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Tag: best picture

  • ’12 Years A Slave’ Wins Best Picture At The Oscars

    The historical slavery drama 12 Years a Slave bagged the award for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. Just as noteworthy, British film director, Steve McQueen, made history as the first black director to win the Best Picture award since the Academy Awards’ inception.

    12 Years a Slave went against The Wolf of Wall Street, Philomena, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, Captain Phillips,  Her, American Hustle, and its biggest contender Gravity.

    12 Years a Slave is based on the 1853 memoir with the same title. It focuses on the story of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor,) a New York-born man who was kidnapped by slave traders, sold into slavery, and worked in Louisiana for years under William Ford (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), the owner of a plantation.

    During his acceptance speech, McQueen dedicated the golden statue to the millions of people who are still enduring slavery in the world today saying, “Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live.”

    The movie took home two other awards – Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong’o who is a newcomer in the business. The Mexican-born actress who was raised in Kenya won the award a day after her 31st birthday. In her speech, she reminded everyone that dreams do come true, no matter where you are from.

    Other winners are Alfonso Cuarón as Best Director for Gravity, Matthew McConaughey as Best Actor for “Dallas Buyers Club,” Cate Blanchett as Best Actress for “Jasmine,” and Jared Leto as Best Supporting Actor for “Dallas Buyers Club.”

    Other highlights from the Academy Awards included musical performances from U2, Pharell Williams, Bette Midler, and Pink. The ceremony also had a tribute segment for famous personalities that the industry has lost in the past year including James Gondolfini, Harold Ramis, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

    Image via YouTube

  • Critics Choice Awards: The Nominations Are In, But Who Will Win?

    As the nominations continue to roll in during the award season in anticipation of the big Academy Award ceremony, the Critics Choice Awards announced their nominations today. A few new faces, and several veterans are present during this year’s nominations.

    The same big name films that have been leading the pack along the way, and creating tons of Oscar buzz already are in charge of nominations at the Critics Choice Awards..

    The full list of nominations can be seen here, with American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave leading the way with 13 nominations each.

    The Critics Choice Awards are presented by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and is an awards show that focuses solely on film. It awards the best films of the year, and offers plenty of categories that the Academy Awards leave out, such as Best Comedy and Best Horror Film.

    With every announcement of new nominations, there are going to plenty of films, and the actors in them that get left out. Noticeably absent once again is Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which did get Oprah Winfrey a best supporting actress nomination, but the film was not recognized in the Best Picture or Best Actor categories.. However, the film did get nominated for Best Acting Ensemble, another category which the Academy Awards does not have.

    While the Academy Awards have decided to switch, and include ten nominated films for best picture, it is something that the Critics Choice Awards has always done. This year, the show features several fan favorites, while also including a number of films which have yet to hit theaters such as The Wolf Of Wall Street and Her.

    In addition to the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes announced their lineup of nominees, which also featured American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave with the most nominations. However, the Golden Globes separates their categories into comedy and drama, and luckily for those two films, they will not be forced to compete with one another.

    The SAG also announced their batch of nominations last Thursday, with similar results, and also saw Breaking Bad and 30 Rock as leading television contenders.

    The winners of the 19th annual Critics Choice Awards will be announced on Thursday, January 16th, and for the second year in a row, the show will be hosted by Aisha Tyler on the CW network. The awards are also presented on the same day that the Academy presents their nominations, and often the Critics Choice Awards is able to serve as a model for the way the Academy will vote.

    Image via Youtube

  • Academy Awards: Biggest Snubs of All Time

    It’s understandable, occasionally, that a great film might not win a Best Picture Oscar. Sometimes, there is something else that year that just outshines it. For example, Star Wars lost to Annie Hall. Fargo lost to The English Patient. And, Philadelphia lost to Schindler’s List. In a year like that, everyone can go home with their head held high.

    But, what about awesome films that were never nominated? For anything?

    For example, The Big Lebowski. Never nominated. Not for Best Picture. Not for Best Supporting. Nothing, period. Despite being a Coen Brothers film (the Coens have been nominated for 7 of their films), Lebowski took home nihil.

    Here are some other movies that are commonly considered great, but that were never nominated for any Academy Award in any category. Read ’em and weep:

    J. Edgar (2011)

    The Others (2001)

    Reservoir Dogs (1992)

    The Shining (1980)

    Rio Bravo (1959)