Categories
Awards Season News

84th Academy Awards: Winners

The Artist won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, (Michael Hazanavicius) and Best Actor (Jean Dujardin).

Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) was awarded Best Actress, whilst in the supporting categories Christopher Plummer (Beginners) and Octavia Spencer (The Help) won for their respective roles.

Hugo was the big winner in the technical categories, winning Cinematography, Sound Editing and Mixing, Art Direction and Visual Effects.

The Artist also became the the first silent film to win Best Picture since Wings (1927), which won the same prize at the very first Academy Awards.

So in a year that has seen great changes as cinema shifts from celluloid to digital, there was something appropriate in the big winners being tributes to the silent era and one of its true pioneers, Georges Méliès.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

Official Oscar site
> Explore the 84th Academy Awards in depth at Wikipedia

Categories
News

Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer discuss The Help on Tavis Smiley

Two stars of The Help recently gave an impassioned defence of their roles in the film.

On Tavis Smiley’s PBS show Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer got into a discussion about race, Hollywood and the Oscars.

The Davis quote from the interview that got the most attention was her response to Smiley’s ambivalence about the film:

“…that very mindset that you have – and that a lot of African-Americans have – is absolutely destroying the black artist…”

But you should really watch the whole 24 minute discussion here:

Watch Actresses Viola Davis & Octavia Spencer on PBS. See more from Tavis Smiley.

> Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer at the IMDb
> The Help
> Oscar Nominations

Categories
Cinema

UK Cinema Releases: Friday 28th October 2011

NATIONAL RELEASES

The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn (Paramount): Animated version of the famous Belgian character from director Steven Spielberg. Based on the first three books, it sees Tintin (Jamie Bell) and his loyal dog Snowy as they come across a valuable model boat and various characters, including: enigmatic Sakharine (Daniel Craig), drink-soaked Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis) and twin Interpol agents Thomson and Thompson (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg). [Read our full review here] [Nationwide / PG]

The Ides of March (E1 Films): Adapted from Beau Williams’ stage play Farragut North, this political drama focuses on a young strategist (Ryan Gosling) assisting his campaign boss (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in getting an inspirational Democratic candidate (George Clooney) elected. Co-starring Paul Giamatti, Evana Rachel Wood and Marisa Tomei, it was directed by Clooney. [Read our full review here] [Nationwide / 15]

Anonymous (Sony Pictures): Rolan Emmerich’s latest film is something of a departure: a conspiracy drama about who actually wrote the plays of William Shakespeare, set against the backdrop of the succession of Queen Elizabeth I, and the Essex Rebellion against her. Starring Rhys Ifans, Xavier Samuel, Jamie Campbell Bower and Joely Richardson. [Nationwide / 12A]

The Help (Disney): Drama set in the American South during the era of segregation and three women who strike up an unlikely friendship. The surprise sleeper hit of the summer at the US box office, it was directed by Tate Taylor and stars Emma Stone, Mike Vogel, Bryce Dallas Howard and Viola Davis. [Nationwide / 12A]

> Get local cinema showtimes at Google Movies or FindAnyFilm
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