F

Flavorwire

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Film

What Is an “Independent Film” in 2013?

By Jason Bailey on

In all the hubbub over the Oscars on Sunday night, we didn’t get a chance to say much about the weekend’s other big movie awards ceremony: the Independent Spirit Awards, held the previous evening. As usual, it was a chance to spotlight little movies that weren’t going to get attention the next night — movies like, um, Silver Linings Playbook, which won four awards for Best Director, Best Feature, Best Screenplay, and Best Female Lead. Coincidentally enough, Silver Linings Playbook was up for the equivalent of those same four awards (and four more) at the Academy Awards. Jennifer Lawrence won Best Actress at both. Yay, independence! … Read More

  • 0

Film

New Oscar Categories We’d Like to See — And Who We’d Nominate to Win Them

By Jason Bailey on

The Academy hasn’t added any new Oscar categories since Best Animated Film was established back in 2001; that was the first in 30 years. Every winter we discuss ways to spice up the ceremony, whether it’s new hosts or new production ideas or streamlining the handing out of the statues — but maybe it’s time to rethink the categories… Read More

  • 0

Film

This Year’s Independent Spirit Awards Nominations Announced

By Caroline Stanley on

The Spirit Awards are like the Academy Awards of the independent film world — and in recent years, they’ve also served as a pretty good predictor of which titles would be receiving Oscar nominations. Thanks to big budget, yet critic-friendly releases like Argo, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, and Life of Pi, that might not necessarily be the case this year. That said, we imagine that you’ll be hearing about more than a few of these films in the awards season ahead, specifically David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook and Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which lead the pack with five nods a piece. Also receiving multiple nominations: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Middle of Nowhere, and Keep the Lights On, which scored four nominations each. Click through to view the full list of nominees, and hit the comments to let us know who you favor to win in each category! … Read More

  • 0

Film

Watch Deleted Scenes from ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’

By Emily Temple on

Like pretty much everyone we know, we were blown away by Beast of the Southern Wild when it hit theaters earlier this year. Not only did the film thrill us with its expert mix of fantasy and harsh realism, but it had hands down one of the best characters we’ve ever met — tough little Hushpuppy on a mission. So we were psyched to see these deleted scenes from the celebration sequence, to be released on the Blu-Ray on December 4, which Benh Zeitlin ultimately thought were a little too comic to jive with the rest of the film. That may be, but we’re glad to have them here. … Read More

  • 0