new york film festival

Stiles White’s low-budget horror flick Ouija barely won the weekend box office over Nightcrawler – Dan Gilroy’s takedown of today’s entertainment press, but the real story of the weekend is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman. Following raves out of the Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and New York Film Festival,

J.C. Chandor’s A MOST VIOLENT YEAR will kick off the AFI Film Festival. How will this affect its Oscar chances?

Chris Rock’s Top Five seemed to be more of a commercial prospect when distributors were fighting for get U.S. rights at the Toronto International Film Festival. However, winning bidder Paramount might also have Oscar on the mind: Five hits select locations on Dec. 5 and theaters nationwide the following weekend.

Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game took the Toronto International Film Festival’s audience award earlier this week. The film won over runners-up Isabel Coixet’s Learning to Drive and Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent; people had pegged James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything as a contender, too. Gold Derby reports that 25 of

David Dobkin’s The Judge – starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall – was the first film to, officially, make its case at the Toronto International Film Festival when it kicked off the fest last Thursday night. Well, the jury reached a guilty verdict… Enough courtroom puns, though – what

Before heading into this week’s analysis, one should note that six films we assume are Oscar contenders remain unseen: American Hustle, Lone Survivor, Out of the Furnace, Saving Mr. Banks, and The Wolf of Wall Street. (The lattermost might not arrive this year, but distributor Paramount hopes it will be

Cate Blanchett got a tribute on Wednesday, Oct. 2 at the New York Film Festival. That and Blue Jasmine director Woody Allen’s personal shout-out surely gave more credence to her already-strong best actress campaign. Of course, Blanchett’s perceived rival for the Oscar, Sandra Bullock, got a boost of her own

We might as well talk about some actual awards. The New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review both announce their picks next week, but the indie circuit brought the major awards updates of the week. The Gotham Independent Film Awards took place on Monday night and offered

In some respects, this week’s Oscar Watching reflects the tale of two Daniels: Steven Spielberg directs Daniel Day-Lewis in a biopic about President Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln, and Daniel Craig does his thing as James Bond for this third Bond flick, Skyfall. Believe it or not, we’re talking more about

I had the chance to see Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or-winning Amour (Love) over the weekend. It also played the AFI Fest – and we’ll be talking about that in a bit – but I saw it here on the East Coast. The French-language aspect might hinder its chances at Oscar

Twenty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln might have been the undeniable, no-holds-barred front-runner to win best picture, best director, and myriad other prizes at the Academy Awards. While such a sweep might not happen in this day and age, the aura of a prestige film with an iconic director at

On Friday, Ang Lee’s Life of Pi kicked off the New York Film Festival and received high marks from the critics. The epic scale, lauded visual effects, and story about humanity might tug the heartstrings of Oscar voters, and if there’s a movie out there to grab “the heart vote,”

The Venice Film Festival is currently underway, but most of the Oscar news this week comes from the Telluride Film Festival, which wrapped just a few days ago. With that in mind, we’re skipping the Oscar prospects of this weekend’s new releases because the film festival news is far more

Politics: with the Republican National Convention hoopla happening right now, the Democratic National Convention taking place next week, and the Presidential election right around the corner, it’s all anyone can talk about. It makes sense that several Oscar-centric articles have focused on how the political atmosphere can affect an awards

Perhaps the biggest stories of note this week involve the 50th New York Film Festival: Ang Lee’s big-scale adventure Life of Pi will kick things off, while Robert Zemeckis’ drama Flight will close out the fest. Even before these announcements, these films seemed like good bets for Oscar consideration, but