14 Nov
AWARDS SEASON BEGINS-Sort Of
Even though its supposed to stand for excellence in film, Oscar sometimes winds down to who gets more press or box office, And just this week a trifecta of Academy favorites hit the ground running making head lines for gathering awards and setting off the Best Director Race.
I said I would be back!
First off is James Cameron who 11 years ago, before the Kodack Theater in Hollywood even existed, declared himself King of the World for his win on Titanic. I don’t he’ll get recognized this year for Avatar, but those who gave the Oscar to Peter Jackson might surprise me. Even so, Mr. cameron didn’t do too badly this week when it was announced that he will receive the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s modern master award and the Visual Effects Society’s lifetime achievement nod along with a Muse award from the New York Women in Film Association.
At Last a release date for Shutter Island!
Somebody who’s getting in on the 2010 race early is Martin Scorsese who saw Paramount push his Shutter Island to next year so they could concentrate on getting The Lovely Bones as many nominations as they can. This week it was announced that Scorsese will be feted with the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn.’s Cecil B. DeMille Award during the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards show on Jan. 17, which is a plug for the February release of Shutter Island.
It's Commander Eastwood damn it!
But the coolest noticed issued this week was received by Clint Eastwood, who’s in the race this year with Invictus. This week Former French President Jacques Chirac, who had honored Eastwood as a knight of the Legion of Honor two years ago, made the director a commander in France’s prestigious Legion of Honor on Friday. A knight and a commander? Who needs the Oscar after that!
