Oscar nomination predictions: Lots of contenders from ‘Birdman,’‘Boyhood’
This thing called buzz, I just can’t fathom it. I’ve seen thousands of movies and I’ve covered dozens of awards shows. At least a few times every year, I’ll emerge from the cocoon of the screening room...
View Article‘Birdman,’‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ top Oscar nominations
BY JAKE COYLE Associated Press Two extravagant comedies, “Birdman” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” tied for the most Oscar nominations Thursday morning with nine nods each, including best picture....
View ArticleOscars: ‘Selma’ director deserved a nod, Meryl Streep didn’t
We knew Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons and Patricia Arquette were going to be getting congratulatory phone calls on Oscar nomination morning. It would have been a stunner if their names...
View ArticleHow Selma got snubbed: The politics behind a nomination, or not
Racism and Hollywood. The two words seem to continually pop up in relationship to each other. One of Sony’s top studio executives, a white woman, was recently exposed for making racist jokes about...
View ArticleAcademy president responds to Oscar firestorm
LOS ANGELES — Responding for the first time to the firestorm that erupted over the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations, film academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs says the all-white...
View ArticleOscar show to include music by Common, John Legend, Adam Levine
There will be a lot of musical talent showcased at the Academy Awards on Feb. 22. John Legend and Chicago’s own Common will perform their Oscar-nominated track “Glory” from “Selma” at the Oscars show,...
View ArticleTim McGraw to perform for Glen Campbell at Oscars
In a wonderful move, the Oscars show producers announced Thursday that Grammy-winning country star Tim McGraw will perform the Academy Award-nominated “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” at the ceremony on Feb....
View ArticleBAFTA win boosts Oscar chances for Eddie Redmayne
The Oscar race got a lot more intense after the British version of the Oscars — the BAFTA awards — were presented Saturday night in London. The biggest news: Eddie Redmayne, considered to be in a tight...
View ArticleOscar predictions: ‘Boyhood’ no longer looks like a lock
How did “Boyhood” become the Hillary Clinton of the 2015 Oscar race? Back in 2007, it seemed a foregone conclusion Clinton would be the Democratic nominee for president and would probably win the...
View ArticleOscars preview: A push for smarter red-carpet questions for women
Every year on Oscar Sunday, people say to me, “This is your Super Bowl, right?” Sure, why not. The only difference is, Pete Carroll isn’t going to make THE WORST CALL IN THE HISTORY OF SPORTS in the...
View ArticleFull Oscars coverage: the winners, the fashions, the red carpet
Click here to reach Richard Roeper’s report on Hollywood’s big night, Bill Zwecker’s commentary on the red carpet and more. The post Full Oscars coverage: the winners, the fashions, the red carpet...
View ArticleWatch: Common Oscar speech touts ‘spirit of this bridge,’ Chicago roots
Accepting the Oscar for best original song, South Side native Common recalled a time where he and John Legend sang “Glory” on the same Alabama bridge where Martin Luther King Jr. marched 50 years ago....
View Article‘Birdman’ wins best picture Oscar
LOS ANGELES — “Birdman” has won the Academy Award for best picture. The film, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who also won best director, stars Michael Keaton as an aging superhero movie star...
View ArticleWinners of the 87th annual Academy Awards
Best picture: “Birdman” Actor: Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything” Actress: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice” Supporting actor: J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash” Supporting actress: Patricia Arquette,...
View ArticleChicago writer Graham Moore cheered for ‘stay weird’ Oscar speech
Chicago native Graham Moore, winner of the best adapted screenplay Oscar for writing “The Imitation Game,” drew a huge ovation for his uplifting acceptance speech Sunday night. The writer lamented that...
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Oscar for ‘Ida’ a thrill for its local distributor and Chicago’s Polish...
BY PATRICK Z. McGAVIN | FOR THE SUN-TIMES Chicago was a recurring presence at the Academy Awards on Sunday, with high-profile victories by Common for his exhilarating best song, “Glory,” from “Selma,”...
View ArticleUggie, canine star of Oscar-winning ‘The Artist,’ dies at 13
Uggie, one of the world’s most famous rescue dogs — who stole virtually all of his scenes in the Oscar-winning “The Artist” — was euthanized Friday, following a bout with prostate cancer. The Jack...
View ArticleChris Rock to host Oscars for the second time
2005 Academy Awards host Chris Rock is returning to the job more than a decade later. The producers of next year’s movie awards ceremony announced Wednesday that Rock will host the 88th annual ceremony...
View ArticleRidley Scott, George Miller, Chicago’s Adam McKay in running for Directors...
By Jake Coyle | Associated Press Adam McKay, Tom McCarthy and George Miller landed their first nods from the Directors Guild of America in a group of nominees that spanned genres from comedy to science...
View Article‘The Revenant’ survives the cut to land top Oscar nominations
By Patrick Ryan | Gannett News Service “The Revenant” is out of the woods and ahead in the Oscar race, leading Thursday’s nominations with 12 including best picture, director (Alejandro González...
View ArticleOriginal song nominees at 2016 Oscars is battle of the pop stars
By Mesfin Fekadu | Associated Press NEW YORK — The race for best original song at the Academy Awards is a full-blown battle of the 20-something pop stars, with Lady Gaga, Sam Smith and the Weeknd up...
View ArticleMany chagrined again as no black actors, directors nominated for Oscars
By Jocelyn Noveck | Associated Press A year after host Neil Patrick Harris quipped that the Oscars were honoring Hollywood’s “best and whitest,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled...
View ArticleFrom Will Smith to Alan Rickman, great stars get too little Oscar love
It’s so Hollywood for us to use the word “snub” when it comes to award nominations. Were Will Smith, Ridley Scott, Michael Keaton, Helen Mirren and “The Force Awakens” literally snubbed by the...
View ArticleOscar producer: Chris Rock rewriting Oscar monologue
Academy Awards producer Reginald Hudlin says host Chris Rock is hard at work rewriting his material for next month’s Oscar show. Hudlin told “Entertainment Tonight” on Saturday that Rock is eager to...
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The Mix — Disney on Ice and 5 more cool things to do in Chicago this weekend
1. ON THE FRINGE The 27th annual Rhinoceros Theater Festival, curated by Curious Theatre Branch, continues through Feb. 28 at Prop Thtr, 3502 N. Elston. This year, the six-week fest includes a fully...
View Article2 awards for ‘The Big Short’ up Adam McKay’s Oscar chances
The Oscar chances for Chicago-trained filmmaker Adam McKay got a boost and another boost this weekend with two prestigious awards. McKay and Charles Randolph, his co-writer on “The Big Short,” won the...
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Oscar statuettes, longtime creations of Chicago-based company, will now be...
Those impeccable, glistening, gold Oscar statuettes, for three decades the product of Chicago-based R.S. Owens and Company, will now be made in New York. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts &...
View ArticleLook for ‘Spotlight,’ Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson to be Oscar winners
Let’s say the Oscars were up to me. Come on, that would make for a fun show — especially if I got to pick the host and the presenters as well as the winners. I’d livestream the less glamorous...
View ArticleAcademy Award voters miss a chance to defy the old standards of ‘Oscar bait’
By Jake Coyle | Associated Press In the Coen brothers’ recent 1950s Hollywood satire, “Hail, Caesar!” Ralph Fiennes’ ascot-wearing British director Laurence Laurentz is helming a stuffy drawing room...
View ArticleCuba Gooding Jr. shares thoughts on O.J. Simpson, #OscarsSoWhite
As Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr. hit town this week, he shared his thoughts about the lack of diversity at the Academy Awards (and in Hollywood in general); the presidential candidacy of Ben Carson,...
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