‘Tis the season for Academy Awards speculation, with the rolling snowball of Oscar buzz growing steadily in size. The Oscar shortlist for best documentary feature as been officially released, and their choices are hard to argue. Have a gander at the 15 quality entries below (roughly half of which make it to your cinema and DVD player thanks to our pals at Madman):
Via Nonfics
The Act of Killing, The Armstrong Lie, Blackfish, The Crash Reel, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, First Cousin Once Removed, God Loves Uganda, Life According to Sam, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, The Square, Stories We Tell, Tim’s Vermeer, 20 Feet from Stardom, Which Way Is the Front Line from Here?
Not that we’re ones to voice our opinions (oh, who are we kidding; we totally are), but The Act of Killing will most likely take the trophy.
New New Zealand News
Script to Screen and Ngā Aho Whakaari present a filmmaking workshop on the web series format, with guest speakers Kiel McNaughton (creator/director/actor) and Kerry Warkia (creator/producer/actor), both of whom were key creatives in the successful NZ web series Auckland Daze. Wellingtonians turned out in droves for such wisdom, and now they’re bringing the workshop to Northland on December 8. Find out more here, or visit the official website and Facebook page.
Air New Zealand has embraced Hobbit hysteria with a downright gorgeous hand-painted Smaug on their Boeing 777-300, which is bound to have fans in awe and, possibly, little children cowering in fear when they see a dragon landing on the runway. The time lapse video below is worth a watch. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug hits NZ cinemas nationwide Thursday, December 12.
Everyone’s Talking About…
…this banner for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which doesn’t shy away from showing you its key villains. On the left is The Rhino (“piloted” by Paul Giamatti) while on the right is Jamie Foxx’s Electro. The most intriguing of the lot, visible on the middle panel, is The Green Goblin in the distance, who very much isn’t Willem Dafoe in a silly looking mask.
This hype is timed with the release of the full trailer due in New Zealand this Friday, as teased below.
Ron Burgundy Broadcasts Actual News
Will Ferrell donned his magnificent moustache and took his hilarious Anchorman persona Ron Burgundy to an actual legitimate local news station to demonstrate his broadcasting prowess on North Dakota’s KXMB TV. (Via Washington Post)
This isn’t really news, but considering ‘fake news’ is one of the key themes in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, we feel justified showing you this.
