Awards Season '08

I love nearly everything about Austin,Texas. Now one more thing to adore is their choices of films to award, starting with The Dark Knight.

The American Film Institute (AFI) responsible for those “100 Years, 100 _____” lists that get people riled up every year have come out with their list of 2008’s top films.

According to reports from inside the Academy this afternoon, they will be officially announcing shortly that actor Hugh Jackman (Australia, Wolverine) will host the 81st installment of the famed awards show.

This afternoon the nominations for the 2009 awards were announced, with films such as Courtney Hunt’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winning Frozen River, Jonathan Demme’s critically acclaimed Rachel Getting Married and Darren Aronofsky’s Toronto gem The Wrestler leading the way.

While I think many of us would agree that Heath Ledger’s performance was very Oscar-worthy, the question now becomes whether or not the Academy will actually give it to him.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, better known to many of us as The Academy, has announced the 14 submitted films for the Best Animated Feature Award that will be handed out next February.

This year’s crowded Oscar race just got substantially lighter. Two high profile films, both expected to be strong contenders for the Academy Awards, have been moved to early 2009 release dates.

We’ve been hearing all kinds of great things about Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, as it was easily one of the most visible films coming out of this year’s Toronto Film Festival. And now, we’ve got an idea as to when we might actually see the film.

Warner Bros. is re-releasing The Dark Knight in January, at the height of awards season, in order to be fresh in the minds of Academy voters and possibly bring home some hardware on Oscar night.

A few days ago, the only thing I really knew about Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler was that Mickey Rourke was in it and looked like Dog The Bounty Hunter had lit his hair on fire, put it out with baby oil and then shaved his beard off. Today is very, very different.

One particular film that has caught my eye during Oscar season is Kathyrin Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. Inspired by true events and recently declassified information, it follows an elite Army Explosives Disposal team in present-day Baghdad that fights an onslaught of bombs and snipers.