"Oh, Anne! With your small head and pert nose and oversized, ready smile and glossy pixie cut and squeakily tuneful speaking voice, uttering lines like “It came true!” as you gaze at your newly won Oscar with moistened doe-eyes, wearing a powder-pink Prada gown adorned with diamonds and bows:
Why are you so annoying?"
posted by vidur
on Feb 28, 2013 -
140 comments
Sexual Assault In The U.S. Military is the focus of a serious contender for Best Documentary Feature at this year's Academy Awards.
The Invisible War is a groundbreaking investigative doc that sheds light on the under-reported epidemic of
sexual abuse against female members of the military, as well as the lack of punitive action in these crimes: of the 8 percent of sexual assault cases that are prosecuted in the military, only 2 percent result in convictions.
A female soldier in a combat zone is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.
By
official estimates from The Department of Defense,
19,000 violent sexual crimes occurred in the military in 2011 alone. Sexual assault is
grossly under-reported in the military. In 2011,
3,191 assaults were reported when its likely that somewhere between 19,000 and 22,000 assaults occurred.
The women in the film speak about the physical and mental abuse they underwent while serving in the military - and about the the lawsuit they joined and the verdict in which their experiences were labeled "occupational hazards".
The film is already garnering much attention, especially as front-running Oscar Nominee -
and lawmakers are taking notice. [more inside]
posted by fantodstic
on Feb 19, 2013 -
46 comments
Since March 21, 1994, when the first regular obituary segment was dropped into an Academy Awards show, a spot on the yearly scroll of recently deceased movie luminaries has become one of the evening’s most hotly contested honors. And as in most Oscar races it is the focus of sometimes
ferocious campaigning.
posted by Chrysostom
on Feb 9, 2013 -
16 comments
This film Was nominated (and won) the Oscar for best animated short feature. If you love books and words then this silent 15 minute piece is worth your time.
Here is the backstory.
posted by Michael_H
on Apr 3, 2012 -
27 comments
James McBride talks about
The Help, Hattie McDaniel, why black women are still winning awards for playing maids, how black culture is appropriated and represented, and whether marginalized groups in America all serve the purpose of "cultural maids".
[more inside]
posted by nakedmolerats
on Jan 30, 2012 -
59 comments
In his Oscar acceptance speech, documentary filmmaker Charles Ferguson reminded viewers worldwide that "not a single financial executive has gone to jail" for the fraud that created the 2008 financial meltdown. His film Inside Job (on Netflix
DVD) explains, among other things, that the crisis was avoidable. See also the
Inside Job trailer and a subsequent
followup video in which Ferguson says that many sources "mysteriously backed out" before being filmed. He also
spoke at MIT in January.
posted by mark7570
on Mar 2, 2011 -
55 comments
Dogtooth is an Oscar nominated Greek film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Reviews have noted its
uncomfortable blend of family, insanity, sex, and power. In interviews, the director touches on his thoughts behind the film and its creation. (
1,
2,
3)
posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Feb 9, 2011 -
45 comments
"The Cove" , about the annual dolphins slaughter in Taiji, Japan, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. However, the movie has only been screened once in Japan, during the Tokyo International Film Festival in October.
Reaction from the town is a combination of "We're not doing anything wrong" and "It's none of your business what we do" with the added refrain of "We're protecting our cultural traditions" which is already familiar to anti-whaling activists and the like. Due to a media blackout, most Japanese people don't even know the hunt happens, but will the movie's increasingly high profile (It's even becoming
a TV show) and the negative publicity force a change?
More details on the making and content of the movie.
[more inside]
posted by donkeymon
on Mar 9, 2010 -
91 comments
Oscar Night In Hollywood "If we can huckster a President into the White House, why cannot we huckster the agonized Miss Joan Crawford or the hard and beautiful Miss Olivia de Havilland into possession of one of those golden statuettes which express the motion picture industry's frantic desire to kiss itself on the back of its neck?"
The Atlantic reprints an indispensible Raymond Chandler article from 1948.
posted by Skot
on Feb 22, 2008 -
11 comments
Oscarology is a system of astrology I invented -- excuse me, that was revealed to me in a powerful mystical experience -- based on what movie won the Best Picture Oscar for the year you were born. I have been communing with the Spirit of the Oscars and transcribing the visions it has vouchsafed to me.
posted by arcticwoman
on Jan 25, 2008 -
64 comments
