Monday, February 26-----While readers can turn to almost any newspaper, internet site or media outlet to get the results of the 79th Academy Awards (it is, after all, watched by over a billion people worldwide), this story will focus on what were, at least for me, the surprises of the evening….actually the surprises that kept the evening lively and unpredictable.   Among the night's biggest surprises:BEST PICTURE: While the choice of THE DEPARTED is certainly worthy (certainly compared t...

2007 0SCARS COMING UP -- AND THE WINNERS MIGHT BE ...by Alex Deleon, HollywoodNo self-respecting film critic can resist the temptation to try to predict who the winners will be on Oscar night, so, for better or for worse, with the big self-congratulation orgy less than a week away -- here are my predictions and conjectures.Helen Mirren(The Queen) and Forest Whitaker (The Dictator) will easily claim the Best Actress and Best Actor prizes, respectively. (The odds of anyone else upsetting the fron...

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Wednesday, February 7----With the ballots for the Academy Awards in the mail, speculation is growing about what has become an impossible to predict Best Picture race. While BABEL was considered the frontrunner, especially following its Golden Globe win last month, there is now industry speculation that BABEL and Martin Scorsese's THE DEPARTED may split the "serious film" vote. So, what exactly does that mean? Well, one scenario points to an upset win by the indie smash LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (...

Tuesday, February 6----With the ballots for the Academy Awards in the mail, speculation is growing about what has become an impossible to predict Best Picture race. While BABEL was considered the frontrunner, especially following its Golden Globe win last month, there is now industry speculation that BABEL and Martin Scorsese's THE DEPARTED may split the "serious film" vote. So, what exactly does that mean? Well, one scenario points to an upset win by the indie smash LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (that'...

Friday, February 2----Oscar-winning director Clint Eastwood (who has his fifth Oscar nomination as Best Director this year for LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA) will be the inaugural recipient of the Motion Picture Association of America's Jack Valenti Humanitarian Award at a gala ceremony to be held in Los Angeles on Tuesday, February 6th. The award, to be presented annually to an individual in the motion picture industry whose work has reached out positively and respectfully to all countries, creeds ...

Saturday, December 30-----For Westchester County film buffs, and intrepid New Yorkers not adverse to going off-island, the Jacob Burns Film Center is a distinctive cultural resource in the heart of New York’s northern suburbs. For the past five years, the Film Center has offered a serious alternative to the megaplex monotony of film theaters outside of Manhattan, with unique special programs and the best of independent and international cinema. This is clearly evident in just the first we...

And so we're off....the first major national critics association has announced their Top Ten Titles of the year, as well as honoring individual films and performances. In a very unexpected and in some ways alarming choice, the National Board of Review has chosen as Best Picture the Japanese-language film LETTERS OF IWO JIMA, a companion film to the much bigger budgeted FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, both directed by Clint Eastwood. It is a sign of Eastwood's clout at his home studio Warner Brothers that ...

Friday, December 8-----And so we're off....the first major national critics association has announced their Top Ten Titles of the year, as well as honoring individual films and performances. In a very unexpected and in some ways alarming choice, the National Board of Review has chosen as Best Picture the Japanese-language film LETTERS OF IWO JIMA, a companion film to the much bigger budgeted FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, both directed by Clint Eastwood. It is a sign of Eastwood's clout at his home st...

Classic films outdooor screenings at Montreal Festival from August 26 to September 5, 2005, showing at the Esplanade of the Place des Arts on Ste-Catherine Street.Thousands of film lovers and festival-goers each year enjoy watching films projected nightly on the giant outdoor screen. These films, box office hits, classics of the seventh art and films that have graced the Festival's screens in the past, are shown beginning at 8:30 p.m.For the duration of the Festival, every day at 2, 4 and 6 p.m....