Oscar 2014: (Flexible) maximum of two winners in Best Animated Feature Film category (photo: 2013 Best Animated Feature winner Brave) The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced another rule change for the 2014 Academy Awards. This latest change affects the Animated Feature Film category. According to the Academy’s press release, from now on there will be "a maximum of two award recipients" for Best Animated Feature Film, one of whom must have a producer credit. And that’s where things get a bit confusing. Despite the "maximum of two" Oscar recipients, "the director and/or key creative individual shall continue to be a recipient, and in the circumstance of a two-person team with shared and equal director credit, a third statuette may be awarded."…



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Oscar 2014 Rules Changes: Best Animated Feature, Best Foreign Language Film

Alfred Hitchcock San Francisco: Guided tour through the sites of Hitchcock’s movies The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has arranged for San Francisco City Guides to lead "a special, SFSFF-only edition" of its "Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco" guided walking tour. This particular two-hour Hitchcock tour will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 15, atop Nob Hill. From there, the tour will visit the sites of three Hitchcock films: Vertigo, The Birds, and Family Plot. (Photo: Alfred Hitchcock ca. 1960.) The San Francisco Silent Film Festival press release adds that Alfred Hitchcock tour participants will "have plenty of time" to go from the tour’s end at Union Square to the Castro Theatre so as to catch the 1:00 pm screening of Hitchcock’s 1928 silent Champagne.…



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Alfred Hitchcock San Francisco Special Tour

Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in August: Osage County: Duel of the Oscar winners [See previous post: "Oscar 2014 Watch: Harvey Weinstein Cannes Film Festival Coming Attractions."] More Oscar 2014 bait: August: Osage County, directed by John Wells, and starring three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, The Iron Lady) and Oscar winner Julia Roberts (Erin Brockovich). Is it mere coincidence that Streep’s seventeenth Oscar nomination and third win was for her portrayal of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady — distributed by The Weinstein Company two years ago? Either way, Streep’s Oscar 2014 competition should be fierce, as Julia Roberts doesn’t seem to be wearing any makeup in the family drama. (Photo: Meryl Streep and Julia…



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Oscar 2014/2015 Alert: Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, Judi Dench PHILOMENA

Cannes Film Festival 2013: Harvey Weinstein’s Academy Awards Preview Show (Photo: Fruitvale Station, with Michael B. Jordan) Harvey Weinstein’s Cannes Film Festival Coming Attractions Special, a showcase of upcoming The Weinstein Company releases, is now regarded as one of the Croisette’s key film events. Because it provides a hint at who or what will win the Palme d’Or? Get real. Even at Cannes, it’s all about the Academy Awards. This year, Cannes Official Competition Jury Member Nicole Kidman was Weinstein’s co-presenter. And no, there wasn’t any influence peddling involved. Kidman was there because she is the star of The Weinstein Company’s upcoming Grace of Monaco, in which she plays another K-named movie star, Grace Kelly. And let’s not forget that 11 years ago Kidman won…



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Oscar 2014 Watch: FRUITVALE STATION, THE BUTLER and Other Harvey Weinstein Goodies

Jonathan Rhys Meyers to star in Star Wars: Episode VII? Jonathan Rhys Meyers is "in talks" to star in J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: Episode VII, according to Latino Review. Best known for his role as King Henry VIII in the Showtime series The Tudors, which also features upcoming Man of Steel Henry Cavill, Rhys Meyers has already been featured in one Abrams movie: Mission: Impossible III (2003), in which he supported Tom Cruise. (Photo: Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors.) At this stage, it’s unclear which role Jonathan Rhys Meyers would play in Star Wars: Episode VII, now a Walt Disney Studios production. The next installment in the highly popular franchise is reportedly to continue the Star Wars saga where Return of the Jedi left…



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Jonathan Rhys Meyers: STAR WARS: EPISODE VII Star?

Cannes Film Festival 2013 highlight? (Photo: Bérénice Bejo, Tahar Rahim in Asghar Farhadi’s The Past) So far, what’s the most memorable event at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival? Perhaps the screening of Asghar Farhadi’s Palme d’Or competitor The Past, starring The Artist‘s Bérénice Bejo (replacing Marion Cotillard) and A Prophet‘s Tahar Rahim? Variety‘s Justin Chang called Farhadi’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning A Separation "an exquisitely sculpted family melodrama in which the end of a marriage is merely the beginning of something else, an indelible tapestry of carefully engineered revelations and deeper human truths." (Scroll down to check out The Bling Ring cast Cannes 2013 photos.) Or perhaps Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davies, which impressed The Independent film critic Geoffrey Macnab with "the sure-footed…



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Cannes Film Festival: THE BLING RING and Jewel Heist

Star Trek Into Darkness weekend box office: Downright disappointing domestic debut (photo: Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness) J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, featuring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan, took in an estimated $22 million at 3,668 North American venues on Friday, according to studio figures found at Box Office Mojo. Is that good or bad? Well, let’s just say that this weekend Star Trek Into Darkness should end up collecting approximately $20-28 million less at the domestic box office than early estimates indicated. (Check out comparisons between the Thursday opening of Star Trek Into Darkness and the more impressive debuts of other movie sequels.) Star Trek Into Darkness vs. Star Trek:…



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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Weekend Box Office: Highly Disappointing Debut?

Star Trek Into Darkness box office: Solid or disappointing domestic debut? (Photo: Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock in Star Trek Into Darkness) J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness, starring Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, has to date grossed $13.4 million in North America, including from 336 late-night Wednesday IMAX shows and all-day showtimes at 3,668 locations on Thursday. As explained by Ray Subers at Box Office Mojo, first-day figures may have been below par because Paramount Pictures changed Star Trek Into Darkness‘ release date last week — the Star Trek sequel was to have opened on Friday. (Addendum: Barring an unexpected Saturday and Sunday surge, “disappointing” is the word for Star Trek Into Darkness’ domestic…



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STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Box Office: Solid or Disappointing?