VARIETY'S AWARD SEASON NEWSLETTER - OCTOBER 16, 2008
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Top Stories In This Issue • Oscar changes tune on music CDs• 'Godot,' '9 to 5' set same day debut • DGA Honors transcend glitterati |
• Award season contenders • Reviews: Body of Lies, Brothers Bloom, more |
AWARD SEASON
TOP STORY |
Hopefuls given clearance to send out discs
The Academy has changed its tune: Oscar music hopefuls have been given clearance to send out CDs to voting members of the Music Branch. In a change from last year, CDs of eligible scores may be distributed to voting members of the Music Branch any time prior to the nominations announcement on Jan. 22.
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NEWS |
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A potential tussle is brewing between a likely Broadway revival of 'Waiting for Godot' and incoming tuner '9 to 5,' both of which hope to open on April 30, the eligibility cutoff date for the season’s Tony Awards. Read full story
In just nine years, the DGA Honors in New York have come to represent more than just another vehicle for the industry to pat itself on the back. The Directors Guild of America has always been one of the industry's more successful organizations at flexing its political muscle, which extends to such issues as artists rights and hiring inequities. Read full story
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AWARD SEASON CONTENDERS |
We don't pretend to know who will emerge as the winners in this awards season. However, every year has its frontrunners and dark horses and we already have a pretty good idea of who they will be.
See award season contenders coverage
A look at the Academy Award's top honor over the past decade pretty much annihilates any notion of a best-picture template.
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Of all the major Oscar categories, perhaps none are more accommodating to dark horses than the screenplay.
Read Full Story |
VARIETY SCREENING SERIES |
The Variety Screening Series features the most highly anticipated movies of 2008. Each film is followed by a Q&A with the director, stars and more.
See Variety Screening Series coverage
Q&A with director Mike Leigh at the ArcLight Theaters in Los Angeles
Watch video See photos Read full story |
REVIEWS |
Neither the location-based verisimilitude of Ridley Scott's shooting style nor the estimable Middle East expertise of source-material author David Ignatius can disguise "Body of Lies" as anything other than the contrived phony-baloney it is.
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The hints of glib cleverness that hovered around Rian Johnson's debut, "Brick," burst into full, glaring view in his cheeky follow-up, "The Brothers Bloom." As a pair of brothers raised to be topnotch grifters, Adrien Brody and Mark Ruffalo are seldom allowed to play off of each other amid the film's breathless busyness and adoration for eccentricity. Read full review
How many underdog kidpic characters have been told "You just need to believe" in recent years? Whatever the ample number, add one more to the list with "Kung Fu Panda," a nice looking but heavily formulaic DreamWorks animation entry. Read full review
With Javier Bardem starring as a bohemian artist involved variously with Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Rebecca Hall, pic offers potent romantic fantasy elements for men and women and a cast that should produce the best commercial returns for a Woody Allen film since "Match Point."
Read full review
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