Those who remain convinced that The Onion ‘s controversial Oscar-night tweet about Quvenzhané Wallis was really about the Beasts of the Southern Wild star and not about Hollywood hypocrisy should check out the below tweet from comedian and filmmaker Paul Provenza . Last week, I posted The Aristocrats director’s thoughtful deconstruction of The Onion’s joke, why it wasn’t about Wallis and why the fake news organization’s subsequent apology was problematic. The story got a lot of reaction and, in the wake of yesterday’s announcement that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio had been elected the new leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis I , Provenza took the opportunity to riff on The Onion brouhaha, and to drive home the point that the joke is not about whoever is named being a cunt. Everyone else seems afraid to say it, but that new pope is kind of a cunt, right? @ TheOnion — Paul Provenza (@PaulProvenza) March 13, 2013 If you disagree and your ears are smoking like the Sistine Chapel’s chimney, sound off in the comments section below. More on The Onion controversy: ‘The Aristocrats’ Director Paul Provenza: The Onion’s Apology To Quvenzhané Wallis Was ‘Problematic’ Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
War Witch star Rachel Mwanza is headed to Hollywood, and she’s earned her close-up. On Wednesday, Tribeca Film announced that 16-year-old Mwanza has been granted a visa to travel to the United States to attend the Oscars and the Independent Spirit Awards this weekend, where War Witch is nominated, respectively, in the Best Foreign Language Film and Best International Film categories. And it’s time for the American media pays as much attention to her as it did to Quvenzhané Wallis . If you didn’t hit the film-festival circuit last year, where War Witch turned heads and won awards, then you might not be familiar with Canadian director Kim Nguyen’ powerful movie about Africa’s children of war. But I hope that’s about to change now that Tribeca Film is about to make War Witch available to American audiences starting Feb. 26 on various VOD platforms and, theatrically, beginning March 1 in New York City. War Witch is the anti- Beasts of the Southern Wild , and I’m not knocking the Benh Zeitlin’s e xcellent film when I write that. Both movies show us dangerous, chaotic worlds from the perspective of a wise and courageous girl who is forced to grow up fast. Both films hinge on the mortality of parents and use mystical components to tell their stories, and both films convey the message that hope and love can be found among the ruins. But War Witch ultimately proves to be the more powerful film because it is reserved and unsentimental where Beasts of the Southern Wild is effusive and romantic. Mwanza, who had been abandoned by her family and was living on the streets of Kinshasha when Nguyen cast her, plays Komona, the heroine of War Witch and the movie’s narrator. Within the first scenes of the movie, her parents are killed in horrifying fashion — suffice it to say she is present — when African rebels lay waste to Komona’s village and enslave her and the other child residents as soldiers to fight against government forces. “Respect your guns. They are your new mother and father,” the children are told as they embark on squalid lives of killing and dying. Komona is designated a “war witch” by the guerrilla leader after she is fed “magic milk,” a white tree sap with hallucinogenic properties that enables her to see the ghosts of the dead, including her parents, who warn her of impending attacks. Nguyen’s film is remarkably free of artifice and politics, and Mwanza’s stoic performance is its cornerstone. And if I can be sentimental for a moment, her performance has changed her life. The makers of War Witch have provided her with a caretaker and are now overseeing her education. For more on the movie, check out this extended featurette and here’s hoping some enterprising publicist engineers a photo op with both Wallis and Mwanza. Follow Frank DiGiacomo on Twitte r. Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Silver Linings Playbook is the only nudity in a movie nominated for an Academy Award…excpet maybe for Ben Afleck’s soul in ARgo…or that girl in Beasts of the Southern Wild running around in her underwear..or that Indian kid in his sheer wet pants in Life of Pi….or…what the fuck are the other nominated movies…oh right Russel Crow’s singing in Les Mis…raw rugged and a whole lot of offensive as fuck…more offensive than a smut film….which I guess don’t count cuz there ain’t no shower scene like Silver Linings Playbook…..so this Brea Bee brings it as the only set of tits in all movies nominated…and that’s a fucking OMG Fact of the day. OMG.
Oscar heavy-weights Zero Dark Thirty , Argo , Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook are among the titles nominated for screenplay recognition by the Writers Guild. Documentary shortlisted films The Invisible Man , Mea Maxima Culpa and Searching For Sugar Man are also among the nominations in the non-fiction category for the 2013 Writers Guild Awards, which will be held Sunday February 17th in simultaneously in Los Angeles and New York. [ Related: Academy Names 15 As Best Documentary Oscar Contenders; ‘Central Park Five’ Snubbed ] The nominations follow: Original Screenplay Flight , Written by John Gatins; Paramount Pictures Looper , Written by Rian Johnson; TriStar Pictures The Master , Written by Paul Thomas Anderson; The Weinstein Company Moonrise Kingdom , Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Focus Features Zero Dark Thirty , Written by Mark Boal; Columbia Pictures Adapted Screenplay Argo , Screenplay by Chris Terrio; Based on a selection from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and the Wired Magazine article “The Great Escape” by Joshuah Bearman; Warner Bros. Pictures Life of Pi , Screenplay by David Magee; Based on the novel by Yann Martel; 20th Century Fox Lincoln , Screenplay by Tony Kushner; Based in part on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin; DreamWorks Pictures The Perks of Being a Wallflower , Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky; Based on his book; Summit Entertainment Silver Linings Playbook , Screenplay by David O. Russell; Based on the novel by Matthew Quick; The Weinstein Company Documentary Screenplay The Central Park Five , Written by Sarah Burns and David McMahon and Ken Burns; Sundance Selects The Invisible War , Written by Kirby Dick; Cinedigm Entertainment Group Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God , Written by Alex Gibney; HBO Documentary Films Searching for Sugar Man , Written by Malik Bendejelloul; Sony Pictures Classics We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists , Written by Brian Knappenberger; Cinetic Media West of Memphis , Written by Amy Berg & Billy McMillin; Sony Pictures Classics
After a momentary holiday lull, it’s back on! Or as Calvin Candie says in Django Unchained . “We got us a fight going on that’s a good bit of fun.” Academy voters were given one extra day to mull over their Oscar nomination ballots, thanks to a voting deadline extension necessitated by complaints and concerns over the Academy’s first-ever electronic voting system. They could use that 24 hours to digest the Producers Guild Award nominations , which were announced Wednesday, a day early. From here, the awards season proceeds at 48 frames per second , bringing the Oscar race into sharp focus. The Director’s Guild of America nominations for Best Director will be announced Jan. 8, with Oscar nominations announced on the 10th,in advance of the Golden Globes, which will be handed out on the 13th. The PGA ceremony will be held on the 26th, followed by the SAG awards the following night. Feb. 2 brings the DGAs, one of the most reliable Oscar indicators, followed by the Independent Spirit Awards (and the Razzies) on the 23rd and the Oscars on the 24th. This is the earliest Oscar voting in history, Variety’s Jon Weisman noted, and he feared for the “dark horse” candidates as voters race to catch up to the big ticket films such as Django Unchained and Les Miserables that were released at the end of the year. “We’ll never quantify the impact… on the coming Academy Award nominations, but I’m thinking negative,” he writes. The Best Picture race was most impacted this week. So, let’s consult the Gold Linings Playbook to see which films benefited from the PGA bump. Best Picture Since 1990, the winner of the PGA’s Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures -winner was denied on Oscar night only seven times, most recently in 2006, when The Departed took Best Picture honors instead of the PGA’s choice, Little Miss Sunshine . Its 10-film field included most of the expected nominees from A ( Argo ) to Z ( Zero Dark Thirty ). Django Unchained ’s n-word – nomination – only accelerated its momentum, while Beasts of the Southern Wild , a non-union production, deemed ineligible for SAG consideration, and also denied Golden Globe nominations, saw its own Oscar cred strengthened. (Apparently, Hollywood Foreign Press Association members would rather party with Nicole Kidman than Quvenzhane Wallis ) biggest surprise was the nomination of Skyfall , which may be poised to do for Bond films what Beauty and the Beast did for animated films; be the first to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. But Skyfall shouldn’t press its Oscar-night tux just yet. Last year, Bridesmaids , The Ides of March and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did not parlay their PGA nominations into Best Picture bids. The Master , Flight , and The Dark Knight Rises , each snubbed by the PGA, have their advocates, and should not be counted out. 1. Lincoln 2. Zero Dark Thirty 3. Argo 4. Silver Linings Playbook 5. Django Unchained 6. Les Misérables 7. Life of Pi 8. Beasts of the Southern Wild 9. Moonrise Kingdom 10. Skyfall Ones to watch: The Dark Knight Rises, Flight, The Master Best Director The heat is still on Zero Dark Thirty , now officially the target of a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation over alleged contact between the filmmakers and CIA officials, but Kathryn Bigelow’s nomination is inevitable. Quentin Tarantino is riding taller in the saddle with Django Unchained ’s PGA nomination, but it’s a tight field and Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook are safer, far less controversial films. Still, it helps to have Samuel L. Jackson in your corner. The PGA snub of The Master sees Paul Thomas Anderson’s Oscar hopes further recede. 1. Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ) 2. Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ) 3. Ben Affleck ( Argo ) 4. Ang Lee ( Life of Pi ) 5. David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) Ones to watch: Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained). Michael Haneke (Amour), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master)
Top 10s abound, but what the hell, its New Year’s Eve and there are mere hours left (in the Western Hemisphere at least) to look back on the year while it’s still here – Happy New Year Australia, N.Z., Japan and much of Asia. [ Related: Mash-Ups, ‘Moonrise,’ And ‘Miami’ Connections: Jen Yamato’s Top 10 Movie Moments of 2012 and Amy Nicholson’s / Top 10 of 2012 / Written In Haiku ] For those trolling the internet Monday and stumble on this list, I hope it’ll spawn more Top 10s. Either in your own mind or better yet – in the comments below. Or even just give your Top 5 or hell… Just your one favorite. Or even your least favorite. Just go for it, don’t be shy. Below is my ten favorites for 2012. I admit, mine may be loaded with some of the “cold and corny prestige pics and all those ‘respectable’ ‘films’ headed for Oscar gold” as my fab colleague Jen Yamato describes – but there it is… My favorite, Amour , was also the toughest to watch, but it just stayed with me through the rest of the year after having the privilege to see it for the first time in Cannes last May. I saw it again in December and it stayed with me as my favorite even if I was rather numb walking out of the theater. It is one helluva tough one, but so good. Disagree? Go for it and say why in the comments. My top 10 follows with an ever so brief comment and a trailer (admittedly, there are still a couple of ‘key’ movies I still need to see). And what were your faves of 2012? 1. Amour – The toughest movie I, well, loved. 2. Zero Dark Thirty – I knew what the ending would be, but my palms sweat for hours in the lead-up. 3. Silver Linings Playbook – I thought I’d be bored as I was ‘dragged’ to see it at a festival. I completely loved it. 4. Lincoln – I like political intrigue – even of the 19th century sort. Tommy Lee Jones was Amazing. 5. Beasts of the Southern Wild – No stars – fantastic acting and a great new voice in filmmaking in the form of Benh Zeitlin. 6. How to Survive a Plague – It’s hard to hold back the tears watching as these brave people fight for their lives under the scepter of hate. 7. Anna Karenina – Sumptuous. No surprise the Revolution came along. 8. Holy Motors – This movie may go down as one of 2012’s most important. 9. On the Road – Sit down, light up and go for the ride. Garrett Hedlund is a good trip. 10. Argo – Again, you know what the end will be but it still gets the heart racing. The final scenes when the film hits you over the head with how they barely get out is a bit much though.
Welcome back to Movieline’s Oscar Index, where each week we take the pulse of the awards chatter en route to Hollywood’s big day. This week both Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables and Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty surged through the ranks after debuting in their first, successful, awards screenings, though Spielberg’s Lincoln still reigns supreme — but Peter Jackson ‘s 48fps gamble The Hobbit and Quentin Tarantino ‘s Django Unchained are right around the corner, gunning for the spotlight… The Leading 10 1. Lincoln 2. Les Miserables 3. Zero Dark Thirty 4. Argo 5. Silver Linings Playbook 6. Life of Pi 7. Django Unchained 8. Beasts of the Southern Wild 9. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 10. Anna Karenina Outsiders: Skyfall , Moonrise Kingdom , Flight , The Dark Knight Rises , The Master Despite strong guild and critic screening debuts for Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty , which absolutely sealed their positions as Best Picture top dogs, Spielberg’s Lincoln is still holding onto its momentum and #1 spot in the race in the hearts and minds of pundits. Meanwhile, David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook searches for a way to keep up, while Fox Searchlight’s Beasts of the Southern Wild is making its surge, trotting out Spirit Award-nominated star (and Best Actress hopeful) Quvenzhané Wallis for awards events this week. Best Director 1. Steven Spielberg ( Lincoln ) 2. Kathryn Bigelow ( Zero Dark Thirty ) 3. David O. Russell ( Silver Linings Playbook ) 4. Ben Affleck ( Argo ) 5. Quentin Tarantino ( Django Unchained ) Spielberg still reigns atop the race, but this week’s Zero Dark Thirty splash should boost Bigelow above the ranks of Affleck, whose popular Argo treads similar true history ground but doesn’t match ZDT ‘s weightiness or relevancy. Russell’s staying in the game as well thanks to lingering Silver Linings love, but the Django curiosity factor props Tarantino up even though critics have yet to see it. Next: Who leads the pack for Best Actor & Actress?
Young women bullied by their peers into committing suicide has become a staple of today’s news cycle, but as Anna Karenina demonstrates, it’s hardly a new phenomenon. Whether you’re talking about 19th-century Russian aristocrats or Midwestern teens in the age of Facebook, as Keira Knightley tells me, “The rules of society change, but the way that society works does not.” I sat down with Knightley and director Joe Wright to talk about their bold adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel and its continued relevance in our contemporary digital world. Their passion for the material is as palpable as the film’s lush production design. Check out the videos below to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on the most daring movie this Oscar season: Anna Karenina is now playing in limited release. Follow Movieline on Twitter . Follow Grace Randolph on Twitter .
If you haven’t noticed, there’s a fierce battle being fought out there for the right to heft a gold statuette at the Dolby Theater on Feb. 24 and forget to thank some vital member of your family. And though more than a half dozen pictures and performances that the blogosphere is touting as Oscar-worthy have yet to be seen by the public (and, in some cases, the very bloggers who are touting them), the virtual home office at Movieline has decided it’s time to throw open the doors to the Institute For the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics and start up the Oscar Index . How The Oscar Index Works This year, Movieline’ s Oscar Index will be presented differently than it has been in the past. We’ll soon add the now-iconic graph that tracks the weekly rise and fall of the candidates based on fluctuations in the Institute’s extremely sensitive media seismometers. What will be different is that, with each award category that we track, we’ll present four different rankings. Movieline Executive Editor Jen Yamato , Managing Editor Brian Brooks and myself will each provide our personal weekly rankings of the movies and actors in the running, and then those results will be weighted and averaged to determine an official Movieline ranking for each category. This week, we begin with the Best Picture category. Next week, we’ll weigh in on the Best Director, Best Actor, Actress and Best Supporting Actor and Actress races. Oscar for Best Picture 2013 Right now, Lincoln is the picture to beat with its heart-and-soul performance by Daniel Day-Lewis — his world-weary slump-shouldered walk alone is worth the price of admission — a beautiful script by Tony Kushner and some pitch-perfect scenery chewing by Tommy Lee Jones and James Spader. The picture finishes at the top of two of our three lists, and Awards Daily calls it “Arguably, the best film of the year so far,” adding: “Films this thoughtfully created don’t come around very often.” The consensus at a number of blogsites, such as Indiewire , is that Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, Ben Affleck’s Argo and David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook are also going to be nominated for Best Picture. Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master has also been mentioned, but the film opened so early in the race and, with the exception of Joaquin Phoenix’s comments about how he really feels about Oscars, the movie could use a second wind unless The Weinstein Company is shifting its weight to a Silver Linings push. But coming up fast is Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables , which our own Ms. Yamato notes, is “scaring” a lot of the other contenders. Meanwhile, Michael Haneke’s Amour and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild are long shots, but still in the race. Indeed, the latter film finished in the number 10 spot on each Movieline editor’s list. An even darker horse is Skyfall , but I (alone) agree with Deadline that the movie’s critical and box-office success and its popularity among Academy members bode well for a best-picture nomination. Here’s the rundown of each Movieline editor’s Best Picture picks in descending order: Frank DiGiacomo’s Picks 1. Lincoln 2. Silver Linings Playbook 3. Argo 4. Les Misérables 5. Life of Pi 6. Skyfall 7. Zero Dark Thirty 8 . Flight 9. The Master 10. Beasts of the Southern Wild — Jen Yamato’s Picks 1. Les Misérables 2. Lincoln 3. Silver Linings Playbook 4. Argo 5. Life of Pi 6. Zero Dark Thirty 7. Anna Karenina 8. The Master 9. The Hobbit 10. Beasts of the Southern Wild — Brian Brooks’ Picks 1. Lincoln 2. Silver Linings Playbook 3. Les Misérables 4. Argo 5. Life of Pi 6. Amour 7. Django Unchained 8. Anna Karenina 9. The Dark Knight Rises 10. Beasts of the Southern Wild And the winners are…
In Friday afternoon’s round up of news, AMPAS picked a whole slew of new people to join their ranks of Oscar voters (many who were surprisingly not already members). Also there’s highlights of this weekend’s new specialty roll outs. Danny Boyle reaches out to PETA about the Olympics, Cee Lo Green boards Keira Knightley production and Lucky heads to the U.S. Academy Taps 176 to Join Ranks The folks behind the Oscars, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have named 176 artists and executives to join their ranks. They will be among the eligible people who will vote come Oscar time. The membership to the organization has held steady at under 6,000 since 2003. Among the 176 are Jessica Chastain, Jean Dujardin ( The Artist ), Jonah Hill, Diego Luna ( Y Tu Mama Tambien ), Terrence Malick ( The Tree of Life ), Melissa McCarthy, Matthew McConaughey, Sam Rockwell, Andy Serkis, Octavia Spencer, Nia Vardalos ( My Big Fat Greek Wedding ), Lili Taylor, Kerry Washington, Wong Kar Wai ( In the Mood for Love ) and Michelle Yeoh. The Undershepherd Wins American Black Film Festival The 16th annual event opened with Beasts of the Southern Wild and closed with Raising Izzie . Among the festival’s winners: The Undershepherd , which won Best Narrative Feature and Best Director for Russ Parr. Best Screenplay went to The Last Fall , written and directed by Matthew Cherry, while Keisha Taylor’s Soul Food Junkies took Best Documentary. For more winners and festival highlights, visit their website . Around the ‘net… New This Weekend: Beasts of the Southern Wild , Take This Waltz , Last Ride , Unforgivable A long time in the making, Beasts Of The Southern Wild made a splash at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, taking the top prize and winning one of the top prizes in Cannes, and it’s hitting theaters this week. Australian feature The Last Ride traveled the festival circuit and it picked up a high-profile ally here. Take This Waltz is naturally getting attention courtesy of its star Michelle Williams and director Sarah Polley, while Venice-set Unforgivable is also hoping to ride the media wave to solid box office numbers this weekend, Deadline reports . Danny Boyle Assures PETA Over Olympics Opener 12 horses, three cows, nine geese, two goats and 70 sheep are among the participants at the opening ceremonies of the London Olympics. Danny Boyle has reached out to alleviate concerns about the welfare of animals who will feature in his $42.4M show by promising to remove them from the stadium early and ensure they do not face a grisly end afterwards “Genuine care will be taken of the animals,” he said. The Guardian reports . Cee Lo Green Boards Can a Song Save Your Life? He joins Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Stanfied and Catherine Keener in which he’ll play a very successful hip hop star. The film centers on a couple that moves to New York to pursue music. After Levine’s character dumps Knightley’s character, she encounters a down-on-his-luck record producer (Ruffalo) who assembles a ragtag music team to appear on a record with her, including Green’s character Troublegum, Reuters reports . Film Movements Gets Lucky North American rights to South African drama Lucky are going to distributor Film Movement. The story revolves around an orphaned 10 year-old boy named Lucky who makes a promise to make something of himself and heads to the big city., Variety reports .
