Month: January 2018

Kobe Bryant’s Oscar Nomination Clouded by Past Sexual Assault Allegation

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein fallout and #MeToo movement, discussions of that case have resurfaced.
Kobe Bryant on Tuesday was nominated for an Oscar for Dear Basketball, the short film based on his retirement letter from the NBA.

The former Laker superstar became a household name for his 20 years of dominant play on the court, during which he won five NBA companionships.

Bryant also made headlines in July 2003 when he was arrested in Eagle, Colorado, on charges of sexual assault. In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein fallout and #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, discussions of that case have resurfaced.

At that time, a 19-year-old hotel employee accused Bryant of rape, telling authorities she was assaulted by the former player while he was staying at The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera awaiting surgery.

Bryant publicly admitted he and the accuser did have relations, but he claimed it was completely consensual. He also made a public apology to his wife.

The criminal case was dropped after Bryant’s accuser refused to testify, but a civil suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Part of the suit involved Bryant’s apology, although he never admitted fault.

Oscars: ‘Wonder Woman,’ James Franco, Steven Spielberg Among Noteworthy Snubs

While a number of Oscar hopefuls are cheering after their names were announced with Tuesday morning’s nominations, a number of other individuals and films considered to be contenders found themselves snubbed.

Wonder Woman was completely shut out by the Academy, even in the technical categories, despite being one of the highest-grossing films of the year and receiving acclaim from a number of critics groups and awards organizations. Also shut out despite receiving early-season awards attention and Golden Globe, SAG Awards and PGA Award nominations was Battle of the Sexes, about the historic tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs.

James Franco was considered by pundits likely to land a best actor nomination but he wasn’t included in this year’s five nominees for his work in The Disaster Artist, after he faced a number of sexual misconduct allegations.

Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin’s relentlessly entertaining film about “poker princess” Molly Bloom, scored a surprise nomination from the Producers Guild of America, but that support didn’t translate into widespread Academy approval on Tuesday, though Sorkin’s adapted screenplay scored the esteemed writer a nom. But not his star.

It’s arguably the best performance of Jessica Chastain’s career, but the past Oscar nominee and Molly’s Game star found herself at the mercy of a harsh numbers game — with too many top-flight best actress performances vying for just five slots.

On the men’s side, just one year after scoring a best actor nod for Fences, Denzel Washington is back — this time for Dan Gilroy’s Roman J. Israel, Esq. The film was met with mixed reviews, but the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes both honoured Washington for his performance as the titular lawyer. Now, the Academy is also heralding him.

Usually, securing a nomination at the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes Awards, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards is a sturdy prelude to an Oscar nomination, but not always. Jennifer Aniston nabbed the trifecta of nods for her work in 2014’s Cake, as did Daniel Brühl for his performance in 2013’s Rush, but neither followed up with an Oscar nod. The same goes for Downsizing breakout Hong Chau, undeniably the most celebrated part of Alexander Payne’s latest film. While the project was seen early (SAG’s nominations voting takes place way before most other precursor groups), Chau had momentum on her side, but the field quickly filled with established, veteran actresses (Allison Janney, Laurie Metcalf, Holly Hunter, Octavia Spencer) and A-list superstars known for their work outside Hollywood (Mary J. Blige), leaving little room for a lesser-known performer to hold her ground.

Michael Stuhlbarg’s scenes in Call Me by Your Name are some of the most powerful cinematic moments of the year, but the Academy apparently missed the memo. With several different performances in Oscar-recognized films this year (Call Me by Your Name, The Shape of Water, The Post), Stuhlbarg’s first individual nomination is still on the horizon if he keeps choosing to work on projects similar to those he released last year.

In fact, The Academy snubbed two supporting actors from Call Me by Your Name. Armie Hammer was also left out. He cued a collective swoon from audiences around the world thanks to his passionate portrayal of Oliver, the hunky, older lover of a smitten teen, Elio (Timothée Chalamet), in Luca Guadagnino’s same-sex romance. His charms weren’t enough to win over the Academy, however, as more established actors in higher profile projects likely bounded past him in the home stretch of nominations voting.

Other surprise omissions included The Post helmer Steven Spielberg in the best director category, The Post star Tom Hanks in the best actor category, Call Me by Your Name’s Armie Hammer in the supporting actor category, Girls Trip breakout Tiffany Haddish, who helped announce this year’s nominations, in the best supporting actress category and I, Tonya in the best picture category.

While Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri landed seven nominations including ones for best picture, best actress (Frances McDormand) and best supporting actor (Sam Rockwell and Woody Harrelson), the film’s director Martin McDonagh was left out of the best director field.

Well-received films The Big Sick, Florida Project, Molly’s Game each only landed one nomination, for best original screenplay, supporting actor (Willem Dafoe) and adapted screenplay, respectively.

In terms of specific category snubs, In the Fade not scoring a best foreign-language film nomination and Jane not landing a best documentary nomination were surprises after both films won awards in equivalent categories from other groups.

Oscars: Academy Avoids #OscarsSoWhite Reprise

This year’s directing nominations were especially diverse.
As it unveiled its nominations for the 90th Oscars today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences avoided a reprise of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag it earned when the noms were announced in 2015 and 2016, when all the actor and actresses nominated were white.

This year’s acting nominees aren’t quite as diverse as last year’s, when, thanks to movies like Moonlight, Fences and Hidden Figures, seven of the 20 acting nominees were people of color.

But four black actors were included in the acting categories — Daniel Kaluuya for Get Out and Denzel Washington for Roman J. Israel, Esq. for best actor, and Mary J. Blige for Mudbound and Octavia Spencer for The Shape of Water for best supporting actress.

While the Academy, which remains 87 percent white and 72 percent male, has made a concerted effort to diversify its membership in recent years, only a handful of movies focused on black characters became part of the awards conversation this year, including Jordan Peele’s racially charged horror story Get Out, which did earn a best picture nom as well as an original screenplay citation. And while Mudbound, the story of two families, one black, one white, in the Jim Crow South, did not make it into the best picture circle, it was recognized for adapted screenplay, song and cinematography. In a breakthrough for diversity, its cinematographer, Rachel Morrison, became the first woman ever nominated in that category.

The Academy’s progress toward diversity was particularly evident in the nominations for best director. Mexican-born Guillermo del Toro was nominated for his romantic fantasy The Shape of Water, which led the field with 13 nominations overall. Get Out’s Peele, who scored a directing nom, as well as an original screenplay nomination, became the fifth black director to be nominated. And Greta Gerwig became only the fifth woman nominated in the category for her coming-of-age tale Lady Bird, for which she also earned an original screenplay nom.

Here Are Your 2018 Oscar Nominations

On Tuesday morning, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 90th Academy Awards with a live-streamed presentation hosted by two actors famous for playing animated characters: Andy Serkis and Tiffany Haddish.

As might have been expected, The Shape of Water led the field with 13 nominations, but there were plenty of surprises in store: Lady Bird’s Greta Gerwig and Get Out’s Jordan Peele both scored directing nods, Three Billboards doubled up in Best Supporting Actor, and Mudbound’s Rachel Morrison became the first woman ever nominated in Best Cinematography.

The Oscars ceremony will be held on March 4 and hosted, like last year, by Jimmy Kimmel. Hopefully everyone will open the right envelopes this time.

Best Picture
Call Me by Your Name
Darkest Hour
Dunkirk
Get Out
Lady Bird
Phantom Thread
The Post
The Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Margot Robbie, I, Tonya
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Meryl Streep, The Post

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Daniel Day-Lewis, The Phantom Thread
Timothée Chalamet, Call Me by Your Name
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour
Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Mary J. Blige, Mudbound
Allison Janney, I, Tonya
Lesley Manville, Phantom Thread
Laurie Metcalf, Lady Bird
Octavia Spencer, The Shape of Water

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project
Woody Harrelson, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
Richard Jenkins, The Shape of Water
Christopher Plummer, All the Money in the World
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri

Best Animated Feature Film
Coco
Ferdinand
Loving Vincent
The Breadwinner
The Boss Baby

Best Cinematography
Roger Deakins, Blade Runner 2049
Bruno Delbonnel, Darkest Hour
Dan Laustsen, The Shape of Water
Rachel Morrison, Mudbound
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Dunkirk

Best Costume Design
Jacqueline Durran, Darkest Hour
Mark Bridges, Phantom Thread
Consolata Boyle, Victoria and Abdul
Jacqueline Durran, Beauty and the Beast
Luis Sequeira, The Shape of Water

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread
Guillermo del Toro, The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Christopher Nolan, Dunkirk
Jordan Peele, Get Out

Best Documentary (Feature)
Faces Places
Last Men in Aleppo
Strong Island
Abacus
Icarus: Small Enough to Jail

Best Documentary (Short Subject)
Edith + Eddie
Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405
Heroin(e)
Knife Skills
Traffic Stop

Best Film Editing
Jonathan Amos, Paul Machlis, Baby Driver
Jon Gregory, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Tatiana S. Riegel, I, Tonya
Lee Smith, Dunkirk
Sidney Wolinsky, The Shape of Water

Best Foreign Language Film
A Fantastic Woman
Loveless
On Body and Soul
The Insult
The Square

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Beverly Binda, Victoria and Abdul
J.D. Bowers, Megan Harkness, Ailsa Macmillan, Robert A. Pandini, Wonder
David Malinkowski, Lucy Sibbick, Anita Burger, Darkest Hour

Best Music (Original Score)
Alexandre Desplat, The Shape of Water
Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread
Carter Burwell, Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri
John Williams, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Hans Zimmer, Dunkirk

Best Music (Original Song)
“Mighty River” from Mudbound by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson
“Remember Me” from Coco by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“Stand Up for Something” from Marshall by Common, Andra Day, and Diane Warren
“The Mystery of Love” from Call Me by Your Name by Sufjan Stevens
“This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul

Best Production Design
Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis, Dunkirk
Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, and Jeff Melvin, The Shape of Water
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Darkest Hour
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer, Beauty and the Beast
Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola, Bladerunner 2049

Best Short Film (Animated)
Dear Basketball
Garden Party
Negative Space
Lou
Revolting Rhymes

Best Short Film (Live Action)
DeKalb Elementary
My Nephew Emmett
The Silent Child
Watu Wote/All of Us
The Eleven o’clock

Best Sound Editing
Richard King, Alex Gibson, Dunkirk
Mark A. Mangini, Theo Green, Blade Runner 2049
Nathan Robitaille, The Shape of Water
Julian Slater, Baby Driver
Matthew Wood, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Sound Mixing
Ron Bartlett, Dough Hemphill, Mac Ruth, Blade Runner 2049
Tim Cavagin, Julian Slater, Baby Driver
Christian T. Cooke, Filip Hosek, Brad Zoern, The Shape of Water
Gregg Landaker, Gary Rizzo, Mark Weingarten, Dunkirk
David Parker, Michael Semanchick, Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Best Visual Effects
Richard Bain, Ben Morris, Michael Mulholland, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Daniel Barrett, Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Joel Whist, War for the Planet of the Apes
Stephen Rosenbaum, Jeff White, Scott Benza, Mike Meinardus, Kong: Skull Island
John Nelson, Paul Lambert, Richard R. Hoover, Gerd Nefzer, Blade Runner 2049
Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Jonathan Fawkner, Dan Sudick, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Aaron Sorkin, Molly’s Game
James Ivory, Call Me by Your Name
Scott Frank & James Mangold and Michael Green, Logan
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, The Disaster Artist
Dee Rees, Virgil Williams, Mudbound

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Guillermo Del Toro & Vanessa Taylor, The Shape of Water
Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird
Emily V. Gordon, Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Jordan Peele, Get Out
Martin McDonagh, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Barenaked Ladies Headed For Juno Hall of Fame

Barenaked Ladies will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at the 2018 Juno Awards, The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) has announced.

On hand to receive the honour will be the current lineup of the pop-rock favourites – Ed Robertson, Jim Creeggan, Kevin Hearn and Tyler Stewart –plus original member, co-founder and singer-songwriter Steven Page, who left the band in 2009 to pursue a solo career.

The reunion will include Page rejoining his former mates in what is described as a “one-time special appearance” set for live broadcast by the CBC on Sunday, March 25.

The group celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Over those three decades, BNL has been one of Canada’s most celebrated collectives, with career accolades that include eight Juno Awards, two Billboard Music Awards and multiple Grammy nominations.

Other Canadian Music Hall of Famers include Alanis Morissette, Anne Murray, Blue Rodeo, Bruce Cockburn, Joni Mitchell, k.d. lang, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Oscar Peterson, Rush, The Guess Who, The Tragically Hip, Shania Twain and 2017 inductee Sarah McLachlan.

Formed in 1988 in Scarborough, ON, BNL has sold over 15 million albums worldwide. The band’s style has evolved significantly over the course of their career, favouring acoustic in the early days and growing to encompass a mixture of genres. The 1991 release of The Yellow Tape, initially meant as a demo cassette, would go on to become the first independent tape to ever achieve platinum status, with over 100,000 copies sold in Canada thanks to the inclusion of the still-popular musical whimsy “If I Had A Million Dollars” and the unrepentant energy their manager of the time, Nigel Best, put into promoting the ensemble and making hay with their name.

Following multiple indie cassette releases, the band signed to Sire Records, with whom they released their first full album entitled Gordon. It was a cultural phenomenon in Canada and was certified Diamond (selling over 1 million records). Stunt, released in 1998, would become the band’s most commercially successful record, climbing all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard album chart, anchored by the smash hit “One Week,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The band has toured internationally over the years, performing at Madison Square Garden, The Royal Albert Hall and Wembley. Known for such hits as “Pinch Me,” “It’s All Been Done,” “Brian Wilson,” “If I Had $1,000,000,” “Jane,” and “Odds Are,” the band also penned the theme song for the hit CBS series, The Big Bang Theory.

In 2013 Barenaked Ladies collaborated with Commander Chris Hadfield on the song “I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing),” recorded while the Canadian astronaut was in orbit in the International Space Station. Later that year their 10th studio release, Grinning Streak, debuted at #10 on the Billboard Top 200 followed by 2015’s Silverball and most recently Fake Nudes.

Tickets for The 2018 Juno Awards are currently on sale through the Rogers Arena Box Office, by phone at 1-855-985-5000 and online at ticketmaster.ca

For more information on the 2018 Juno Awards, visit junoawards.ca

The 47th annual Juno Awards and Juno Week 2018 will be hosted in Vancouver from March 19 through March 25, culminating in The Juno Awards Broadcast on CBC on Sunday, March 25, taking place at the Rogers Arena.