4 h. ago Best mullet? Best use of Taylor Swift? AP hands out its own movie awards ahead of the Oscars

Hollywood’s never-ending awards season can make it easy to get a little lost in the run-of-the-mill “best” categories

Events

4 d. ago ‘I’m sitting on the side that’s launching bombs’: author Omar El Akkad on the hypocrisy of the west

The award-winning writer’s new book contends with how the war on Gaza shattered his fragile faith in the so-called free worldThe ugly truth of American violence has never been plainer | Omar El AkkadOmar El Akkad grew up believing in an idealized America. Born in Egypt, raised in Qatar, and transplanted as a teenager to Canada, the writer saw the west for its freedoms – a place where, unlike at home, he could check out a William S Burroughs book from the library and where the naked baby on the cover of the Nirvana album he had on repeat hadn’t been blacked out by a censor.He’d go on to build a career as a reporter with the Globe and Mail, covering the US occupation of Afghanistan, the prison at Guantánamo Bay and the Arab uprisings of 2010-2011, before moving to the US and publishing two award-winning novels – American War, an account of a future US ravaged by war and climate disaster, and What Strange Paradise, a story of a Syrian boy who survives a shipwreck off Greece. Continue r...

Events

7 d. ago This is the year the Oscars found God – but can they keep the faith?

From Conclave to The Brutalist to A Real Pain, films about religion are unusually well represented at the Academy Awards – some with decidedly unorthodox themes• Warning: contains spoilersWhat Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell said of New Labour – “We don’t do God” – applies also to the Academy Awards. The secular gong-dispensing rite annually sweeps religion off its proverbial red carpet. The last best picture winner to deal with the subject was 2015’s Spotlight, which hardly proselytised for organised religion – it dramatised the Boston Globe’s investigation into sexual abuse in the Catholic church. You have to go back to 1973 to find a movie with a priestly protagonist that really beguiled the Academy: William Friedkin’s horror movie The Exorcist received 10 Oscar nominations, winning awards for screenplay and sound.This year, though, may be different. Two leading contenders, The Brutalist (10 nominations) and Conclave (eight), put faith front and centre. And let’...

Politics

8 d. ago War of words: who is winning the Oscar for best acceptance speech?

This season’s awards circuit has seen Demi Moore and Sean Baker praised for their speeches, but how much does that contribute to the big win?Winning an Oscar for acting has never looked particularly easy, even if certain types of performances – physical transformations, celebrity impressions – always seem to maintain an edge over others. One major factor contributing to the Oscar’s degree of difficulty is that the job doesn’t end when the movie does. There’s a whole season of awards campaigning requiring a different sort of performance – the equivalent of being thrown into an overtime that lasts far longer than the actual on-field game play. If awards season had a playbook for how to win this endless overtime, it would probably focus on acceptance speeches.There’s no better example than Demi Moore’s bonus-round performance at this year’s Golden Globes. As an awards body, the Globes are a longtime joke – a recently rebooted organization that can never claim any voting-body overlap wi...

Events

9 d. ago Oscars 2025: best picture nominees – reviews, awards and where to watch

What to know about the 10 films nominated for the Academy Award’s biggest prize, along with the reviews, interviews and the big prizes earned so far• Full list of Oscar nominationsThe Golden Globes and Baftas are done and dusted, the Critics Choices packed up for another year. But the big one, the Academy Awards, is yet to come, and with it the ultimate prizes the film industry can bestow on its peers. Ahead of the 2 March Oscars ceremony, Guardian film looks at how are the big contenders shaping up in the race for glory. We sort through the nominees for the best picture Oscar, assessing each one’s chances and how you can watch or stream each film. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago MOBO Awards founder Kanya King delivers powerful and moving speech after cancer diagnosis

MOBO Awards founder Kanya King appeared on stage on Tuesday night to give an emotional speech to the audience

Events

1 week ago Warwick Davis leaves viewers in tears as he dedicates Bafta film fellowship award to late wife

Davis, who is known for fantasy film Willow and the Harry Potter movies, received the award for his performing and advocacy work

Events