Categories
Awards

Mmmmmmmmm…In-N-Out Burger!!

Man accused of stealing Frances McDormand’s Oscar trophy for best actress

A man was arrested and is accused of stealing Frances McDormand’s Oscars trophy after the Academy Awards on Sunday night, Los Angeles police said.

Terry Bryant, 47, was arrested on suspicion of felony grand theft, said officer Rosario Herrera, a police spokesperson.

Video captured by The Associated Press appears to show Bryant walking with the statuette out of the Governors Ball, the Oscars after-party where police say he took it.

The video shows a man in a tuxedo who appears to be Bryant holding an Oscar statuette highly and proudly as an onlooker cheers.

“All right baby boys and baby girls,” he says, walking quickly and nearly bumping into a woman.

He then quickly glances around him before walking out of frame, prominently holding the Oscar the entire time.

Another photographer who took Bryant’s picture at about the same time did not recognize him as a winner at the ceremony, and began following him, police said.

When he was confronted, Bryant handed back the statuette without a fight, police said.

He was detained by security guards at the event and arrested by Los Angeles police officers. The award was later returned to McDormand.

“After some brief time apart, Frances and her Oscar were happily reunited. They celebrated the reunion with a double cheeseburger from In-N-Out Burger,” McDormand’s publicist, Simon Halls, told the Associated Press.

McDormand received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The two-time Oscar winner, who swept trophies at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Independent Spirit and BAFTA ceremonies, beat out Sally Hawkins of The Shape of Water, Margot Robbie of I, Tonya, Saoirse Ronan of Lady Bird, and 21-time nominee Meryl Streep of The Post at Sunday’s Oscars.

In Three Billboards, McDormand played Mildred Hayes, a hardened woman seeking justice for her daughter’s murder in the crime drama.

Her first Oscar came for the 1996 film Fargo, directed by her husband Joel Coen.

Bryant was being held on $20,000 US bail Monday, police said.

There was no immediate reply to a message sent to one of Bryant’s social media profiles and it wasn’t clear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

A video that posted live on a Facebook page that appeared to belong to Bryant showed him kissing and flaunting a statuette during the Governor’s Ball.

“Look it, baby. My team got this tonight. This is mine,” he said, turning the trophy toward the camera, before kissing it on the head.

As he spun around in a circle, Bryant solicited congratulations from those around him.

“Who wants to wish me congratulations?” he asked fellow revellers who were walking by, before posing for several selfies.

“You know what, I can’t believe I got this.”

No one named Terry Bryant won an Oscar on Sunday.

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People

Here’s hoping he gets a copy!!

25 years later, Johnny Cash fan searches for lost photo with music legend

Frank Davis is on a quest to find evidence of his first, and only, encounter with his idol, Johnny Cash.

It was Good Friday in 1993 when the musician from St. John’s ran into the Man in Black at the Halifax airport.

A stranger with a camera snapped a photo of the pair, but 25 years later, Davis still hasn’t seen the image and he’s hoping the power of social media will reunite him with the mystery photographer.

“The woman who took that picture could be living on the next street from me or she could be in Timbuktu. You have no way of knowing,” said Davis, who put a call out on Facebook over the weekend. “I know it’s a long time, that’s 25 years, so the chances are pretty slim, but it’s out there anyway.”

Davis is a huge Cash fan, so when The Highwaymen came to Halifax in 1993, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

The day after the concert, Davis had to return home for work, but his wife stayed behind to visit her sister.

“The last thing that she said to me as I left the hotel room was, ‘Leave the camera with me because I want to take a picture of [her sister] Susan’s baby.'”

That’s how Davis ended up camera-less in front of Cash at the arrivals terminal.

When Davis noticed him standing alone on the sidewalk, “I just about ran over people getting off the bus,” he said with a laugh.

“When I walked up to him, I said, ‘Man I’ve been waiting a long time to shake your hand.'”

Davis asked a woman who was standing nearby to take a photograph, and handed her his business card so she could send it to him.

He believes she used a film camera, but other than that, he knows nothing about her.

“Maybe she has that picture, maybe she lost the business card and has often wondered, ‘My god, I never got that picture to that man. I wonder who he is.'”

Over the years Davis has wondered, too. But it wasn’t until he heard about a fellow Newfoundlander who was reunited with his grandfather’s championship boxing belt that he turned to social media for help.

Davis has been playing music since he was a teenager, and regularly performs Johnny Cash songs at open mics around St. John’s.

“Johnny Cash, you know, he was just another country music singer, but he was different than the others. He had a different philosophy on life,” he said.

And what really irks him is that he has a friend who also happened to meet Cash.

“He keeps telling me about it, and he has a big picture hanging over his mantle piece of him and Johnny Cash, so I said, I’ve got to get my picture!”

Categories
Awards

There was actually more middle than high or low, but that’s not as catchy in a headline.

The Highs and Lows of the 2018 Oscars Ceremony

Warren and Faye got it right this time! For their second time around, the Best Picture presenters were given the correct envelope and thus correctly named The Shape of Water the night’s big winner – congrats to fish men, hardboiled eggs, and the hardworking Guillermo Del Toro. Throughout the 90th Academy Awards, Hollywood handed out trophies to the night’s expected winners, including Allison Janney, Gary Oldman, and an impassioned Frances McDormand. The night offered up a range of bits, from the charming (Tiffany Haddish shouting out Meryl Streep), to the exhausting (a trip to the TCL Chinese Theater where people were watching A Wrinkle in Time).

Here are the highest highs, cringiest lows, and one bizarre whoa from Sunday night’s ceremony.

HIGH Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue: The host references last year’s Moonlight mix-up, joking that he turned down the suggestion of doing comedy with the accountants, so “the accountants did comedy on their own.” Later, Kimmel summarizes Hollywood’s blind spots: “We made a movie called What Women Want and it starred Mel Gibson.”

LOW All of the red carpet coverage. E! worked hard to avoid any mention of the sexual-assault allegations hanging over Ryan Seacrest, which meant that the interviews the network got were painfully bland (with the exception of Taraji’s delicious “the universe has a way of taking care of the good people”) and the banter between the other hosts felt more forced. Few things are more painful than spending three hours with people who don’t want to be around each other, or talk about anything.

HIGH Kimmel offered a jet ski to whomever gave the shortest speech, prompting the world to wonder which nominee loves water sports more than the loved ones they wanted to thank from the stage. Helen Mirren showed off the Jet Ski with all the conviction of an Elsa understudy in Disney’s Frozen musical.

HIGH The ski, as it happens, went to Phantom Thread costume designer Mark Bridges, who rode it out in a life vest like he was rocking the finest couture from the House of Woodcock.

HIGH Gael García Bernal whisper-singing “Remember Me” with enough sweet conviction to make everyone both tear up and consider trying to watch Mozart in the Jungle.

WHOA Lakeith Stanfield ran onstage shouting “GET OUT” as part of a bit about what happens if people’s speeches run long.

HIGH Sufjan Stevens performing “Mystery of Love” backed by St. Vincent, with a simple directness that undercut a lot of the overblown ceremony and in a Gucci jacket that made us long for him to star in a tender and queer take on Music Man.

LOW Kobe Bryant wins Best Animated Short for the infuriatingly self-congratulatory Dear Basketball, a sign the Oscars really haven’t changed that much in the Time’s Up era – especially considering Bryant’s history.

HIGH Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph as the show’s best presenter duo. Tiffany: “We know what you’re thinking, are the Oscars too black now?” Maya: “Don’t worry. There are so many white people to come.” Give them a movie. Give them their own awards show. Give them whatever they want, really.

HIGH James Ivory honoring his late collaborators Ruth Jhabvala and Ismail Merchant while winning Best Adapted Screenplay, all while wearing a shirt emblazoned with Timothée Chalamet’s face. Total class, with just enough cheekiness.

HIGH Frances McDormand has all the female nominees in the room stand up, and then announces, “We all have stories to tell and need financed.” If those meetings don’t materialize, you just know McDormand is going to hunt down those executives one-by-one to make it happen. Oh, and they all better look up exactly what an inclusion rider is before then.

LOW In one super long, super random montage (it included clips from Shawshank Redemption to In the Heat of the Night to The Aviator to E.T. to Black Panther…?), the Academy thanked moviegoers for … movie-going? It’s a little unclear what the thinking was behind this lengthy supercut of every movie you’ve ever seen, but it ended with a slight explanation: “The Academy wishes to thank the audience for 90 years of going to the movies.” Sure!

LOW Your annual awkward bit involving Jimmy Kimmel’s obsession with embarrassing ordinary people: This time Kimmel and a band of misfits (including Ansel Elgort, Armie Hammer, Margot Robbie, and Guillermo del Toro) walked across the street to surprise an unsuspecting movie theater audience watching A Wrinkle in Time.

Categories
People

May he rest in peace.

Alan Alda pays tribute to M*A*S*H costar David Ogden Stiers

So long, friend.

On Sunday, Alan Alda paid tribute to his former M*A*S*H costar David Ogden Stiers, who died of cancer Saturday at the age of 75. Stiers played Maj. Charles Winchester on the CBS comedy from 1977-1983.

“David Ogden Stiers. I remember how you skateboarded to work every day down busy LA streets,” Alda wrote on Twitter. How, once you glided into Stage 9, you were Winchester to your core. How gentle you were, how kind, except when devising the most vicious practical jokes. We love you, David. Goodbye.”

Stiers earned two Emmy nominations for his role as a talented surgeon on M*A*S*H. He replaced Larry Linville (Frank Burns), who left the series in 1978.

Stiers went on to make regular appearances on North and South, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Matlock, Touched by an Angel, and Frasier. He earned a third Emmy nomination in 1984 for his portrayal of United States Olympic Committee founder William Milligan Sloane in the NBC miniseries The First Olympics: Athens 1896.

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Movies

After another busy week I hope to see RED SPARROW, DEATH WISH and BLACK PANTHER this week!!

Black Panther easily fends off Red Sparrow and Death Wish at the box office

Black Panther has done it again. Disney’s latest Marvel blockbuster is on track to collect an estimated $65.7 million from 4,084 theaters in the U.S. and Canada this weekend, clobbering newcomers Red Sparrow and Death Wish while scoring the third best third weekend of all time (behind Star Wars: the Force Awakens and Avatar).

That figure would bring the Ryan Coogler-directed superhero tale to a $501.1 million domestic total after 17 days in theaters, a sum that ranks 10th all time (not adjusted for inflation) and puts it ahead of every other Marvel movie save 2012’s The Avengers.

Black Panther has also grossed about $396.6 overseas, including an estimated $56.2 million this weekend, putting its worldwide total on the doorstep of $900 million.

Marking the 18th installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as the titular superhero, a.k.a. T’Challa, who rules and protects the secretive, technologically advanced nation of Wakanda. The ensemble cast also includes Michael B. Jordan, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Andy Serkis, and Letitia Wright. The film has garnered glowing reviews and an A-plus CinemaScore.

Alighting in second place this weekend is Fox’s R-rated espionage thriller Red Sparrow — starring Jennifer Lawrence as a Russian ballerina turned deadly spy — with an estimated $17 million from 3,056 theaters. That’s in the ballpark of last year’s similarly themed spy flick Atomic Blonde, which bowed to $18.3 million, and Lawrence’s 2016 sci-fi movie Passengers, which opened to $14.9 million.

Based on the novel by Jason Matthews (a former CIA operative), Red Sparrow reunites Lawrence with director Francis Lawrence (no relation), whom she worked with on three Hunger Games movies. The cast also includes Joel Edgerton, Matthias Shoenaerts, and Charlotte Rampling. Critics’ reviews were mixed, and audiences gave it a lukewarm B CinemaScore.

The weekend’s other major new release, MGM’s vigilante remake Death Wish, arrives with about $13 million from 2,847 theaters — on the low end of industry projections and good for the No. 3 spot.

Directed by Eli Roth and based on the 1974 Charles Bronson movie of the same name, Death Wish stars Bruce Willis as a Chicago doctor who exacts bloody revenge on the men who brutally attacked his family.

The film has been savaged by critics, though moviegoers gave it a decent B-plus CinemaScore.

Rounding out the top five are Warner Bros’. comedy Game Night, with about $10.7 million, and Sony’s animated movie Peter Rabbit, with about $10 million.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 10.9 percent year-to-date. Check out the March 2-4 figures below.

1. Black Panther — $65.7 million
2. Red Sparrow — $17 million
3. Death Wish — $13 million
4. Game Night — $10.7 million
5. Peter Rabbit — $10 million
6. Annihilation — $5.7 million
7. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — $4.5 million
8. Fifty Shades Freed — $3.3 million
9. The Greatest Showman — $2.7 million
10. Every Day — $1.6 million

Categories
People

Very sad news. Rest in peace, David Ogden Stiers.

’M.A.S.H.’ actor David Ogden Stiers dies at age 75

LOS ANGELES — David Ogden Stiers, a prolific actor best known for playing a surgeon on the “M.A.S.H.” television series, has died. He was 75.

The actor’s agent Mitchell Stubbs confirmed Saturday night in an email that Stiers died after battling bladder cancer.

No additional details were provided, but Stubbs’ agency tweeted that Stiers died at his home in Newport, Oregon, on Saturday.

In addition to playing the aristocratic Maj. Charles Winchester III on “M.A.S.H.” beginning in its sixth season, replacing Larry Linville after he left the series. Stiers’ character, while arrogant, also showed an empathy and wit his predecessor lacked.

Stiers did voice acting in several Disney animated films, voicing the character Cogsworth in “Beauty and the Beast” and played characters in “Lilo & Stitch” and “Pocahontas.” He was also the voice of an announcer in George Lucas’ 1971 feature directorial debut, “THX 1138.”

He had more than 150 film and television credits, including appearances on the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” and several Perry Mason television movies.

Categories
Awards

Another very predictable Academy Awards. I posted who I expected to win on Friday morning and got them all right. Still, I enjoyed it as always…I just wish it wasn’t so predictable!!

OSCARS: ’The Shape of Water’ wins best picture Oscar

The Cold War fantasy film “The Shape of Water” is the winner of the best picture Academy Award.

Director Guillermo del Toro’s film has been considered one of the front-runners for the evening’s top honour. It received a leading 13 nominations for this year’s Oscars, and won four Oscars on Sunday night.

It stars Sally Hawkins as a mute janitor who falls in love with an aquatic creature kept captive in a government lab.

Frances McDormand’s portrayal of a mother seeking justice for her murdered daughter in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” has won the best actress Academy Award.

It is McDormand’s second Oscar and comes for her blistering turn as a mother who feels authorities haven’t done enough to investigate her daughter’s rape and murder.

McDormand won a best supporting actress award for her role as a police officer in “Fargo.” Her win Sunday was not a surprise — she has swept the major awards this year.

The actress opened her speech by saying if she fell over during her speech, someone should pick her up because had “some things to say.” She thanked her family, telling them they fill her with everlasting joy.

She then set her Oscar on the stage and asked every female Oscar nominee to stand up, generating thunderous applause. McDormand looked joyous as she looked out on the women.

Gary Oldman’s transformation into Winston Churchill for “Darkest Hour” has won him the best actor Academy Award.

It is Oldman’s first win on only his second nomination, despite his lengthy career of compelling performances. The 59-year-old had been considered the front-runner for the honour, having swept awards season.

Oldman underwent hours of makeup to become Churchill for the film, which focuses on a pivotal time in the British leader’s career when he rallied his country to fight the Nazis. Oldman thanked Churchill in his acceptance speech, as well as those who worked with him on “Darkest Hour.”

He also thanked his 99-year-old mother, telling her, “thank you for your love and your support. Put the kettle on. I’m bringing Oscar home.”

A sense of change was palpable at the 90th Academy Awards as Hollywood sought to confront the post-Harvey Weinstein era and pivot to a vision of a more inclusive movie business.

The ceremony Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles was punctuated by political speeches and impassioned arguments for diversity. Jordan Peele won for his script to his horror sensation “Get Out,” becoming the first African-American to win for best original screenplay. Peele said he stopped writing it “20 times,” skeptical that it would ever get made.

“But I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone would let me make this movie, that people would hear it and people would see it,” said Peele. “So I want to dedicate this to all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie.”

Guillermo del Toro’s monster fable “The Shape of Water,” which came in with a leading 13 nods, took best production design, best score and best director for del Toro. He became the third Mexican-born filmmaker to win the award, joining his friends and countrymen Alejandro Inarritu and Alfonso Cuaron — who together were years ago dubbed “the Three Amigos.”

“The greatest thing that art does, and that our industry does, is erase the lines in the sand,” said del Toro, alluding to his international career.

In a year lacking a clear front-runner the awards were spread around. Christopher Nolan’s World War II epic “Dunkirk” tied “Shape of Water” with a leading three awards, all for its technical craft: editing, sound editing and sound design.

But many of the show’s most powerful moments came in between the awards. Ashley Judd, Anabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek — who all made allegations of sexual misconduct against Weinstein — together assembled for a mid-show segment dedicated to the #MeToo movement that has followed the downfall of Weinstein, long an Oscar heavyweight. They were met by a standing ovation.

“We work together to make sure the next 90 years empower these limitless possibilities of equality, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality,” said Judd. “That’s what this year has promised us.”

Host Jimmy Kimmel opened with a monologue that mixed Weinstein punchlines with earnest comments about reforming gender equality in Hollywood. And of course, Kimmel — returning to the scene of the flub — dove straight into material about last year’s infamous best-picture mix-up.

“I do want to mention, this year, when you hear your name called, don’t get up right away,” said Kimmel. “Give us a minute.”

But while Kimmel spent a few moments on the fiasco known as Envelopegate, he expended far more minutes frankly and soberly discussing the parade of sexual harassment allegations in the wake of the revelations regarding Weinstein. Kimmel cited the industry’s poor record for female directors and equal pay.

“We can’t let bad behaviour slide anymore,” said Kimmel. “The world is watching us.”

Gesturing to a giant statue on the stage, he praised Oscar, himself for keeping “his hands where you can see them” and for having “no penis at all.” But Kimmel introduced the broadcast as “a night for positivity,” and cited, among other things, the box-office success of “Black Panther” and “Wonder Woman.”

“I remember a time when the major studios didn’t believe a woman or a minority could open a super hero movie — and the reason I remember that time is because it was March of last year,” said Kimmel.

The night’s acting honours were considered fairly locked for nominees, and things began as expected. Two widely admired veterans won their first Oscars: Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”) took best supporting actress, and Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”) won best supporting actor.

“I did it all by myself,” deadpanned Janney, who added after a pause: “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Rockwell dedicated his award to his late friend and fellow New York actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died in 2014. “For my buddy, Phil Hoffman,” said Rockwell, raising his Oscar.

Several cinema legends won their first Oscar. James Ivory, 89, won best adapted screenplay for his script to the coming-of-age drama “Call Me By Your Name,” becoming the oldest winner ever. His script to the coming-of-age drama “Call Me By Your Name” won best adapted screenplay. In his 14 nomination, revered cinematographer Roger Deakins finally won for his photography on “Blade Runner 2049.” In the category, Rachel Morrison (“Mudbound”) became the first woman nominated for best cinematography.

Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani joined Kenyan-born Lupita Nyong’o to salute the so-called Dreamers — immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and here without permanent protection from deportation. “Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood and dreams are the foundation of America. And, so, to all the Dreamers out there, we stand with you,” Nanjiani said.

Later, Pixar’s colorful ode to Mexican culture “Coco” won best animated film as well as best song for “Remember Me.” Best foreign language film went to Chile’s “A Fantastic Woman,” Sebastian Lelio’s drama starring transgender actress Daniela Vega.

“The biggest thank you of all to the people of Mexico,” said director Lee Unkrich to loud applause. “Marginalized people deserve to feel like they belong. Representation matters.”

Netflix scored its first feature-film Oscar, with best documentary going to “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel’s investigation into doping in sports, aided by the assistance of Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of the Russian anti-doping laboratory who candidly discussed the doping scheme under Vladimir Putin. Fogel dedicated the award to Rodchenkov, “our fearless whistleblower who now lives in grave danger.”

The Winston Churchill drama “Darkest Hour” won for best makeup. The period romance “Phantom Thread” won for costume design.

The ceremony was the crescendo of one of Hollywood’s most turbulent awards seasons ever — one that saw cascading allegations of sexual harassment topple movie moguls, upended Oscar campaigns and new movements launched to improve gender equality throughout the industry.

No Golden Globes-style fashion protest was held by organizers of Time’s Up, the initiative begun by several hundred prominent women in entertainment to combat sexual harassment. Their goals go beyond red carpets, organizers said in the lead-up to the Oscars. “We did the dress code thing and now we’re doing the work,” said #MeToo founder Tarana Burke on the red carpet.

The parade of sexual harassment allegations has made the normal superficial red carpet a place of sometimes more serious discussion than attire. Scrutiny was falling Sunday on E! host Ryan Seacrest after his former stylist, Suzie Hardy, alleged sexual harassment against the red-carpet regular. Seacrest has denied it and E! has supported him. Best supporting actress Oscar nominee Mary J. Blige said Seacrest is “fighting for his life right now.”

It’s been an unusually lengthy — and often unpredictable — awards season, already an increasingly protracted horse race begun as most of the contenders bowed at film festivals last September. The Academy Awards were moved a week later this year because of the Olympics.

Twenty years ago, a “Titanic” sweep won record ratings for the Oscar broadcast. But ratings have recently been declining. Last year’s show drew 32.9 million viewers for ABC, a four per cent drop from the prior year. Even more worrisome was a slide in the key demographic of adults aged 18-49, whose viewership was down 14 per cent from 2016.

Movie attendance also hit a 24-year low in 2017. But this year is already off to a strong start, thanks largely to Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther,” which many analysts believe will play a prominent role at next year’s Oscars. In three weeks, it has already grossed about $500 million domestically. The film’s star, Chadwick Boseman, was placed front-and-centre, at the Dolby Theatre.

This year, the academy prohibited the PwC accountants who handle the envelopes from using cellphones or social media during the show. Neither of the PwC representatives involved in the mishap last year, Brian Cullinan or Martha Ruiz, will return to the show.

With just a few minutes before the show started, Kimmel and his team emerged from his dressing room chanting, “Let’s get it right this time!”

Categories
Awards

I still can’t believe he didn’t thank Keegan-Michael Key!!

Jordan Peele becomes first black screenwriter to win Best Original Screenplay Oscar

It’s been more than a year since Get Out was released in theaters, but the film’s remarkable run isn’t over just yet: Writer-director Jordan Peele has just won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, becoming the first black screenwriter to receive the accolade.

“This means so much to me,” Peele said as he accepted the award. “I stopped writing this movie about 20 times because I thought it was impossible, I thought it wasn’t gonna work, I thought no one would ever make this movie — but I kept coming back to it because I knew if someone let me make this movie people would hear it and people would see it.”

He also thanked “all the people who raised my voice and let me make this movie,” the film’s cast and crew, wife Chelsea Peretti, and his mother, “who taught me to love even in the face of hate.”

He then expressed gratitude for everyone who saw the film. “To everybody who went and saw this movie, to everybody who bought a ticket, who told somebody to buy a ticket, thank you — I love you for shouting out at the theater, shouting out at the screen, let’s keep going. I love you all, thank you so much.”

After his on-stage acceptance speech, he posted another, more succinct reaction on Twitter:

“I just won an Oscar. WTF?!?”

Peele was considered to be in the thick of a very tight race: He won the equivalent WGA award over fellow Oscar nominees Lady Bird and The Shape of Water, but Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was notably ineligible with the guild and wound up winning the corresponding BAFTA. Still, Peele’s highly original effort seemed to best fit the spirit of the category, and it’s been rewarded accordingly.

This was one of three Oscar nominations Peele earned for Get Out; he’s also a Best Director nominee and shares in the film’s Best Picture nod as a producer. The former Key & Peele star drew raves for his innovative and timely horror-satire, which traces what happens to a black man (played by Daniel Kaluuya) when he’s invited up to stay with his wealthy, liberal white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend.

“I wrote Get Out not necessarily as something to get made,” Peele recently told EW. “I wrote it more as something that would be fun to write and something that would help me get better as an artist. So there was no deadline that I was giving myself. Now that I know that this kind of movie works, I can give it more purpose. Like, I know that I can get it made, so let’s move forward with that goal in mind, instead of it being this ongoing project that who knows if anyone will ever see it.”

In addition to Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, and Three Billboards, Peele’s film beat out the acclaimed rom-com The Big Sick.

Categories
Awards

Congratulations to all the winners!!

Oscars 2018 winners: Here’s the full list

The 90th Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE
The Shape of Water

BEST ACTOR
Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

BEST ACTRESS
Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

BEST DIRECTOR
The Shape of Water, Guillermo del Toro

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Allison Janney, I, Tonya

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Get Out, Jordan Peele

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Shape of Water

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Blade Runner 2049

COSTUME DESIGN
Phantom Thread

SOUND EDITING
Dunkirk

SOUND MIXING
Dunkirk

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Dear Basketball

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
The Silent Child

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Shape of Water

VISUAL EFFECTS
Blade Runner 2049

FILM EDITING
Dunkirk

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Darkest Hour

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
A Fantastic Woman, Chile

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Heaven Is A Traffic Jam on the 405

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Icarus

ORIGINAL SONG
“Remember Me,” Coco

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Coco

Categories
Movies

I need to see BLACK PANTHER again, and I want to see GAME NIGHT, but I was celebrating my 50th Birthday last week with friends and didn’t see any movies. Maybe this week.

Black Panther continues box office reign with $108 million second weekend

Black Panther is still king.

Ryan Coogler’s superhero blockbuster is set to score the second-highest sophomore weekend ever at the domestic box office, earning an estimated $108 million from 4,020 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. The film will therefore trounce three newcomers — the R-rated comedy Game Night, the sci-fi thriller Annihilation, and the YA romance Every Day — while declining just 47% from last week’s record-breaking debut.

Black Panther marks the fourth film ever to top $100 million in its second frame, joining Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($149.2 million), Jurassic World ($106.6 million), and The Avengers ($103 million). After 10 days in theaters, Disney’s latest Marvel movie is up to an estimated $400 million domestic total. It has also taken in about $304 million overseas ($83.8 million this weekend), for a worldwide cume of $704 million.

Directed and co-written by Coogler, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman as the eponymous superhero, a.k.a. T’Challa, who guards and governs the secretive, technologically advanced nation of Wakanda. The star-studded cast also includes Michael B. Jordan, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Andy Serkis, and Letitia Wright. The film has garnered glowing reviews and an A-plus CinemaScore.

Coming in a distant second is Warner Bros. and New Line’s Game Night, with about $16.6 million from 3,488 theaters.

Directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Vacation) and starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, the film centers on a group of friends whose regular game night turns into a real-life murder mystery. Game Night received generally positive reviews from critics and a decent B-plus CinemaScore from audiences.

The weekend’s other newcomers, Paramount’s Annihilation and the newly relaunched Orion Pictures’ Every Day, will arrive in the No. 4 and No. 9 spots. Annihilation is on track for an estimated $11 million, while Every Day is eyeing about $3.1 million.

Based on the first installment of novelist Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy and directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as a biologist who ventures into an environmental disaster zone seeking answers about what happened to her husband (Oscar Isaac). Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, and Tessa Thompson costar. Although the film scored strong reviews, moviegoers gave it a tepid C CinemaScore.

Every Day, adapted from the David Levithan novel of the same name, fared better in audience polling, earning a B-plus CinemaScore, though critics’ reviews were poor. Angourie Rice stars in the love story about a 16-year-old girl who falls for a body-hopping spirit named A. Michael Sucsy (Grey Gardens, The Vow) directed.

According to ComScore, overall box office is up 12.7 percent year-to-date. Check out the Feb. 23-25 figures below.

1. Black Panther — $108 million
2. Game Night — $16.6 million
3. Peter Rabbit — $12.5 million
4. Annihilation — $11 million
5. Fifty Shades Freed — $6.9 million
6. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — $5.7 million
7. The 15:17 to Paris — $3.6 million
8. The Greatest Showman — $3.4 million
9. Every Day — $3.1 million
10. Met Opera: La Boheme — $1.9 million