Posts Tagged ‘Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’

Pixar's "Up" is this year's front runner for Best Animated Picture

This year, because the number of films submitted to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences reached at least 16, there will potentially be 5 final nominees for Best Animated Picture for the 82nd Academy Awards. The academy has not yet viewed all 20, and so nothing is set in stone, but the odds that five or more films will be disqualified (lowering the number of nominees down to 3) are thought to be minimal.

The 20 submitted features are:

• “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel”
• “Astro Boy”
• “Battle for Terra”
• “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
• “Coraline”
• “Disney’s A Christmas Carol”
• “The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer”
• “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
• “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs”
• “Mary and Max”
• “The Missing Lynx”
• “Monsters vs. Aliens”
• “9”
• “Planet 51”
• “Ponyo”
• “The Princess and the Frog”
• “The Secret of Kells”
• “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure”
• “A Town Called Panic”
• “Up”

Two records have been made, with 6 submissions being made in 3-D and 4 films being shot in stop-motion.

The last day for a film to be submitted for nomination is next Monday, which also means that all films in the list above have until then to have their L.A. qualifying run.

All Academy Awards nominations will be released Feb. 2nd, with the awards show on March 7th.

Source: Variety

 Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released a list of the semi-finalists eligible for nomination for the Best Documentary Oscar. The list was narrowed down from 37 to 8, and will later be further narrowed down to 3, or possibly 5. The official nominees will be released February 2nd.

The list of films currently still eligible to be nominated are:

• China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, Downtown Community Television Center, Inc.
• The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner, Just Media
• The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, Community Media Productions
• Lt. Watada, Chanlim Films
• Music by Prudence, iThemba Productions
• Rabbit a la Berlin, MS Films
• Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, Outside Productions
• Woman Rebel, Women Rebel Films

Source: Variety

Come closer to Oscar time Movie-Thoughts will have more in-depth information on the nominees for all categories.

Five more nominees, but still just one of these.

Is the Change Good or Bad?

Cliff – This past June, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesannounced it would increase the number of nominees for Best Picture from 5 to 10, starting with the upcoming 82^nd Academy Awards taking place March 7^th. Reportedly, the reasons for the surprise change were to, among other things, increase viewership of the Academy Awards. The academy board of governors (which delegate certain awards such as the one for lifetime achievement) felt there were more than five films that deserved to be nominated for Best Picture last year, with The Dark Knight being the most popularly cited example.

It can be said that every year there are films that get “snubbed” by the academy that deserved to have been nominated for Best Picture. Last year was no different. The main reason for the change, which the academy admits is only one of many, is to attract more casual viewers. Many filmgoers have expressed either dissatisfaction or disinterest in the Oscars over the past few years because none of the movies they saw and enjoyed were nominated for any kinds of awards outside of special effects, sound, or editing -the kinds of awards that people tend to spend the time using the restroom or refreshing drinks. Last year The Dark Knight became the fourth-highest grossing film of all time worldwide (second domestically behind only Titanic). This alone should mean nothing to the academy, but the film was also one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year (ex., it earned a 94% on RottenTomatoes.com). For such a popular and well regarded movie not to get a Best Picture nomination seemed rather perplexing to many people, including yours truly. Luckily, however, Heath Ledger’s win for Best Supporting Actor helped alleviate some of this frustration. Read the rest of this entry »