Margin Call

'The Artist' Sweeps Spirit Awards Taking Best Picture, Director, Actor & Cinematography

The awards season train continues for "The Artist," and while in years past the Spirit Awards have tended to honor edgier or more decidedly independent fare, this year it looks like even they have the fever for the silent movie sensation. Taking home the big prizes for Best Picture, Best D...

The Amazing Race: Our Predictions For The 2012 Spirit Awards

This weekend isn't just about the Oscars, for the record. Saturday night, as is traditional, sees the warm-up for the big show with the 2012 Spirit Awards, Film Independent's antidote to the Academy Awards, intended to honor the best of independent cinema. With recent winners of the top prize includ...

As Mel Gibson's Latest Film Goes Straight To VOD, Is This A Glimpse Of The Future Of Distribution?

Something curious happened this week. It was announced that an action film from someone who has historically been one of Hollywood's biggest stars would be skipping movie theaters. That's not unprecedented, or necessarily surprising, considering that the star in question is disgraced A-lister Mel Gi...

Awards Mania As 'The Artist,' 'The Tree Of Life' & 'The Descendants' Earn Top Critic Organization Honors

Sunday was a major day for Oscar prognosticators, as a number of critics organizations went live with their end-of-2011 honors. Some films gained support, and some lost quite a bit of steam, but for those of you who look at the whole thing like a horse race, there was a lot of movement amongst a thi...

National Board Of Review Gives Best Picture & Director To 'Hugo'; Tilda Swinton & George Clooney Take Acting Awards

'The Artist' Wins Best Film & Best Director, While 'The Tree Of Life' Wins 3 From The New York Film Critics Circle

You know what's a really good idea? Drawing out your award winners on Twitter all day. In what seems like the final act in a disastrous public relations year for the New York Film Critics Circle, they made the ridiculous decision to tweet their winners, one-by-one, as they vote today, turning th...

In Theaters: 'Paranormal Activity 3' Hopes To Scare Off 'The Three Musketeers' This Weekend

It’s almost Halloween, which means it’s time for terrible horror movies to rule at the box office. I’m surprised there aren’t more this year, but we do have the "Paranormal Activity" franchise taking the Halloween crown from “Saw,” which I think we’ve seen the last of for a good while, at least. Sev...

Margin Call—movie review

Margin Call manages to put a human face on the current economic crisis—but I wish it was as good as its trailer, which is forceful, well-edited, and dramatically scored. The film itself has many good qualities, and an exceedingly strong cast, but it’s a bit dry.

And So It Begins, 'The Descendants' & 'Martha Marcy May Marlene' Lead Gotham Award Nominees

Well folks, the first batch of nominees this awards season have been revealed, with the Gotham Independent Film Award nominations landing this morning, giving an early peek at what will likely be some strong contenders down the line. Bear in mind, the Gotham Awards have little bearing on the eventual Oscar nods with only last year's Best Feature winner "Winter's Bone" factoring into the proceedings at the Kodak Theater. However, it does represent a good chunk of what you might see at the Independent Spirit Awards later in the year and if anything, these nominations confirm that Fox Searchlight is going to have another banner year on the statu...