Who is this old guy hosting? Why is it suddenly okay to make jokes about racism? Dogs can go to the Oscars?

These may be the questions you ask yourself tonight during the Oscars if you haven’t been following Hollywood closely this season. Not to fret! I’m here with everything you need to know to follow the show and understand all the poorly-delivered presenter jokes. [Read more →]

In anticipation of the 84th Academy Awards ceremony to be held this Sunday night (7pm, ABC), BlogDailyHerald is once again breaking down the major categories for you.

If anything, 2011 was a year marked by nostalgia. Martin Scorsese’s 3D family film Hugo explored the birth of film as an imaginative medium, while its rival The Artist functioned as a love letter to the long-gone silent film genre. Gil Pender, the protagonist of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, contemplated whether nostalgia for a past decade should dominate one’s opinion of the present. The Muppets reminded us of the ragtag band of puppets we’d left behind with the birth of CGI. Of the Best Picture nominees, only one (The Descendants) didn’t take place in the past.

That being said, it’s appropriate that we take another look into the past, to celebrate the films of 2011 that awed and inspired (and sometimes underwhelmed) us. [Read more →]

With the Academy Awards only a few short days away (watch them this Sunday on ABC), here we are with a detailed breakdown of the major categories. Looking back, it was a pretty interesting year for film. Blockbusters like Toy Story 3 and Inception respected the intelligence of their audiences and garnered astounding critical acclaim. One of the most significant cultural institutions of our time was lampooned when The Social Network profiled Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. Also, Little Fockers came out. Yes indeed, 2010 was a year for the books… [Read more →]

Oh, the Oscars. Along with birthdays and the Superbowl, the Academy Awards is one of those once-a-year, can’t miss events. At least for anyone who loves critically-acclaimed movies, glitzy Hollywood stars, sing and dance numbers, and Meryl Streep. Thankfully, Gail loves all four.

This year’s Oscars were especially exceptional. For the first time in the Academy’s history, a woman took the Oscar for Best Director home. And not just any woman. The award went to The Hurt Locker’s director Kathryn Bigelow — James Cameron’s (a.k.a Mr.Avatar-big-CGI-movie-man) ex-wife.

Although “Avatar” was an impressive commercial success, not many were shocked when “The Hurt Locker,” which has been called a “near perfect war film” since its 2008 release, took the Best Picture award. Other winners included Jeff Bridges (or, as most Brown students call him, ‘The Dude’) for Best Actor, Sandra Bullock for Best Actress (who won another kind of award the night before), Mo’Nique for Best Supporting Actress, and Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor. [Read more →]

Today really has the potential to be one of the best days of the year.  Not only is it groundhog’s day, and the day of the most anticipated TV moment possibly in our lifetimes, but The Academy just released their nominations for the biggest awards show in the world.  After the jump, lets see how they stacked up against our predictions: [Read more →]