Pete Hammond: Last News

It seems odd to call Anthony Hopkins’ Best Actor victory at the 2021 Oscars a surprise, but his triumph Sunday might have been the night’s biggest upset. A Best Actor trophy for Chadwick Boseman’s electric performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom seemed a foregone conclusion after Boseman, who died tragically last year at 43, won at the Critics Choice Awards, SAG and the Golden Globes Awards.

It’s been a year like no other. Actually, make that two years like no other, since eligibility in the unusual 14-month Oscar calendar was extended by two months until February 28, 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: Sophia Loren, the Oscar winner who has returned to the screen starring in this year’s Netflix move The Life Ahead directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, will receive this year’s KCET Cinema Series Lumière Award. The honor, which recognizes excellence, artistry and innovation and outstanding contribution to film, will be bestowed during a special screening of the film January 28.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticGeorge Clooney has a unique distinction when it comes to Oscar history. The multi-faceted filmmaker and star has been nominated for Academy Awards in an impressive six different categories, a rare feat that includes for Best Picture (Argo), Actor (The Descendants, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air), Supporting Actor (Syriana), Director (Good Night, and Good Luck), Adapted Screenplay (The Ides of March) and Original Screenplay (Good Night, And Good Luck).

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticBruuuuuuuuce! No, you aren’t listening to the chant of fans at a Springsteen concert. That cheer is for Bruce, the so nicknamed full-scale shark model from Jaws, the iconic 1975 film that continues to make beachgoers afraid to go into the water.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticEXCLUSIVE: Theatres may be closing again at a rapid pace, but the power of being on Netflix during this worldwide pandemic  certainly appears to be good news for those whose awards hopeful films have been debuting on the streaming service at virtually a weekly pace.For cinema legend  Sophia Loren that means the biggest opening of her seven decade career.  Returning to feature films for the first time since a supporting turn in Nine a decade ago, and her first leading role in much longer than that, her new movie The Life Ahead directed by her son Edoardo Ponti has hit the top ten of all Netflix offerings  over its first week in 37 countries  including the U.S.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticAfter creating the Critics Choice Awards  for both movies and television achievements,  plus spinoff shows for the best in Documentaries , and Reality TV, the Critics Choice Association today announced nominees for their latest awards show venture, the Critics Choice Super Awards.  Designed to honor popular forms of entertainment for both movies and series, the virtual pre-recorded television presentation honoring Superhero, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Horror, Action, and Animation will air on The CW Network Sunday January 10, 2021 in a two hour special from 8:00-10:00pm ET/PT.Leading the pack for movies is Hulu and NEON’s Palm Springs , a time loop comedy that won five nominations including for

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticWhen word seeped out this week that Netflix was considering adding Malcolm & Marie to its list of Oscar-contending movies for this year, shudders went through the competition from other distributors. Can one studio/distributor/streamer — whatever — possibly grab all five Best Actress Oscar slots? That would certainly be a first in Academy history in that category, or just about any other.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticDick Johnson Is Dead, Netflix’s personal documentary exploring a daughter’s look into the decline of her aging father, took top honors from the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards for Best Documentary Feature as well as Best Director for Kirsten Johnson.The awards, which were spread out among several winners, saw no single docu dominate, and in fact another Netflix film, My Octopus Teacher, was the only other film to win more than one trophy, taking Best Science/Nature Docu and Best Cinematography.Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution and Gunda had led the nominations with five each but were shut out. Mr.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticA column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.If you measure the highly unusual Oscar season we are embarking upon, right now the equivalent of a “normal” awards season  would find ourselves in the midst of the Fall Film Festivals that traditionally start things off around Labor Day. And that is  because Covid 19 has essentially kicked the ball down the road, forcing the Oscars and other significant bellwether events like the Golden Globes, BAFTA, Critics Choice Awards, and the guilds including SAG, to move to their historically latest dates ever, with the Oscars doing cleanup on Sunday April 25, 2021.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticThe Academy Museum of Motion Pictures just got a boost from Oregon animation studio Laika that put it over the top in fulfilling its pre-opening fundraising goal of $388 million and also has assured AMPAS members that it is on track to meet its planned April 30 opening date. Museum director and president Bill Kramer made the fundraising announcement today.The total includes capital gifts, endowments, funding for education programs and other special gifts for the campaign, launched in 2012 and chaired by Bob Iger and co-chairs Annette Bening and Tom Hanks.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticEXCLUSIVE: When I saw The Prom  early  in its run on Broadway a couple of years ago I was blown away. Pure delight and a real crowd pleaser.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticThe show date is staying the same, but the Producers Guild of America is altering several other deadlines and nominee announcements on the calendar for its 32nd annual PGA Awards.The PGA awards ceremony remains on Wednesday, March 24, but the guild will now move up announcement of nominees for Documentary Feature Film from February 11 to February 2. The close of nomination polls for Theatrical Motion Pictures and several other categories moves from March 11 to March 7, and the announcement of nominees in those categories  moves from March 12 to March 8.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticViola Davis is the first Black actress to win a Tony, Emmy and Oscar. Could a Grammy be in her future to complete that EGOT? On the basis of this morning’s Netflix presentation of five clips for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, its December 18 release of the film version of August Wilson’s first play in his Century Cycle of 10 plays, it could be possible.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticA column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit. Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 begins streaming today on Netflix after a brief run in theaters that are open around the country, not L.A. or NY obviously, and receptive to playing it.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticFueling the comeback of that one-time moviegoing staple the drive-in, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday said it has amended its previously announced pandemic-forced eligibility rules for the awards year ending on February 28, 2021. Here is the official word from the Academy about slight changes enacted at yesterday’s Board of Governors meeting:“The Board initially made rule changes this past spring in response to theater closures, allowing films unable to screen in theaters to qualify via the Academy Screening Room.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticThe AFI Awards, always a highlight of the awards season and usually held around the first week or so in January, is moving its date to Friday, February 26, 2021. That puts it again on the same weekend timing as the Golden Globes, which have moved their date to February 28, and two months before the Oscars which has moved to April 25.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticEXCLUSIVE:  With the West Coast still threatened daily by raging wildfires, an Oscar -contending documentary is planning to try to help the cause.National Geographic Documentary Films announced today the commercial-free broadcast premiere of Rebuilding Paradise, from director Ron Howard and Imagine Documentaries, on National Geographic Sunday, Nov. 8 at 9/8c,  the second anniversary of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticIn a letter sent to “the TCM Classic Film Festival Community” today. Turner Classic Movies has confirmed that , due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, their live and in person Four Day Classic Film Fest which normally takes place in April in  Hollywood is formally moving to a virtual format in 2021.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticAs expected, the Producers Guild of America is following the lead of the Oscars and other awards shows and moving its 32nd annual awards show into the spring of 2021. The American Cinema Editors’ Eddie Awards also announced Wednesday a later date for their awards, which will now be held on April 18, 2021, while adding an Animated Series category to the mix.The PGA Awards will now be held Wednesday, March 24, and it will be virtual.

Pete Hammond Awards Columnist/Chief Film CriticGiving new meaning to the word museum, the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is going back, waaaay back, with its latest acquisition the Richard Balzer Collection, which just by its sheer breadth will fill in most of the blanks that actually led to the creation of what we now know as cinema.In conjunction with the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, the Academy Museum said Tuesday that it is the recipient of the collection, widely considered to be the world’s foremost collection of pre-cinematic optical toys and devices.