While many directors are all too content to mine a seam, German-born filmmaker Wim Wenders (“Wings of Desire,” “The Buena Vista Social Club,” “Paris, Texas,” the ambitious “Until the End of the World”) has enjoyed a delightfully diverse career, jumping back and forth between narrative and nonfiction works. His latest film, the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-nominated documentary “Pina,” taps into his decades-long friendship with the late, lauded choreographer Pina Bausch, imaginatively exploring her work in 3-D by utilizing the dancers of her Tanztheater Wuppertal ensemble. In a wide-ranging, half-hour chat — with Dave Matthews Band, the Yeah Yeahs and other light rock tunes unfolding at a remove in the background of the lush…

The folks at Paramount are very proud of their Academy Award nominees. In honor of Transformers: Dark of the Moon‘s nods for best sound mixing, best sound editing and best visual effects, the studio released a TV spot showing off just that, the sound and the effects. Perhaps they’re getting a bit ahead of themselves dubbing their crew the “best sound team of the year” and the “best visual effects team of the year,” but hey, these are the Academy Awards we’re talking about here; I’d be that thrilled, too. But perhaps not as confident. Take a look at the TV spot for yourself below and be sure to tune…

Relations between the countries of Iran and the United States may be ill at ease, but Iranian cinematic import “A Separation” — just off its Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film win and a Best Screenplay feting by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the first such honor from the organization for a foreign film — is capturing the hearts and minds of plenty of American cineastes. The movie is a multi-layered familial drama about a married couple (Peyman Moadi and Leila Hatami) attempting to resolve elder care issues, their teenage daughter’s needs and the potentiality of a divorce when a misunderstanding turned legal problem with their new maid renders these problems secondary. Sophisticated…

It’s been a few hours since the official list of nominations for this year’s 84th Annual Academy Awards were announced, and in typical fashion, not everyone is happy with all of the results, which include myself. Now it’s time to air out what was the best, and the worst, of this morning’s quick broadcast, along with a few predictions of who could win what. Again, Just Let “The Artist” Win Best Picture Already The Michel Hazanavicius film has been practically sweeping every other awards show that it’s been nominated into, so why wouldn’t it walk away with a couple of golden boys under it’s belt? It’d be surprising if this…

Nominations for the 84th Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 24) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar nominee Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games). Actor in a Leading Role Demián Bichir in “A Better Life” George Clooney in “The Descendants” Jean Dujardin in “The Artist” Gary Oldman in “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” Brad Pitt in “Moneyball” Actor in a Supporting Role Kenneth Branagh in “My Week with Marilyn” Jonah Hill in “Moneyball” Nick Nolte in “Warrior” Christopher Plummer in “Beginners” Max von Sydow in “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” Actress in a Leading Role Glenn Close in “Albert Nobbs” Viola Davis in…

Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence has been selected to announce this year’s Oscar Nominees. Chosen by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the twenty-one year old actress is slated to join the Academy’s President, Tom Sherak, this month on January 24th to share who the potential Oscar award winners could be. The official Oscar nominations will be revealed at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Just last year Lawrence was nominated for best actress for her role in director Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, where she starred alongside John Hawkes and Garret Dillahunt. Actress Natalie Portman ended up taking home the Oscar for her work in the Black…

Tons of people said that Andy Serkis should be nominated (and win) the award for Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards after seeing his (and WETA Digital’s) mind-blowing work in giving life to the CGI chimpanzee Caesar in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes.” Well, this sentiment has been picking up team ever since the film was released, and now it’s reaching a fever pitch. One of the ways that frenzy is being shown is in the form of a Facebook group. The official Facebook page for “Rise” shared the link to the Facebook community page called “Oscar for Andy Serkis as Caesar in Rise of the Planet…

Back-to-back announcements by two of the biggest awards organizations aren’t common, but this year we got lists two days in a row. There were some differences in the choices, but these ten films have suffered the most notable loss in the Oscar derby with a grand total of zero nominations from both groups. Here’s a quick look at the damage and each film’s chances at this point. The Tree of Life Terrence Malick’s epic drama annoyed some viewers with its lengthy and unfocused subject matter, and that may keep it out of the Best Picture and Best Director races. It’s still a good bet for Best Cinematography and other technical…

Well, as they say, when one door closes, another one opens. I was looking forward to Eddie Murphy being the host of the 84th Academy Awards, but when he and Brett Ratner (who was then one of the Oscar producers), that dream was killed. In comes a bit of news that filled a void a never thought I had. According to CinemaBlend, movie composer Hans Zimmer and pop superstar Pharrell Williams have been asked to collaborate for the Oscars as music consultants. Why they were chosen and what they will do, I have no idea, but this is some of the best Oscar-related news I’ve ever heard of in my…

A Best Picture frontrunner just isn’t what it used to be. Since 2004, the Oscar winner for Best Picture has only won a corresponding top Golden Globe prize once. That film was runaway hit “Slumdog Millionaire”, and films that universally likeable don’t come around too often (could it be this year’s “The Artist”?). Golden Globe nominations will be announced on December 15th, and if history is any indication, it’s likely that two films will be pitted against one another in the top race. Here’s a look back at the films and the factors that led to these conflicting wins over the past seven years for the Best Motion Picture –…