The ordeal with Brett Ratner’s poor choice of words has begun a trickle-down effect, it seems. First, he pulls out of the producer’s chair of the 84th Academy Awards, and now his buddy and “Tower Heist” star Eddie Murphy has stated that he won’t host the Oscars. According to the press release, Tom Sherak, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, announced that Murphy has withdrawn as host of the Academy Awards. “I appreciate how Eddie feels about losing his creative partner, Brett Ratner, and we all wish him well,” said Sherak. Murphy said that he understands and supports the decisions of everyone involved when it comes  [ Read More ]

As we enter November, the Oscars can’t be too far off. This famous awards ceremony honors movies released during the calendar year, meaning that some actors have multiple films eligible. Jude Law released a mammoth six films back in 2004, three of which earned Oscar attention, though not for his performances. Academy rules don’t permit an actor to receive two nominations in the same category, but earning one lead and one supporting mention is permissible. Often, a big year for an actor with one knockout movie role might lead to two nominations, even if the second is undeserved. For instance, was Jamie Foxx really Oscar-worthy in Collateral or was he  [ Read More ]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday that the list number of films in contention for the Documentary Short Subject nomination has been narrowed down to eight films. Out of those eight, only three to five will earn Oscar nominations. The eight competing for an Oscar nom are: “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement,” Purposeful Productions, Inc. “God Is the Bigger Elvis,” Documentress Films “In Tahrir Square: 18 Days of Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution,” Downtown Docs “Incident in New Baghdad,” Morninglight Films “Pipe Dreams,” Leslie Iwerks Productions “Saving Face,” Milkhaus/Jungefilm “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” Supply & Demand Integrated “Witness,” Buche The  [ Read More ]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Eddie Murphy has been given the job of hosting the upcoming 84th Academy Awards. Brett Ratner and Don Mischer, the producers of the Oscars, told The Hollywood Reporter that even though Murphy was being heavily considered, they were surprised with how quickly he agreed to host the show. When asked by the magazine/site about how fast they approached Murphy with the job, Ratner said that as he and Mischer were going through their options, Ratner thought of Murphy because they are working on a film together. “…I just happened to be with Eddie because obviously I’m making a movie ["Tower Heist"] with him,” he said.  [ Read More ]

It’s not even Oscar season yet and we already have our first Oscar news article! The Academy of the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have announced that director Brett Ratner and director/producer Don Mischer will produce the 84th Academy Awards telecast. Mischer will also serve as telecast director. “I was so impressed with Brett when I met with him to discuss the Oscar show,” said the Academy’s president Tom Sherak in a statement. “He has an incredible love of film and its history and is a true student of the business of movies. He’s unbelievably creative and knows how to take risks that are both interesting and inspiring. Together with  [ Read More ]

I know this is July and the Oscars happened way earlier this year, but according to the Hollywood Reporter, James Franco, the guy who took a serious beating for his weird performance as Oscars co-host has finally opened up to Playboy about the material he was given. In his words, he wasn’t sure any of it would work, even when they were in rehearsals. “It’s hard to talk about because it’s like assigning blame–not a fun thing to do,” he said. “For three or four weeks we shot promos and the little film that played in the opening. In the last week, when we really started focusing on the script  [ Read More ]

Title: Incendies Director: Denis Villeneuve Starring: Melissa Desormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette, Lubna Azabal, Remy Girad From a technical standpoint, ‘Incendies’ is a rock-solid piece of production. With a timely score and eye-catching cinematography, the 130 minute drama provides a decent landscape for this tale to unfold on. As it continues to open up, one realizes there’s a flawed script attached. And yes, I state that realizing this was nominated for an Oscar (Best Foreign Language Film) this past year. It could have been a gripping story if it wasn’t for the uneven pacing of the screenplay; leading this movie to feel more like a long line at a theme park. Once  [ Read More ]

The Hollywood Reporter via The New York Times is reporting that the ballots for the Academy Awards will be done electronically. The Academy’s Director of Membership Kimberly Roush, informed the 6,000 + Academy members that electronic voting will be implemented soon, possibly “as early as this year,and will certainly be in effect by next year.” She also wrote, “[a]t some point, once the system is up and running, mailed ballots will be eliminated.” According to Times, voting electronically could allow for the Oscars award show to be moved up to an earlier weekend in February. However, some fear that electronic voting could cause disenfranchisement for some of the older, less  [ Read More ]

According to Screen Crave, Anne Hathaway talked about her hosting duties on The Today Show. She openly discussed the bad reviews the show–as well as she and her co-host James Franco–have received. “There was the critical reaction, which was awful,” Hathaway said. “Then there are the people who have been coming up to me since then who stop and say, ‘I thought it was fantastic. I watched it with my family and we were entertained.’ I am very grateful to those people.” When asked about whether she would host the Oscars again, she said, “Why not? I don’t know. Maybe. Perhaps. No.” According to the Hollywood Reporter, most people wouldn’t  [ Read More ]

With all this talk about James Franco and how he seemed under-the-influence at the Oscars (he wasn’t, however), it would seem that someone felt the need to bring Whoopi Goldberg into the mix. According to AOL PopEater, the actress/comedian has been seen in a video dating from 1992. The video, which was shot during a recording session for the animated film “The Pagemaster”, has Goldberg saying that she was high when she accepted her Oscar for “Ghost”. “When [Oscar presenter Denzel Washington] said my name and I popped up, I thought, ‘Oh f—…okay, up the stairs…around the podium…pick up the statue, get the statue.” Earlier in the video Goldberg mentions  [ Read More ]

More Oscar meltdown drama! Yesterday, Shockya reported that Oscar show writer Bruce Vilanch spoke to New York Magazine’s Vulture about what possibly went wrong with James Franco’s hosting performance, citing his busy schedule, possible nerves, and, basically, possibly being in too deep. Well, the other shoe has dropped now; Franco has taken to twitter to express his frustration with Vilanch’s comments. According to Entertainment Weekly, the actor took to his Twitter to write: “Bruce, he let me down”, and tweeted a picture of he and Vilanch that he drew over, with the words,”James f—ed up the Oscars! Trust me, I know comedy. I mean, come on, I write for Bette  [ Read More ]

Everyone was trying to figure out what happened to James Franco during the Oscars. Due to his offbeat, way mellow behavior, many people couldn’t tell if he was acting out a persona or if he was actually high on something. Bruce Vilanch, the Oscars show writer, has told New York Magazine that the actor wasn’t high in the least. “I was with him, and he wasn’t high. And I asked him, ‘Are you high, and can I have some?’ And he said no to both,” said Vilanch. However, Vilanch does agree with mostly everyone about Franco’s performance that night, but blames it on Franco’s hectic schedule leading up to the  [ Read More ]

Last week’s Oscars was one of the biggest weeks for Geefwee Boedoe, freelance artist and director of the animated short, “Let’s Pollute”. It was a day that his career path had been building to for a long time. “I have been drawing since I was a kid, drawing and writing books,” Boedoe said. “I’ve always liked that combination.” His father owned a Super 8 camera with a single frame, which prompted him to start creating flipbooks and shoot them, allowing him to create his first animated movies. This love of animation stayed with him; after graduating from Cal Arts in the late ’80s, he went to work for Disney, which  [ Read More ]

The Oscars were a lot of things, but consistent surely wasn’t one of them. The same goes for the “In Memoriam” section of the awards show, in which several prominent actors and actresses were omitted from the tribute, one of them being Corey Haim. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Corey Feldman is upset about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ snub of Haim during the tribute, saying the Academy doesn’t “have a handle on who the public adores.” “Corey’s films have earned the industry over half a billion dollars, and his work remains an inspiration to young artists worldwide,” Feldman said to TMZ. “Corey dedicated his life to  [ Read More ]

Last night, I watched the Oscars, expecting some of the things I reported–the projected sets being one of them–to wow me. I also expected hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco to be fun, hip, and charming. Well, a valiant effort was made to impress the attending and home audiences, but overall, not much pizazz was to be found. Here’s the good and bad of the event: The Good Presenters like Billy Crystal, Kirk Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law , Russell Brand, Helen Mirren and Oprah Winfrey gave us flashes of what the Oscars were supposed to be like: classy, exciting, funny (on occasion), and even slightly cheesy. Many liveblogs,  [ Read More ]