel Intentions. As of today, the show just got even funnier: The Social Network is nominated for Best Movie alongside Twilight: Eclipse
Mark those Google Calendars! The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science announced some very important dates for the 2011/2012 awards season on Tuesday, including just when the 84th annual Academy Awards will take place. Billy Crystal may want to keep that night open. Click ahead for the schedule.
Oscar-winners like Jane Fonda know TV is an ideal medium for actors seeking a challenge, but non-Oscar-winners like us know that TV is also a good way to forward an actor's reputation. Don't want to be a frightening character actress anymore? Join NBC's new legal drama! Want to maintain the prestige of your early career? Take up a lead role on Showtime's new historical series! TV has become such a viable forum for thespian respect that some Oscar-winners are heading to the small screen before taking home the gold (Melissa Leo on Treme, anyone?). Here are the eight stages of Oscar-winners who move to the small screen -- usually with great success.
The response to this morning's Super 8 trailer debut has been sweeping and overwhelmingly positive. One look, and you can see why: Standard-issue marketing voodoo aside, J.J. Abrams's latest portends a rare harmony of sweetness and ambition, homage and envelope-pusher, sincerity and mastery. Believe the hype or not, at least one thing seems clear: At least one Best Picture nomination next year is spoken for, right?
Banksy's L.A. street art rampage seemed to come to a sudden halt after Exit Through the Giftshop lost the Best Documentary Oscar to Inside Job. But now a new piece has surfaced in the U.K. that indeed looks like a possible response to the outcome from Banksy. Keeping in mind that the piece seems to reference this video where that adorable kid broke the Oscar, go ahead and interpret away. Of course, as one Melrose and Fairfax commenter pointed out, it's also possible that the work is a fake by somebody who just added an Oscar statue to this stencil. Ah, the subjective nature of art! Click through and decide for yourself.
Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Tom Hooper's Best Picture winner The King's Speech got its own XXX parody, but who could have anticipated such... quality?
FILM NEWS 
