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Academy Awards

Film

Will These 10 Films Be Next Year’s Oscar Nominees?

By Jason Bailey on

After months of hype, after hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaigning, after endless precursor award ceremonies leading to the big night, the Oscars are over. So, what’s next? We took a look at the films slated thus far for release this fall — traditionally the time when Serious Oscar Movies are unleashed — and inventoried their Academy-friendly elements to come up with our picks for next year’s most likely… Read More

Film

The Faint Silver Lining Around MacFarlane and The Onion’s Ugly Oscar Jokes

By Jason Bailey on

Here are the premises of some of Seth MacFarlane’s jokes during last night’s Oscar ceremony: People from other countries are often hard to understand. Black people, even movie stars, all look alike. Jewish people run Hollywood. Naggy women just can’t let stuff go. Women will often make themselves sick in order to be thin. You can ogle the nude scenes of even our most respected and awarded female actors. And even nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis is a future George Clooney conquest. Meanwhile, after the show, whoever was writing The Onion’s Twitter feed thought it’d be funny to satirically call that nine-year-old the name that most of us would politely refer to as “the c-bomb.” … Read More

Television

The Good, the Bad, and the Boring: The Best Reactions to Seth MacFarlane’s Oscar Performance

By Julia Pugachevsky on

When we learned that Seth MacFarlane would be hosting the Oscars, the 14-year-old boys of America cheered while cinephiles who didn’t care for the Family Guy creator’s trademark sexist and racist humor rolled their eyes. MacFarlane’s actual performance was just as divisive, with reactions ranging from “better than James Franco” to, “Really? A song about boobs?” Our host was well aware that he would face heavy criticism from all the people who shudder at the sound of Peter Griffin’s voice, so he threw in a lot to chew on: an array of original musical numbers, flash-forward jokes with William Shatner, an appearance by his own CGI creation, Ted. So, how did he fare? We’ve rounded up some of this morning’s best takes, from critics to Twitter. … Read More

Film

The 2013 Oscar Telecast, By the Numbers

By Jason Bailey on

Last night’s Oscar ceremony was… well, it was a thing that happened! As is the custom, there was plenty to like, and plenty to shake your head over sadly while contemplating the state of Hollywood and popular culture and Western civilization in general. But we digress! There’s plenty we could say about the Academy’s award ceremony/Seth MacFarlane Frat Boy Joke-ganza, but instead, we’ve crunched the evening’s numbers to see what they tell us about the big show. The data may surprise you! … Read More

Film

Oscar 2013: An Evening in Pictures

By Jason Bailey on

More than 30 minutes (and a good dozen Seth MacFarlane-induced cringes) past its scheduled end time, the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony finally drew to a close in the first few minutes of Monday morning. Since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words — and we’re still too exhausted from last night’s festivities to pen a novella — here’s a selection of our favorite images of the night. Enjoy them — and the 12 or so hours we get until next year’s Oscar race… Read More

Art

Incredible Mondo Posters Celebrating the 2013 Academy Award-Nominated Films

By Alison Nastasi on

We’re big fans of Mondo, the art division of the Alamo Drafthouse that creates limited edition posters honoring classic and contemporary films. They’ve also got a few vinyl movie soundtracks and VHS re-releases up their sleeves (and they sell tees). Mondo’s latest offering is a collection of posters tied to nominated movies in select Oscar categories. The Austin-based gallery was kind enough to give us a preview of some of the artworks, which we’ve featured in our gallery. Several regular Mondo contributors like Olly Moss, Tyler Stout, and Jay Ryan wooed us with their versions of Django Unchained, Moonrise Kingdom, Best Picture winner Argo, and more. Check out these beautiful posters, and then head to Mondo’s Twitter feed for purchase details. … Read More

Film

Flavorpill’s Official 2013 Academy Awards Drinking Game

By Alison Nastasi on

Organizers are hurriedly completing the finishing touches on the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the 85th Academy Awards premiering tonight at 8PM. The rest of us are readying our Oscar-themed cocktails so we can survive the never-ending event and walk (ok, crawl) away mostly unscathed. We’re counting on host Seth MacFarlane for unscripted hilarity. In the words of RuPaul: “Good luck, and don’t f**k it up.” You’ve agonized and argued over your ballot predictions and the Oscar shocks, snubs, and surprises, but when the red carpet rolls out, we hope you’ll settle in with our official 2013 Academy Awards drinking game. Try not to hurt anyone or anything, and join us here tonight as we live blog the ceremony. … Read More

Film

Misguided Netflix Reviews of Oscar-Winning Films

By Alison Nastasi on

We don’t subscribe to the notion that every Academy Award-winning movie deserved the golden Oscar. Sure, there have been a few mistakes, but the Academy’s 84-year record proves the institution is frequently spot-on. Surveying Oscar’s Best Picture winners allows us to walk the halls of cinema history, with film’s most honorable at every turn. Netflix users don’t always agree, however. The streaming service’s anonymous and boldly opinionated comments section reveals a number of misguided reviews of Oscar-winning movies that won unanimous praise. Opinions are subjective, but we question these critics. Hold your heads along with us after the jump where we examine the most ill-considered write-ups on Oscar’s best. … Read More

Comedy

Why Seth MacFarlane Might Not Be the Worst Oscar Host Ever

By Alison Herman on

When Seth MacFarlane, the actor/screenwriter/producer/comedian/director best known for creating bro-comedy classic Family Guy, was announced as the host of the 85th Academy Awards in early October, critics reacted with a collective facepalm. Who wanted to endure three hours of tasteless-but-still-pointless bathroom humor from a man whose most recent creative effort was the story of a pot-smoking CGI teddy bear? Still, there’s more to MacFarlane than meets the eye, and there’s plenty in his decade-and-a-half-long career to inspire some confidence in Sunday’s performance. Here’s why we’re confident he’ll succeed — or, at the very least, get more laughs than James Franco. … Read More

Film

Your Can’t-Miss Oscar Pool Cheat Sheet

By Jason Bailey on

The Academy Award ballot, whether for a work pool or for kudos at your Oscar party, is at tricky beast. To help you pick the winners, we’re weighing the predictions of Movie City News’ “Gurus of Gold” critic aggregate, plus The New York Times’ “Carpetbagger,” Nate Silver, Roger Ebert, and Peter Knegt of Indiewire. Click through for our guide to building the ultimate Oscar… Read More