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Category: International

  • Last installment of Twilight bags 11 Razzie nominations

    Last installment of Twilight bags 11 Razzie nominations

    MUMBAI; Though the last installment of Twilight fared better in terms of reviews than the last four films, it has been nominated as the worst film in the Razzie nominations.

    The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 led the Razzies lineup with 11 nominations including worst picture, lead-acting slots for Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson and supporting-acting nominations for Taylor Lautner and Ashley Greene.

    Other worst-picture nominees are Battleship, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, That‘s My Boy and A Thousand Words.

    A spoof of the Academy Awards, the Razzies announcement came almost a day ahead of Thursday‘s Oscar nominations.

    Winners for the 33rd annual Razzies will be announced on 23 February.

    The final installment of the Twilight series also got nominated for worst director for Bill Condon plus worst sequel, screenplay and screen ensemble. It also was recipient of two nominations for worst screen couple for Stewart and Pattinson and Lautner and child co-star Mackenzie Foy.

  • Colin Farell to be honoured at pre-Oscar bash

    Colin Farell to be honoured at pre-Oscar bash

    MUMBAI: 36-year-old Irish actor Colin Farrell will be honoured at the pre-Oscars bash next month.

    The Total Recall actor will be celebrated at the eighth annual Oscar Wilde: Honouring the Irish in Film party at in Santa Monica on 21 February 21, it is reported.

    Father-of-two, who won a Golden Globe award for his role in In Bruges in 2009, is one of a number of special honourees who will be celebrated at the prestigious event which has previously recognised the likes of Michelle Williams, Melissa McCarthy, Sarah Bolger, Saoirse Ronan and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

    The event has been created by the non-profit US-Ireland Alliance to recognise the contributions of the Irish in film and television and as a glitzy networking event.

  • ‘Lincoln’ leads Bafta nominations with 10 citations

    ‘Lincoln’ leads Bafta nominations with 10 citations

    MUMBAI: Steven Spielberg‘s biopic ‘Lincoln‘ is leading the Bafta nominations with 10 nods including for Picture, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Adapted Screenplay. But surprisingly its helmer Steven Spielberg has not been nominated which might hurt its chances to win the top prize. The show takes place on 11 February 2013 in London.

    ‘Les Miserables‘ and ‘Life of Pi‘ have each received nine nominations including Best Picture. Also competing for Best Picture are ‘Argo‘ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘. Missing from the list is ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘ which has been nominated in other categories like actor and actress. ‘Django Unchained‘ also missed the cut. However its director Quentin Tarantino has been nominated for directing and for his screenplay.

    ‘Les Miserables‘ has also been nominated for Best British Film. But as was the case with ‘Lincoln‘ its director Tom Hooper has not been nominated. For it to win Best British Film it has to fend off competition from the James Bond film ‘Skyfall‘. Also competing here are ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel‘, ‘Anna Karenina‘ and ‘Seven Psychopaths‘.

    Films competing in the foreign language category are ‘Amour‘, ‘The Hunt‘, ‘Rust And Bone‘, ‘Headhunters‘ and ‘The Intouchables‘.

    Daniel Day Lewis is the favourite to win best actor for playing ‘Lincoln‘. Other nominees are Joaquin Phoenix for ‘The Master‘, Bradley Cooper for ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘, Hugh Jackman for ‘Les Miserables‘ and a surprise nominee Ben Affleck for ‘Argo‘.

    The best actress nominees are Jessica Chastain for ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘, Jennifer Lawrence for ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘, Emmanuelle Riva for ‘Amour‘, Marion Cotillard for ‘Rust and Bone‘ and Helen Mirren for ‘Hitchcock‘.

  • Spielberg, Bigelow, Affleck nominated for DGA Award

    Spielberg, Bigelow, Affleck nominated for DGA Award

    MUMBAI: ‘Lincoln‘, ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and ‘Argo‘ have cemented their places as strong contenders for the Oscar Awards. The directors of these films Steven Spielberg, Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck have received nominations from the Directors Guilds of America (DGA). The awards show takes place on 2 February 2013.

    Also nominated are Ang Lee for ‘Life Of Pi‘, and Tom Hooper for the musical ‘Les Miserables‘. Four of them have won DGA awards in the past. What is fascinating is that all of these films are studio films. Hooper benefitted because a large of part of the DGA‘s membership consists of TV people. Hooper in the past made television miniseries ‘Longford‘ and ‘John Adams‘. Affleck is celebrating his first DGA nomination while for Spielberg it is his record 11th nomination.

    Spielberg said, “The privilege of making ‘Lincoln,‘ combined with this absolutely tremendous recognition from my peers, is humbling. I thank everyone for including me on this short list of extremely unique and gifted filmmakers”.

    DGA president Taylor Hackford said, “DGA members have chosen an incredibly rich and varied group of filmmakers to nominate for this year‘s Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film Award. These directors represent the highest standard of filmmaking, and their films are a testament to artistic achievement, innovative storytelling and the passion that filmmakers share with their audiences.” ‘Being nominated by their peers is what makes this award particularly meaningful for directors, and I congratulate all of the nominees for their outstanding work.‘

    It will be interesting to see if all five filmmakers also get nominated for the Oscar Awards. The Oscar nominations will be announced tomorrow evening. If one or two of the DGA nominees misses out then one could see David O Russell ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘, Quentin Tarantino ‘Django Unchained‘, Michael Hanecke ‘Amour‘ or even Paul Thomas Anderson ‘The Master‘ getting nominated for an Oscar.

    Having said that though the DGA is a strong indicator of who is going to win the best director Oscar. Only six times has the DGA winner not won the Oscar for best director. The last time that happened was a decade ago.

  • Tony Lip no more

    Tony Lip no more

    MUMBAI: Veteran actor Tony Lip, best known for his portrayal of mob kingpin Carmine Lupertazzi in The Sopranos passed away on 4 January. The exact cause of his death is unknown. According to family members the actor‘s health had been failing in recent years.

    He also portrayed real-life Bonanno crime family mobster Philip Giaccone, in Donnie Brasco, and real-life Lucchese crime family mobster Francesco Manzo, in Goodfellas.

    It was at the Copacabana Nightclub where Lip first met Francis Ford Coppola and Louis DiGiamo who made his first film-debut in The Godfather but in a very small role. He also co-wrote his own book in 2005 named Shut Up And Eat!

    Born Frank Anthony Vallelonga, played minor league baseball in North Carolina with the St Louis Browns organization, later served in the American Army from 1951 to 1953 in Germany.

  • Visual Effects Society set to honour Ang Lee

    Visual Effects Society set to honour Ang Lee

    MUMBAI: The Visual Effects Society is all set to honour filmmaker Ang Lee with the Visionary Award at the Visual Effects Awards here next month.

    In a bid to bring his films to life over the years, the director has employed various techniques in his earlier films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and creating a life-like tiger for his new adventure film Life of Pi.

    Said Executive of Visual Effects Society Jeff Okun, “Lee pushed the envelope of creation of visual effects for telling a story. In our generation, only Star Wars did that.”

    The 58-year-old will be feted for all his hard work with the award on 5 February.

    The inaugural trophy was handed to Inception director Christopher Nolan last year.

  • Zero Dark Thirty bags four awards at Vancouver Film Fest

    Zero Dark Thirty bags four awards at Vancouver Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Kathryn Bigelow‘s Zero Dark Thirty has picked up four trophies at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards, including best film. The director‘s drama about the hunt for Osama bin Laden also earned best director, best actress for Jessica Chastain and best screenplay for Mark Boal.

    Also big at the Canadian critics‘ kudosfest was Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, which got Joaquin Phoenix the best actor award, with the best supporting actor trophy for Philip Seymour Hoffman and best supporting actress for Amy Adams.

    Vancouver film critics gave Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors the best foreign-language film trophy, while Malik Bendjelloul‘s Searching for Sugar Man was chosen as the best documentary of 2012.

    In the Canadian film categories, Kim Nguyen‘s Rebelle, a drama about child soldiers in Congo, won for best Canuck movie, while lead Rachel Mwanza won for best actress and Serge Kanyinda was selected best supporting actor.

    And another Canadian film, Beyond the Black Rainbow, won three awards, including best British Columbia film, best Canadian director for Panos Cosmatos and best actor in a Canadian film for Michael Rogers.

  • Oscars to honour James Bond this year

    Oscars to honour James Bond this year

    MUMBAI: Following the success of Skyfall, the latest film in the James Bond series, the Academy will honour James Bond this year. The 85th Academy Awards will also pay a tribute to the Bond movie franchise that is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.
    Oscar producer Craig Zadan said, "We are very happy to include a special sequence on our show saluting the Bond films on their 50th birthday. Starting with Dr. No back in 1962, the 007 movies have become the longest-running motion picture franchise in history and a beloved global phenomenon."
    Skyfall is expected to pick up a handful of nods when the Oscar nominations are announced this Thursday. Former Bond star Timothy Dalton feels Skyfall, the most successful Bond movie ever, is worthy of serious consideration in a number of categories.
    In a recent interview, Dalton said that the latest blockbuster is "right at the forefront" of modern cinema. In the past, only two (films in the) spy series won Oscars, the 1964 release Goldfinger won the best sound effects trophy while the next Thunderball got the best special visual effects award.
    "It is absolutely time for Bond to get proper attention at the Oscars. On almost every level, this Bond movie is right at the forefront of what cinema is capable of. It is an absolutely modern James Bond, a movie truly of its time. Daniel Craig is fantastic and it feels very real. I thought the film was fabulous," observed Dalton.
    Skyfall has become the first Bond film to earn more than $1 billion at the global box office.

  • Life of Pi jumps $ 300 million mark

    Life of Pi jumps $ 300 million mark

    MUMBAI: Ang Lee‘s film, Life of Pi has crossed the $300 million mark at the international box office for a worldwide collection of $393 million till Sunday.
    The film roped in weekend earnings of $60.1 million from 64 foreign markets for the weekend for a foreign total of 301.9 million. It narrowly beat Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.
    Many questioned whether Life of Pi, based on the Yann Martel 2001 novel about a young Indian boy lost at sea with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, could be successfully adapted for the big screen. Costing more than $120 million, the film has earned $91.1 million domestically but is doing much bigger business overseas.
    Life of Pi made headlines when debuting first in Asia, grossed $90.8 million in China alone. Currently, it‘s doing impressive business in Europe and Latin America, as well as Australia.

  • Sony Pictures ends 2012 with total gross of Rs 2.17 billion in India

    Sony Pictures ends 2012 with total gross of Rs 2.17 billion in India

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures India has ended the year 2012 with the best year ever for a Hollywood studio at the Indian box office. With 12 titles releasing in the year, Sony Pictures finished the year with a total gross of Rs 2.17 billion at the Indian box-office.
    Last year, Sony Pictures India also had the two top opening weekends of all time for Hollywood films in India with The Amazing Spider-Man (3D) at #1 (Rs 340 million opening weekend) and Skyfall at #2 (Rs 275 million opening weekend).
    Both the films also reached their respective franchise lifetime highs. Half of Sony Pictures‘ titles in 2012 were released in four languages each and an additional one in two languages. Moreover, half the titles were released in 3D.
    The Amazing Spider-Man also had the widest release so far reaching a record 650 cities.
    Commented Sony Pictures India managing director Kercy Daruwala, "The Indian market continues to grow steadily with an increased interest in Hollywood films across languages and regions and parallel growth in the number of screens. We are proud to be at the forefront of this movement, and the top contributor to this market‘s growth for Hollywood."
    Sony Pictures‘ line-up this year includes Quentin Tarantino‘s Django Unchained, M. Night Shyamalan‘s After Earth starring Jaden Smith and Will Smith, Elysium starring Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, Roland Emmerich‘s White House Down, Tom Hanks starrer Captain Philips and returns of successful franchises in Evil Dead, Grown Ups 2 and box office sensations The Smurfs 2 (3D).