By Drew Grant 2/25 12:39pm

About last night

macfarlane

Rex Reed Got a Shout-Out in Last Night’s Oscar Telecast [Video]

Maybe it’s because he called Ted “creative, adorable, ingenious and devilishly, thigh-slappingly hilarious,” but our own Rex Reed made one for the history books last night by getting his own joke during the Oscar telecast. Host Seth MacFarlane, referencing Mr. Reed’s recent controversial review of Melissa McCarthy Identity Thief, told the audiences that “Rex Reed will be out here to review Adele’s performance of ‘Skyfall.’” Read More

By Drew Grant 2/24 6:56pm

The 85th Academy Awards

The Best Picture category isn't the only thing that bulked up.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards Live Chat, Hosted by the Dog From Family Guy

Update: Well, now we have an extra hour and a half of the red carpet! Talk amongst yourselves!

What is it about the Academy Awards? Intellectually, it’s hard to muster up that much enthusiasm about who “wore it best” (Ang Lee) or how modest Katniss will be in her acceptance speech, hopefully avoiding a First Wives’ Club reference that sounded like she was hating on Meryl Streep this time. And yet … we still feel compelled to watch. Maybe it’s because secretly, deep down, we still find it fascinating that the guy who does the voice of Stewie looks like the host of a reality game show about finding true love by having a dance-off on a stripper pole.

Or maybe it’s because we’re just suckers, who deep down believe that Beasts of the Southern Wild might still possibly have a chance against Argo or Lincoln.

Come join us, will you, on this the most magical of evenings for producers, people who are married to movie stars, and dress designers? We’ll be hosting a live chat below. Just click the big countdown button and you’re all set. Got it?

Great. Read More

By Drew Grant 2/21 8:22am

Academy Awards

Video

West Side Story won Best Picture. Remember??

How Many of These Best Picture Oscar Winners Can You Name? (Video)

With the Academy Awards looming in front of us this weekend like some long-awaited episode of Family Guy, it’s difficult to figure out what movie should win Best Picture. Will it be Lincoln, which is very long and serious and obviously a top contender for those very reasons? Or Silver Linings Playbook, which has Bradley Cooper (People‘s Sexiest Man, 2012) falling in love with Katniss? How about Argo, which is Affleck’s second best directorial effort of all time? Or Zero Dark Thirty? Life of Pi? Amour? (Follow-up question: Did anyone see Amour?) It’d be awesome if Best Picture went to Beasts of the Southern Wild, but can it win the Academy’s love over Django Unchained? (Please do not let it go to Django Unchained.)

When putting down money for your Oscar predictions, it’s always good to look at the past history of winners to see how the vote-makers will lean. Luckily, Nelson Carvajal has made a supercut of 84 years of Best Picture Winners. From Wings to On the Waterfront to The English Patient all the way up to last year’s winner, The Artist, see how many of these brilliant films you can name. Read More

By Drew Grant 1/10 11:40am

Academy Awards

Lincoln leads the pack for the Oscars with 12 nominations

2012′s Academy Award Nominees: Yep, Django Unchained Is Up for Best Picture

There are a lot firsts in the nominations for the 85th annual Academy Award nominations. They include the youngest AND oldest Best Actress nominees (Emmanuelle Riva, 85, and Quvenzhané Wallis, 9), no trace of former dream team member Ben Affleck, and the first snub for Kathryn Bigelow.

On the other hand, there is no way Anne Hathaway is NOT singing this year, so get ready for some Franco-style flashbacks. And with 12 nominations for Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis will (unsurprisingly) definitely be going home with something gold this year.

A partial list below: Read More

By The Editors 2/29/12 8:37am

Opening Shot

Plummer with his contemporary.

Oscars, Schmoscars

As we were otherwise unoccupied on Sunday night, we turned on the television to watch the 84th Academy Awards. “You’re only two years older than me,” Christopher Plummer crooned to his newly acquired gold statue, “Where have you been all my life?” Mr. Plummer won Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Beginners, giving him the distinction of being the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar. But by the end of the telecast, we’d all aged at least a couple of decades, as did Billy Crystal, who seemed to have peeked inside the Ark of the Covenant right before the broadcast.

The whole night was full of non-surprises. Read More

By Daniel D'Addario 2/27/12 1:46pm

The Oscars

6 Photos

Jessica Chastain (Getty Images)

Here’s Who Was Best-Dressed At the Oscars

The year’s biggest night for fashion was an unusually metallic affair–with Best Actress Meryl Streep draped in gold, Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer in sparkly silver, Melissa Leo in a pile of sequins, and Jennifer Lopez in a significantly sparser pile of sequins. Aside from all the gold and silver, black and white seemed to rule the evening–the few well-executed bits of color, like Michelle Williams’s sweet red dress, came across beautifully. Here’s who we thought were the best dressed last night! Read More

2/16/12 9:08am

Fashion Week Observed

KCD's darling, Hallie Chrisman.

KCD’s Hallie Chrisman Runs a Tight Ship and Spots Crashers Like a Hawk

Navigating the realm of fashion publication relations can be a difficult job. For in-house publicists and leading New York PR firms, such as KCD, PR Consulting, Karla Otto, Starworks, Bismarck Phillips and HL Group—fashion week is a marathon: RSVP-management, developing press releases, endless email chains, photography and artistic direction, event and runway production, front-of-house organization, Read More

By The Editors 1/24/12 7:27pm

Opening Shot

Old friends at their umpteenth reunion these past few months.

SOPA, Santorum and Seal

If you’re feeling withdrawal symptoms from reduced doses of Occupy Wall Street rabble-rousing (we hear they’re just hibernating), the success of last week’s SOPA blackout ought to cheer you up. Read More

By Aaron Gell 1/10/12 11:11am

Awards Season

7 Photos

Bérénice Bejo and Diane von Furstenberg

Doggone It! Harvey Weinstein and DVF Celebrate The Artist

Gossip columnist Liz Smith made her way through the dining room of the Monkey Bar on Monday afternoon, where Harvey Weinstein, Diane von Furstenberg and George Stevens, Jr. were hosting a promotional lunch on behalf of The Artist—the black-and-white silent movie that Mr. Weinstein is gently, persuasively shepherding toward an Academy Award for Best Picture—and surveyed the scene, perched side-saddle in a red leather booth. Ms. Smith, who is supposedly in her eighties, looked a few decades younger in a black leather jacket with white stitching from Carlisle. Read More