The running theme of the 88th Academy Awards was #OscarsSoWhite, but black viewership of the ABC telecast held up compared with last year. Data from Nielsen showed that 3.22 million African Americans tuned in, just 2% under last year’s total. African American viewers made up 9.4% of the total audience...
There are few things Hollywood loves more than celebrating itself and, true to form, the nominations handed out Tuesday for the 89th Academy Awards reflected an industry happy to revel in its own glittering self-image. But they also revealed a 90-year-old tradition-bound institution embracing the...
“La La Land” passed its first audition Tuesday — and then some, earning a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. Now, the question is: Can it go on and land the role it has seemed destined to win since debuting at film festivals in the fall? Can it take the Oscar for best picture? For those not wanting...
The nominations for the 89th Academy Awards were revealed this morning in Los Angeles. “La La Land” did what 800-lb gorillas are supposed to do: dominate the Oscar nominations tally, pulling down 14, including actor, actress, director and picture. Ava Duvernay’s “13th” joins “O.J.: Made in America”...
Just a couple of weeks after our new President labeled her “one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood,” Meryl Streep earned her 20th Academy Award nomination Tuesday. Not that the news seemed particularly momentous to the 67-year-old. The best actress nominee -- who earned her latest nod...
“La La Land” passed its first audition Tuesday — and then some, earning a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. Now, the question is: Can it go on and land the role it has seemed destined to win since debuting at film festivals this fall? Can it take the Oscar for best picture? For those not wanting...
When Viola Davis’ name is announced in the supporting actress category at this year’s Academy Awards for her performance in “Fences,” there is little question what her Oscar clip will be. It will be that scene – the one in which Davis’ long-suffering Rose Maxson, confronted by her embittered husband,...
For a man with an opportunity to join one of entertainment’s most exclusive clubs, “Hamilton” mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda was surprisingly disconnected from Tuesday morning’s Oscar nominations. Scoring his first Academy Award nomination for his song “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s “Moana,” Miranda...
The Oscars invited a wide ranging class of 2017 animation film nominees to the party Tuesday, from acclaimed studio hits “Moana,” “Zootopia” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” to Swiss stop-motion drama “My Life as a Zucchini” and the dialogue-free Studio Ghibli offering “The Red Turtle.” But Pixar,...
Amazon Studios, the film and TV production arm of Jeff Bezos’ e-commerce giant, made history Tuesday by becoming the first video streaming company to score a best picture nomination, a sign of how rapidly digital upstarts are succeeding at Hollywood’s game. “Manchester by the Sea,” the acclaimed...
For as much as "La La Land" is a throwback to the mainstage musicals of yore, star Emma Stone has the trappings of a Freed Unit starlet who shines brightest when playing characters caught in the sometimes bracing glow of the footlights. But the silver screen has always served as a siren song for...
Like most people, German filmmaker Maren Ade isn’t generally in the habit of checking her spam email folder. But one day in early July she happened to take a look and was surprised at what she found there. Sitting in Ade’s junk inbox was an invitation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and...
Filmmaker Clay Tweel first encountered his latest subject, former NFL player Steve Gleason, via a tsunami of footage filmed after the New Orleans Saints player was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2011. At the time, Gleason and his wife, Michel, had just...
Following the New York Film Festival premiere of Ang Lee’s “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” the main topic of discussion focused on “frame rate,” and Lee, sounding tentative and a bit nervous about the finished product, asked the audience for “feedback.” Not exactly the way you want to launch...
Even before production began on “Fences” in April, many awards season pundits already had the film’s stars on their lists of likely Oscar nominees. On Tuesday, we got to see why, when Paramount Pictures put out the first trailer for the movie starring Viola Davis and Denzel Washington, who also...
If the distinctions between film and television seem to be breaking down with creators and audiences alike, one place that still holds to a strict definition between the two is the Oscars. As the official rules and eligibility guide states, the Academy Awards are “to honor outstanding artistic...
Facing an angry outcry among some of its members, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Board of Governors circulated a letter to its members on Monday aimed at clarifying new membership rules announced in January. Under the new rules, which were enacted in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite...
One of the biggest questions facing the documentary world is how to categorize the emergent form of the docu-series. Are projects like "Making of a Murderer" and "The Jinx" akin to the time-honored television mini-series, just in nonfiction form?Or are they more of a classic documentary, just...
Moving to address its lack of diversity, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named three new governors Tuesday: African American director Reginald Hudlin, Latino writer Gregory Nava and Asian American animator Jennifer Yuh Nelson. The appointments follow through on a promise academy...
Meeting for the first time since Oscar night, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ board of governors will gather Tuesday morning to discuss the organization’s path forward on the topic of diversity. The closed-door meeting comes as the 51-member board must figure out how to enforce...
This time last year, few people would have looked at "Spotlight," the movie that just won this year's Oscar for best picture and predicted, "That is a film the academy is just going to love!" Meanwhile, "The Big Short," the Producers Guild picture winner, wasn't even on the 2015 schedule at this...
This year's Academy Awards telecast on ABC received generally positive reviews from critics for its brisk pace and host Chris Rock's biting commentary, and social-media mentions rose 22%. Even so, the Oscars had 3 million fewer viewers than they had last year. The day after their big night, first-time...
The Vanity Fair Oscar party has long been recognized as the most exclusive Hollywood bash of the year. But until you actually pass through the event's hallowed doors, it's hard to understand what all the fuss is about. And just getting to the door is difficult. First, you and your 13-year-old Prius...
During a comedy bit at the 88th Academy Awards Sunday night, Chris Rock said he trekked to a Compton movie theater to interview black moviegoers about largely white Oscar contenders. The resulting segment got big laughs as Rock asked cinema fans if they had seen, or even heard of, movies like "The...
Despite an Academy Award ceremony focused on addressing issues of diversity in Hollywood, Asian Americans expressed outrage on social media after two jokes that poked at stereotypes. The comments, one by host Chris Rock during a skit and another by comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen under his Ali...
Lady Gaga may not have won an Oscar on Sunday night, but her appearance at the Academy Awards registered as a clear victory. Nominated for best original song with “Til It Happens to You,” her tune about college sexual assault from “The Hunting Ground,” the pop superstar unexpectedly lost to Sam...
We are left with much to ponder after the 88th-89th Academy Awards on Sunday night, a show so long that it officially qualifies as two telecasts. Among the things we have to chat about a day later: What’s with The Weeknd’s hair, and does it require implants? Is it some sort of flotation device?...
For as much was written speculating about what this year’s Chris Rock-hosted Oscars might look like, it’s doubtful many prognosticators predicted an appearance of Black History Month’s sworn enemy Stacey Dash. Dash, best known for her work in 1995’s “Clueless”, now spends her days as a cultural...
"Spotlight" won the best picture Oscar on Sunday, rewarded for its overall craft and quality, yes, but also for the way it became part of the conversation (and prodded the discussion) about the ongoing investigation into the Catholic clergy's sexual abuse of children and how the church had suppressed...
Where do you find a headliner who can draw a crowd and command an audience’s attention on a night when seemingly every star in the galaxy is in Hollywood for the Academy Awards ceremony? If you’re Elton John, you look no further than your bathroom mirror. The 68-year-old English singer, songwriter...
One of the most urgent questions going into Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony was just how host Chris Rock would handle the gig, and particularly how he would address the ongoing #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Rock, a comedian known for his provocative take on race, tackled the issue head-on, opening...
“Is Hollywood racist?” asked Chris Rock in his opening monologue at the 88th Academy Awards. He quickly answered his own question. “You damn right Hollywood’s racist.” Sunday night's Academy Awards had an activist undertone, capping one of the most controversial Oscar seasons in history. Rock used...
Chris Rock's provocative turn as host of the 88th Academy Awards was lauded for the bold way he took on the lack of diversity in the film industry.But Sunday's buzz-worthy ceremony on ABC — where the drama “Spotlight” was the winner for best picture — still faced the head winds now common to TV...
A Pakistani filmmaker’s second Oscar victory prompted celebration in her home country Monday and renewed the spotlight on so-called honor killings, which claim thousands of women’s lives every year in the South Asian nation.Honor killings are deeply embedded in South Asian culture, where arranged...
When Sylvester Stallone won the Golden Globe last month for playing Rocky Balboa in the "Rocky" reboot "Creed," the ballroom erupted in cheers. The 69-year-old actor received a standing ovation that was long, loud and heartfelt. So why didn't Stallone win the supporting actor Oscar on Sunday? It...
Brie Larson plumbed her dark side portraying a traumatized young mother in the film "Room," spending weeks isolated in her apartment, immersed in accounts of rape and child sex abuse. It resulted in an intense, deeply felt performance — and it won Larson an Oscar for lead actress for her role as...
The 2016 Oscars telecast was a hot mess, but it certainly wasn't boring. An event most often criticized for being self-indulgent and self-congratulatory — so over-long, repetitive and predictable that the host is all but required to joke about its absurdity — this year's Academy Awards was a strange...
20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. led their studio rivals at the Oscars on Sunday, thanks to robust showings from "The Revenant" and "Mad Max: Fury Road." Fox's "The Revenant" took home three of the top prizes at the 88th Academy Awards: lead actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu)...
One veteran musician finally took home an Oscar at Sunday's Academy Awards, while a well-decorated newcomer added another trophy to his crowded mantle. Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer credited with more or less inventing the sound of the spaghetti western, won original score for his music...
The historic Oscars won by director Alejandro G. Iñárritu and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for "The Revenant" were a testament to the power and virtuosity of Mexican filmmakers and the allure they have for a Hollywood increasingly looking for evocative international voices. On a night of speeches...