The other issue that some will raise is the bloated nature of the telecast. Beginning at 8:30 p.m. EST, Sean Penn didn't announce that Birdman had won Best Picture until 11:48 p.m. In between all the awards being handed out, viewers were expected to slog their way through comedy bits that arguably fell flat, musical performances, and several commercial breaks. In this day and age, fans can find out who wins in real time via social media and see any speeches they're interested in watching online shortly after the original telecast. The need to see the show live has decrea

Surprisingly, neither Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin nor Disney's 2D animated critical darling, Winnie the Pooh , is a contender for Best Animated Feature. However, despite Stephen Daldry's critic-dividing Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close landing a Best Pic nod over a more universally-beloved title like, say, Warrior , that selection was (unfortunately) expec

Deadline is reporting that viewership for the awards ceremony was down by 17 percent in the coveted 18-49 demographic, and 18 percent overall when compared to last year. That's the lowest they've been since 2009 - a huge reason for concern considering that last year's telecast was the most-watched since 2000. Whatever the reason may be, the Oscars couldn't keep the interest of viewers this time aro

So, all in all, just another year at the Oscars - complete with plenty of obvious choices, surprising snubs, and a handful of unexpected nominations. Whether or not the actual winners list will be quite so predictable - or, perhaps, mix things up a bit - that remains to be s

My Kid Could Paint That was the last film festival games events|https://Moviefestivalhub.com/ I saw at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, and is a fascinating look at the story of four year old Marla Olmstead, who a couple of years ago took the art world by storm by rocketing from lower middle class obscurity to international fame through the sale of her paintings. This documentary by director Amir Bar-Lev is extremely well done and is about as close to neutral as I think one could

In the aftermath of the 2012 Golden Globes ceremony , Hollywood "in-crowd" types like George Clooney and Meryl Streep are favored to take home the gold for acting, while multiple Globe-winning films such as The Artist and The Descendants are considered heavyweight contenders for the coveted Best Picture Os

Legend may not be the most memorable biography about a real-life gangster (make that gangsters ), but Tom Hardy's turn as the Twin crime bosses Reggie and Ronnie Kray is easily the film's highlight. It's also a notable case of an actor having to play off himself while at the same time crafting multi-faceted portraits of two real-world charact

It remains to be seen if this is something that will plague the Oscars for the next handful of years or is merely a blip on the radar. Looking ahead to 2015's award season (I know, bear with me...), there are offerings from filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and David O. Russell among others that could prove to be more lucrative endeavors than the crop we just got. The Academy will spend the next 12 months figuring out how to retool their telecast, but the odds of a ratings boost are in their fa

And, honestly, it's difficult to say what exactly can be done to fix this. The obvious answer is "nominate films people have seen," but that is a little disingenuous to the acclaimed movies that did get nominated. Whiplash , Boyhood , Birdman , and The Grand Budapest Hotel may not have become mainstream hits, but they all have their passionate supporters among cinephiles and received a boost in awareness thanks to the Oscar label. Maybe if studios made these awards contenders more readily available , they'd attract a wider audie

Also appearing later in the film (although his expletive-laced voice is heard early on) is Ralph Fiennes as the man who is in charge of telling them who they need to kill and when. Fiennes did a great job in the role with an intensity that would unleash itself with great ferocity. I also enjoyed both Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. Gleeson was just peaceful to watch, if that makes any sense, and Farrell was the polar, manic opposite. His face was a rubber mask of expressions that was very entertaining to

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence ( Winter's Bone , The Hunger Games ) jointly announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards this morning, on Tuesday January 24th. The actual 2012 Oscar ceremony will take place next month, on February 26th at the Kodak theater - with Billy Crystal serving as host, for the ninth time in his car

We meet the family, consisting of Marla, a younger brother and her parents. The first half of the documentary tells the story of what led up to the discovery of Marla's paintings (first displayed at a local coffee shop just for fun) and the ensuing fame and eventual media blitz. The Olmstead's introduction to the world came through a local newspaper reporter who comes across as extremely ethical on both the journalism side of things as well as the human side. Before writing her initial story about Marla and her paintings, she asked the Olmsteads very clearly whether they really wanted her to write the story, because although there was a positive side to the publicity there could also be some negative consequences down the r