Dinner Topics » Best Picture

Who is this King of the Oscars?

admin — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:59:58 +0000

If things go according to plan, Colin Firth will win the Best Actor award during tonight’s Oscar telecast for portraying King George VI in King’s Speech. For those of you who haven’t seen it or aren’t familiar with the British royal family tree, George VI is the father of the current queen, Queen Elizabeth (Elizabeth II).

Other notes for tonight’s Oscars:

James Franco and Anne Hathaway are co-hosting, and Franco is also nominated for Best Actor for portraying that mountain climber guy who cut off his own leg in the movie 127 Hours.
Expect the Facebook movie (The Social Network) to take home a few awards.
Don’t forget that TEN movies are nominated for Best Picture now, so a movie like Toy Story 3 can take home Best Picture (it won’t) AND Best Animated Feature.

Read on:

EW.com – Oscars 2011

Wikipedia – George VI

Golden Globes: Awards for TV and Movies

admin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 19:59:54 +0000

Admit it: if it’s not an Oscar, you don’t pay that much attention to an awards show. Whether it’s the Emmys, Grammys, SAG Awards, or even the Razzies, the only thing the public seems to care about is who looked good in an overly priced dress and who made the fashion mistake of the year according to some meaningless blog. Then there are the Golden Globes, which fall somewhere in between. A “Globe” award is just prestigious enough to warrant mentioning in any and all marketing, but not so important that the public actually cares who wins.

Nominations were announced today, and even with the nominees listed, the most popular talking point about the Golden Globes in recent years is that drinking is allowed (read: encouraged) at the tables, so some extra spontaneity has occurred in past telecasts. Another thing to know about the Golden Globes: since 1955, awards are given for movies AND television.¹ This should stop you from being confused when you hear your coworker talking about Inception‘s Best Motion Picture (Drama) nomination while your friend is excited that Modern Family got nominated as well (Best Comedy Series). One last note: the Golden Globes divide things by genre, so there are often more nominees than there are worthy candidates. That will help explain why critically panned movies like Burlesque and The Tourist will now have a little globe icon in any upcoming advertisements (both nominated by Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical).

Read on:

GoldenGlobes.org – Nominations (2010)

(image taken from Bam’s Blog)

http://www.goldenglobes.org/about/ ↩

Oscar Nominations, Ten for Best Picture

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:30:11 +0000

Bigelow

Oscar nominations were announced today, and while the popular categories will lead most headlines, here’s a couple tidbits to know when talking up the films, actors, and directors later today:

The Academy doubled the amount of nominees for Best Picture from 5 to 10 for the first time since the 1943 Academy Awards, hoping to spark a little more viewer interest.
James Cameron is nominated for Best Director for Avatar. Kathryn Bigelow is nominated for Best Director for The Hurt Locker. Who is Bigelow? Cameron’s ex-wife! Maybe after a win, Cameron will be known as “Bigelow’s ex-husband.”
Bigelow directed Point Break back in the day and is an accomplished painter.

Read on:

NYTimes.com – The 82nd Annual Oscar Nominations

WSJ.com (Speakeasy) – 2010 Oscar Nominations Announced: “Avatar,” “The Hurt Locker” Lead the Way

Oscar Crash Course – 2008 Best Picture

admin — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 12:30:32 +0000

Not sure what to do this weekend and thinking about going to a movie? Let me give you a crash course on the five 2008 Best Picture nominees:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Brad Pitt is born old and “grows” younger. Warning: it’s almost 3 hours long!

Frost/Nixon – A recreation of the television interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon.

Milk – Sean Penn starring as the Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to win public office.

The Reader – Kate Winslet in the movie NOT co-starring Leo DiCaprio. Set in Germany in the ’50s, Winslet’s character has an affair with a 15-year-old and she has some great affect on history.

Slumdog Millionaire – A dirt poor boy from Mumbai keeps winning on a game show thanks to coincidental questions that mirror his past, explained through flashbacks. It’s a depressing and uplifting movie at the same time, a great way to spend a couple hours, and the only movie of the five I have seen so far.

Read on:

Oscar.com – Nominees List