This trenchant observation press release just over the transom at ML HQ: "You’ve probably seen the news by now –- Ryan Gosling has been snubbed by the Academy. Once all the hoopla and cries of injustice die down, you’ll find that Ryan Gosling, the supposed darling of hearts everywhere, really wasn’t all that popular. In a recent survey conducted by Badoo, the world’s largest social network for meeting new people, when asked which male celeb they would like to hang out with, people overwhelmingly chose Tim Tebow (31%) and not Ryan, who brought in only 6% of the vote. Even amongst women, Ryan did poorly against the likes of George Clooney, garnering a meager 9% to Clooney’s 24%." Now you know. [Press release]
This reaction quote just in from Gary Oldman, a deserving first-time Oscar nominee for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: "This afternoon in Berlin I have learned that I was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor. You may have heard this before, but it has never been truer than it is for me today, it is extremely humbling, gratifying, and delightful to have your work recognized by the Academy, and to join the celebrated ranks of previous nominees and colleagues. Amazing." Meanwhile, how is viciously smacked-down Oscar snubbee Albert Brooks doing?
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Smack in the middle of a two-week frame yielding two awards shows and a pair of nomination announcements that will culminate in this year's Oscar nods, the researchers at Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics have gained minimal insight into where the Academy may take the 2011-12 awards race in next Tuesday's final nominations. Or maybe they're all just sleeping. It's been that kind of year. Let's check their work in this week's Oscar Index.
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The British Academy of Film and Television Arts came out this morning with its 2012 Orange British Academy Film Awards nominations, which -- wait for it -- look suspiciously like the rest of the worlds 2012 film awards nominations. In fairness, for every nod thrown in the direction of The Artist, we witnessed some refreshing recognition for the likes of Drive, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, We Need to Talk About Kevin and a few select others. But hoo boy -- another Albert Brooks snub? This is getting a little weird. More analysis forthcoming Wednesday in Movieline's Oscar Index; congrats to all the nominees, listed below.
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Considering how unabashedly Quentin Tarantino wears his cinephilia on his sleeve, it's always fascinating to get a peek inside that movie geek brain of his to see what's swimming around. And thanks to The Quentin Tarantino Archives, the world now knows which 11 films of last year topped QT's best-of list, which just missed the cut, and which movies, interestingly enough, earned his "Nice Try" award.
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So much for The Artist's fade: Michel Hazanavicius's silent black-and-white throwback won both Best Picture and Best Director at Thursday night's Critics Choice Movie Awards, a nice bit of prime-time validation shared in part by George Clooney and the ladies of The Help. Read on for the full list of winners (and a few takeaways).
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What a week at Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics, where the pundits' hustle harmonized with the guilds' bustle to create a heavy-duty wake-up call for some otherwise dormant awards-season underdogs. They also telegraphed danger for a few juggernauts once thought unassailable. What does it all mean as we head into the Critics Choice and Golden Globe Awards weekend? To the Index!
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The first Oscar Index entry of 2012 finds Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics a little hungover from the holidays and lot bored from the protracted inertia of awards season. Not even this week's Producers Guild Award nominations could do much to shake up a contest that appears to be both wide open and solidifying into place at the same time. Let's investigate...
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The annual critical powwow that is Slate's Movie Club is currently underway, with that site's Dana Stevens leading a conversation between a redoubtable quartet also including Michael Phillips, Dan Kois and Movieline's own Stephanie Zacharek. What's on the agenda?
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As everyone looks back on the year that was, I've found myself returning to a few moments in the movies that resonated especially well thanks to a phenomenon that achieves soul-stirring status so rarely, though not for lack of frequency: Song choice. I'm not talking about dropping the latest Kelly Clarkson/Natasha Bedingfield ditty into a crap rom-com. I mean the special, skin-tingling magic that occurs when a song is married so perfectly to a character, story, or feeling that the music and the moment swell within us with new, layered meaning. Join me and let's hash it out: Which movie(s) used music the best in 2011?
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Well, this should go pretty fast: The holiday week has offered a dearth of new narratives to trace and pulses to take, with only one film demonstrating any significant mobility in the studies coming out Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics. Let's get to it!
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And so my most-favorite, least-favorite task of the year rolls around again. I never call it a "10 best" list -- meaning the unequivocal 10 best films of the year -- because I'm fully aware of how subjective it is. Yet as frustrating as it usually is to pull together just the right 10, I found the job surprisingly pleasurable this year. So many movies to love! How could this have happened? Let's not even address the fact that two 3-D movies made it onto my list -- that surprises me as much as anyone. The remarkable thing is that year after year, no matter how much samey-sameness Hollywood (or even so-called indie cinema, for that matter) seems to give us, there are always pictures that resonate, movies that stand apart as if to do so were their God-given right.
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Screw Christmas. Forget Hanukkah. To hell with New Year's. There is only one holiday we celebrate in the dank, windowless labs of Movieline's Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics, and that is Oscar Night. Thus the latest edition of Oscar Index, offering all the festive year-end joy you can possibly stand. Let's get to it!
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Drive fanaticism is still in (groan) overdrive. The team of Bruno et Tom have created an alternative trailer for Drive featuring The Driver's silver scorpion jacket, well-lit stoicism, and a bit of musical mimicry. He's an animated hero! And an animated human being! Coming soon to the Fox Kids lineup. Check all out the cartoon facestomping after the jump.
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For some moviegoers, Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive was the movie of 2011 (ditto that soundtrack). Nevertheless, over at Nerve, Jett Wells echoes the sad realization of many a Drive-loving Oscar-watcher: Academy Award nominations are about as unlikely for the stylish crime pic as a clean getaway is for Ryan Gosling's boyish, near-mute anti-hero.
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