Category: media

And why is the race for top movie so tight? It’s the economy, stupid.

Oprah Winfrey left a huge hole in the talk-show world when she decamped for her own network. But is Ellen DeGeneres, who’s about to host the Oscars, the heir to that crown – or a different phenomenon entirely?

If you’re betting on the Oscars, now’s the time to put your money where the awards are piling up.

“The few remaining people who have close links to one of Britain’s least likely heroes fear that the true story of an unjustly overlooked champion of cultural history has been edited out in order to make good adventure cinema.”

Sundance is a filter as well as a spotlight and a megaphone for lots of new things.

Think about it: Take all the sex, drugs and profanity out of that screenplay, and what’s left? Only three-quarters of the film, that’s what – not quite enough to make sense.

“After years of economic doldrums and creative drought, Pakistani movies are pulling in crowds at home and garnering awards at international film festivals. … Taking the power of storytelling into their own hands, Pakistani filmmakers are fashioning much-needed, nuanced portraits of their country – and cultivating a degree of national pride that hasn’t been felt for a long time.”

Yeah, there were some raised eyebrows at who was left out; no real shockers as to who was included. (Don’t worry about Oprah; she’ll be fine. Same for Tom Hanks.) Andrew O’Hehir analyzes the choices – and laments that his two favorite films of the year were shut out.

“We all have a pretty good idea of what constitutes ‘Oscar bait,’ but a forthcoming paper in the American Sociological Review by UCLA professors Gabriel Rossman and Oliver Schilke attempts to define it mathematically.”

“Indeed, the court has very nearly given the FCC — and state utility commissions, to boot — carte blanche to regulate the entire internet. And that’s the real story here.”