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Anytime you’re tempted to care too much about what’s going on with the Oscars, consider the list of great movies that should have won Best Picture yet weren’t even nominated in that category.1. King Kong (1933) The landmark in special effects and fantasy captivated the imagination and heralded a new era in which anything anyone could dream up became a cinematic possibility. The closing line was so perfect that Peter Jackson couldn’t resist using it again in his remake seven decades later. But Oscar was obsessed with historical sweep at the time, and gave its top award to the generational...

Reading the transcript isn't enough. Roll the video, listen carefully, and at the end you'll catch Ronan Farrow's nervous little laugh as he asks an African-American guest whether, in assessing movie-industry diversity, it "matters" that the black director whose film has been nominated for an Oscar is British. Such are the PC pitfalls once one wades into the bog of diversity bean-counting. But beyond the specific subject matter, Farrow's teensy twitter suggests, as other critics have noted, as here and here, how young and unsure of himself is the young man MSNBC hopes to make a star. View the video...

I don't have to explain to anyone how television is much more risque, with some programs being downright lewd, than it was decades ago. But I want to tell you about something that can change the course of values in television and movies. Once upon a time, about as edgy as it got was Barbara Eden's "I Dream of Jeannie" character, who showed her trim tummy, and Elvis swinging his pelvis on "The Ed Sullivan Show" -- though the broadcast screen only captured the upper half of his body as he did. Today, of course, we've got everything from Miley...

“It’s Time”. That’s the message seen for the past few weeks on the 12 Years A Slave billboard as you drive on to the 20th Century Fox lot. And since the film earned nine Oscar nominations it has frequently been the slogan of choice for the Fox Searchlight contender in newspaper and television ads. A highly emotional close-up of star Chiwetel Ejiofor as the man forced into slavery and just two words to accompany it: “It’s Time”.

After 85 years, Oscar is putting on his very first concert, and there are plans to televise future shows worldwide. The motion picture academy will present a live Oscar Concert in the days leading up to the 86th annual Academy Awards that celebrates the year's nominated music. The Feb. 27 concert at UCLA's Royce Hall will feature all five original scores performed by an 80-piece orchestra conducted by each nominated composer, plus performances of the four original songs up for Oscars this year.

Her story is the stuff Hollywood films are made of. She is a severely disabled woman with an inspiring story and the singer of a sweet song entitled "Alone and Yet Not Alone," a piece about the person who stood by her side and helped with her struggles.  The song was recently nominated for an Academy Award. The singer is Joni Earekson Tada, who was left a quadriplegic at age 17 after a diving accident crippled her for life.  She can't even use her hands.  But despite her disability, she became an artist, an author, and a speaker.  A strong and powerful advocate...

HOLLYWOOD, CA, January 30, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Hollywood loves an underdog – unless, it seems, that underdog is a Christian. That's the reaction of one Christian film expert to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' decision to strip the family-friendly motion picture Alone Yet Not Alone of its Oscar nomination for best song. “It's hazing,” Dr. Ted Baehr, the founder and publisher of the pro-family Movieguide and chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, told LifeSiteNews.com. Alone Yet Not Alone is based on a true story about how a family's Christian faith helped them survive after being...

by Susan Frommer | Top Right News by Hollywood's war against Christians continues. Sunday it was the Grammy's ode to witchcraft, Satan, and same-sex 'marriage'. Today, it was Goliath crushing David underfoot -- as a beautiful song from a small-budget Christian film had its Oscar nomination revoked after a vicious Hollywood uproar against it. At a meeting this week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors decided to strip the surprise nomination for Best Song from “Alone Yet Not Alone,” which appears in the independent Christian-produced film of the same name. The unprecedented move followed a massive online...

"Alone Yet Not Alone"? More like nominated yet not nominated. In a move with few precedents in the 86-year history of the Academy Awards, the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to disqualify an Oscar nominee prior to the Oscars ceremony itself. "Alone Yet Not Alone," a little-heard tune from a little-seen film of the same name, will not appear on Oscar ballots when the final round of voting begins on Feb. 14. And the Academy will not announce a replacement nominee.The Academy's board of governors met on Tuesday evening to investigate...

Just read in an article from USA Today which I cannot post here, that the song "Alone Yet Not Alone" has been removed from the Academy Award nomination for best original song.

Less than a week after the Golden Globe awards, the 2014 Oscar nominations were announced Thursday. “Lone Survivor,” a favorite among Blaze readers, scored two nominations, but probably for categories you wouldn’t expect. The film covering the true story of a SEAL team mission in Afghanistan in 2005 was not nominated for Best Picture. Mark Walberg, who stars as Marcus Luttrell off whose memoir the film is based, did not get a Best Actor nomination.

Thursday’s Oscar nominations had some new language in the foreign language category: Nominee “Omar” was described as being from “Palestine,” a reference the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has carefully avoided in the past. “Omar,” a drama set amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was directed by Hany Abu-Assad, whose 2005 thriller “Paradise Now” was also nominated in the foreign language category. But after a tussle with the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, the academy chose to refer to the film as a product of the “Palestinian Territories” or “Palestinian Authority,” rather than simply “Palestine.” After hearing the news of...

When the 2014 Academy Awards nominees were announced early Thursday, all ears were attuned to the expected names. Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong’o, Cate Blanchett, Matthew McConaughey and Bruce Dern given nods in their respective categories? Check. “Gravity,” “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” dominating nominations for acting, writing, directing and best picture? No big surprises there, and all as it should be. Then, you cry. No nomination for Robert Redford for his astonishing one-man show in the gripping seafaring thriller “All Is Lost”? Outrage! No Tom Hanks, who delivered such a subtle tour de force in “Captain Phillips”? The nerve! No...

Perhaps no bigger snub was Oprah Winfrey failing to earn a nom for her supporting role in “The Butler.” After being snubbed by the Golden Globes, Winfrey seemed destined for a nomination, especially after having received a Screen Actors Guild nod. Instead, she and “The Butler” were shut out entirely from the 86th Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE American Hustle Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon, Producers

And the next host of the Academy Awards is … Ellen DeGeneres. It will be DeGeneres’ second tour of duty as Oscar host, having previously emceed the 79th annual Academy Awards in 2007 and earning an Emmy nomination. The popular syndicated talkshow host also fronted the Emmys in 2001 and 2005 (co-hosting them in 2003). “I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time,” DeGeneres said, joking that “you know what they say – the third time’s the charm.”

One definition of “pornography” deems it—The depiction or portrayal of acts in a sensational manner so as to arouse (as by lurid details) a quick intense emotional reaction. With but a moment’s thought, you can see that this will apply to many sorts of things besides sex. In fact, it is quite possible to develop an unhealthy voyeuristic/vicarious interest is such things as movies, sports, and current events (to name just three). Let’s consider each of these briefly: While one may like a particular movie or admire the talents of a particular star, it is quite another matter to watch...

LOS ANGELES -- It is Academy Awards weekend in the nation's entertainment capital, and the 1 percenters are out in force. Wealth displays are running riot; robust consumption is the philosophical standard. I am staying at the legendary Hotel Bel-Air, a place where a cheeseburger and fries costs more than $30. Business is good. For most guests, money is no concern. They have it; they spend it. Life for the swells is sweet -- or at least they want you to think it is. President Obama has little use for these wealthy people, but strangely, many of them fervently love...

Conservatives usually have a few bones to pick with Hollywood over the Academy Awards. Not content with merely opening it, Hollywood pushes the envelope, often with questionable taste and mockery of common values. Nevertheless, Washington and Hollywood are linked at the hip like Siamese twins. It's a love-hate relationship; one with changing party affections over the years. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan each sent greetings to the awards ceremony -- FDR by radio in 1941 and Ronald Reagan with videotape 40 years later. Both offered encouragement to one of our most popular cultural institutions. The real stars, as both...

Despite solid ratings for Sunday's 85th annual Academy Awards, host Seth MacFarlane is catching a lot of flak for his crude jokes about women, Jews, Abraham Lincoln and most notably, actresses' boobs. In a musical number titled "We Saw Your Boobs," MacFarlane pointed out actresses who have bared all on-screen — often during emotionally-charged or rape scenes. Women both in the audience and watching at home were offended by the song, calling it crass and inappropriate. We spoke with Elizabeth Cantillon, film producer and executive vice president of production at Sony who was in the audience at the Dolby Theater...