On Sunday, March 12th at 8pm ET/5pm PT, the 95th Academy Awards will be held live in Los Angeles. Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel is back as host for a third time.
How to watch in Canada
As in previous years, Bell has the exclusive Canadian rights to air the Oscars. Therefore, the show will air on the media giant’s CTV network.
This means that in addition to the CTV channel on TV, you can tune in via CTV.ca and the CTV app on Android, iOS and connected TV devices.
Etalk, Bell’s entertainment news program, will also have pre-show red carpet coverage on their Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channels.
The nominees
The 10 movies up for the highly coveted Best Picture are:
All Quiet on the Western Front
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Elvis
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Tár
Top Gun: Maverick
Triangle of Sadness
Women Talking
It’s worth noting that two of those were directed by Canadians — Avatar: The Way of Water (Kapuskasing, Ontario’s James Cameron) and Women Talking (Toronto’s Sarah Polley).
Additionally, The Whale stars Toronto’s Brendan Fraser (up for Best Lead Actor), while two of the Best Animated Picture nominees are Turning Red (co-written and directed by Toronto’s Domee Shi) and The Sea Beast (directed by Waterloo, Ontario’s Chris Williams).
Lenny Kravitz will headline the “In Memoriam” segment, while Rihanna will sing her Oscar-nominated “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
On a more upbeat note, Rahul Sipligunj and Kaala Bhairava are set to perform their fan-favourite song, “Naatu Naatu,” from the breakout Indian film, RRR.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the full list of nominees for this year’s Academy Awards, and Canada made quite a big appearance.
Notably, two of the ten Best Picture nominees were directed by Canadians: Avatar: The Way of Water (Kapuskasing, Ontario’s James Cameron) and Women Talking (Toronto’s Sarah Polley). As a producer on The Way of Water, this means Cameron himself is one of the people up for the award, while Polley — who isn’t a producer on Women Talking — scored a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It’s also worth noting that Women Talking is based the eponymous 2018 novel by Steinbach, Manitoba’s Miriam Toews.
It should be noted that Avatar: The Way of Water and Women Talking were both released in theatres in December so they’re not yet available to stream at home.
The eight other Best Picture nominees are All Quiet on the Western Front (notably, a Netflix film), The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All At Once, The Fabelmans, Tár, Top Gun: Maverick and Triangle of Sadness.
Meanwhile, Pixar’s Turning Red, which was co-written and directed by Toronto’s Domee Shi, is up for Best Animated Feature. Also nominated in that category is The Sea Beast, which was directed by Waterloo, Ontario-raised Chris Williams. Elsewhere in the field of animation, The Flying Sailor from Calgary’s Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis is nominated for Best Animated Short.
Acting-wise, American-Canadian Brendan Fraser snagged a nomination for Best Actor for The Whale. (Fraser was born in the U.S. to Canadian parents and spent some of his formative years in Toronto.)
The full list of this year’s nominees can be found here. The 95th Academy Awards will be held on March 12th, 2023.
The nominees for the 95th annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday morning, and Everything Everywhere All At Once led the pack with 11 nominations.
It was a surprisingly strong showing for the critically-acclaimed A24 movie, which some wondered might be too quirky or over-the-top for the Academy. After all, it’s a high-concept genre-bending multiverse action-drama featuring, among other things, Michelle Yeoh with literal hot dogs for fingers.
But here we are. On top of being up for Best Picture, EEAAO nabbed nominations for Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress in a Leading Role (Yeoh), Actor in a Supporting Role (Ke Huy Quan) and Actress in a Supporting Role (for both Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu), among other categories.
The movie follows a struggling Chinese-American business owner (Yeoh) who must connect with alternate universe versions of herself to thwart a threat to the entire multiverse.
If you haven’t seen the movie or are just looking to rewatch after its early 2022 theatrical release, you’re in luck. The movie is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Canada. You can also rent or purchase it on premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms like iTunes and Google Play (starting at $6.99 CAD).
The full list of 2023 Oscar nominees can be found here. This year’s ceremony will be held on March 12th.
March 27th’s 94th Academy Awards will go down in history as the event where an award winner lost his cool over a not very funny joke. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard about Will Smith and Chris Rock’s confrontation that saw the latter getting smacked in the face.
Now, YouTuber MVR, which specializes in 360-degree VR content, has recreated the altercation, so you too can experience what it’s like to either be smacked in the face by Will Smith, or slap Chris Rock in the face. Yes, MVR recreated both POVs.
Both videos feature real audio from the night, along with a few people in attendance, including Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith. There isn’t much else to it — it’s just a recreation of both POVs from the infamous night that you can experience as if you were a part of it.
March 27th’s 94th Academy Awards are sure to be remembered for a long, long time. Not for all the talent acknowledged, but because of a well-known Hollywood personality losing his temper over a joke that might have gone a little too far.
If you pay heed to what’s going on in the world, you’d know that Will Smith, who won the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard, had a bit of an altercation with standup comedian and actor Chris Rock, who was on stage to present an award. A joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett’s alopecia (an autoimmune disorder that causes severe hair loss) resulted in Smith walking up on stage and slapping Rock. The physical altercation was followed by Smith hurling verbal abuse. He said to Rock, “Keep my wife’s name out yo f****** mouth.”
Well, the internet won’t stop… internet-ing, and the whole incident has ended up becoming an NFT collection on OpenSea, arguably the biggest NFT marketplace.
The collection, which is titled “Will Smith Slap Dao,” has a total of 1,999 ‘JPEGs’ of the incident with different meme text written on the NFTs. 721 people are already ‘proud owners’ of the Slap Dao collection, with the cheapest NFT listed for 0.003 ETH ($12.89 CAD), and the most expensive one listed for 69 ETH ($296,452.79).
Yup. Will Smith’s slap has become an #NFT that 719 people have already bought on OpenSea. Each of those NFTs has been selling for an average of 0.0101 ETH or roughly $42 (US$34). pic.twitter.com/wYD3HEjaNF
There isn’t much information about the collection, though each NFT has either “Team Fake” or “Team Real” written on it. Either way, don’t go all out buying these NFTs. As with all other hype event-driven collections, these JPEGs will soon lose their value, too.
On February 8th, the full list of nominations for the 94th Academy Awards was unveiled.
Notably, while there were only eight Best Picture nominees in 2021, this year’s ceremony has ten:
Belfast (directed by Kenneth Branagh)
CODA (directed by Sian Heder)
Don’t Look Up (directed by Adam McKay)
Drive My Car (directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
Dune (directed by Quebec’s own Denis Villeneuve)
King Richard (directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green)
Licorice Pizza (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson)
Nightmare Alley (directed by Guillermo Del Toro)
The Power of the Dog (directed by Jane Campion)
West Side Story (directed by Steven Spielberg)
Evidently, then, there’s a bunch to catch up on, but that’s not always easy, especially in Canada where theatrical distribution and streaming licensing agreements are convoluted. Some of these movies also only just opened in theatres, making them unavailable for streaming initially.
With that in mind, we’ve rounded up where you can stream the ten Best Picture nominees. It’s important to note that not all of these films are yet available for streaming in Canada, so we’ll update this story accordingly leading up to Oscar night on March 27th.
Belfast
Synopsis: A semi-autobiographical take on writer-director-producer Kenneth Branagh’s childhood in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1969.
Genre: Coming-of-age comedy-drama
Where to stream: Currently, the film is only available to purchase for $19.99 to $24.99 CAD on premium video on demand (PVOD) platforms like iTunes and Google Play.
CODA
Synopsis: A CODA (child of deaf adults) struggles to balance her dreams of becoming a singer while taking care of her family. Notably, outside of star Emilia Jones (who plays main character Rubi), the mother, father and brother characters are all played by actual deaf actors: Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur (who’s also up for Best Actor in a Supporting Role) and Daniel Durant, respectively.
Genre: Coming-of-age comedy-drama
Where to stream: Since this is an Apple Original (and the first to be nominated for Best Picture), you can watch it on Apple TV+.
Don’t Look Up
Synopsis: Two astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) attempt to warn humanity about an approaching comet that will wipe out humanity.
Synopsis: The first Japanese film to earn a Best Picture nod follows a man (Hidetoshi Nishijima) who copes with the death of his wife (Reika Kirishima) while directing a multi-lingual production in Hiroshima.
Synopsis: The first in a two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides and his noble house as they’re thrust into a war on a deadly and inhospitable planet.
Synopsis: King Richard is based on the true story of Richard Williams (played by Will Smith), the father of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams (played by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singlelton, respectively).
Synopsis: A young woman (Alana Haim) and teenager (Cooper Hoffman) fall in love in San Fernando Valley in 1973.
Genre: Coming-of-age comedy-drama
Where to stream: Licorice Pizza opened in theatres late last year, so it’s not yet available on any streaming service.
Nightmare Alley
Synopsis: Based on William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel of the same name, Nightmare Alley follows a shady carnival worker (Bradley Cooper) who makes big plays to boost his career. It’s worth noting that the film was largely shot in Toronto, like Guillermo Del Toro’s other work.
Genre: Neo-noir psychological thriller
Where to stream: Nightmare Alley opened in theatres late last year, so it’s not yet available on any streaming service. Presumably, it will come to Disney+ since it’s a Fox-produced movie, but that remains to be seen.
The Power of the Dog
Synopsis: Based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name, The Power of the Dog is about a rancher (Benedict Cumberbatch) who intimidates his brother’s (Jesse Plemons) new wife (Kirsten Dunst) and her son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) until his secrets are revealed.
Synopsis: Based on the 1957 stage musical of the same name, West Side Story explores the forbidden love between Tony (Ansel Elgort) and Maria (Rachel Zegler) and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks gangs.
That covers all 10 Best Picture nominees, but there are, of course, many other films that are up for Oscars. Some other films that are streaming include:
Encanto (Best Animated Feature, Score and Original Song for “Dos Oruguitas”) — Disney+
The Lost Daughter (Best Actress for Oliva Colman, Best Supporting Actress for Jessie Buckley) — Netflix
Spencer (Best Actress for Kristen Stewart) — $4.99 to $6.99 rental on PVOD platforms like iTunes and Google Play
Tick, Tick…Boom! (Best Actor for Andrew Garfield) — Netflix
The Tragedy of MacBeth (Best Actor for Denzel Washington, Production Design and Cinematography) — Apple TV+
You can view the full list of 2022 Oscar nominees here.
The Hurt Locker tied Avatar with nine Academy Award nominations. It was The Hurt Locker that won the match up taking home six trophies at the Oscars last night (March 7), including the most coveted Best Picture award.
Kathryn Bigelow also became the first female ever to win the Best Director award. She commented that, "I hope I’m the first of many, and of course, I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point."
She went on to say, "But I’m very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible, and never give up on your dream."
The Hurt Locker also walked away with Best Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Writing (Original Screenplay) and Film Editing.
Director James Cameron, Bigelow’s ex-husband, won three Oscars for his film Avatar, Best Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects.
Best Actor awards went to Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart and Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. Bullock recently received a Worst Actress Razzie award for her role in All About Steve. This is the first time an actor has won best and worst honours in the same year.
Best Supporting Actor wins went to Christopher Waltz for his role in Inglourious Basterds and Mo’Nique for Precious.
Disney/Pixar’s Up won Best Animated Feature Film. The Young Victoria by Québécois Jean-Marc Vallée won Best Costume Design.
Charlize Theron, Barbra Streisand, Kathy Bates, Robert Downey Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, Queen Latifah and John Travolta will be presenters at the upcoming Oscars. The announcement was made by two of the event’s producers, Adam Shankman and Bill Mechanic.
Other presenters include Sacha Baron Cohen, Jason Bateman, Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Ben Stiller, Tyler Perry, Miley Cyrus, Zac Efron, Taylor Lautner, Kristen Stewart, Penélope Cruz, Kate Winslet and Sean Penn. They will all hand out awards throughout the evening.
The films Avatar and The Hurt Locker are the favourites with nine nominations each, including Best Film and Best Director for James Cameron and his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow.
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will host the ceremony next Sunday evening (March 7) at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast live on ABC.
Avatar by James Cameron and The Hurt Locker by Kathryn Bigelow are the favourites to win big at this year’s Academy Awards with nine nominations each. Cameron and Bigelow were once married.
The two films will duke it out in the Best Picture category as well as Best Director. Inglourious Basterds follows with eight nominations, including Best Film and Best Director for Quentin Tarantino.
Besides these three films, nominees for Best Picture include District 9, Up, The Blind Side, Up in the Air, A Serious Man, An Education and Precious.
Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), George Clooney (Up in the Air), Colin Firth (A Single Man), Morgan Freeman (Invictus) and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) will vy for the Best Actor prize.
Best Actress nominees include Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side), Helen Mirren (The Last Station), Carey Mulligan (An Education), Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) and Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia).
Actors and actresses nominated in supporting roles are Matt Damon (Invictus), Woody Harrelson (The Messenger), Christopher Plummer (The Last Station), Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), Penélope Cruz (Nine), Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart), Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air) and Mo’Nique (Precious).
Coraline, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells and Up round off nominees in the Best Animated Film category.
The 82nd Oscars air on March 7 and will be hosted by Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin.
A record number of animated films are being considered for nomination this year. Among the favourites we find Up, Coraline, Monsters vs. Aliens and Disney’s A Christmas Carol.
In the past, only three films have been nominated in this category. However, according to Academy rules, five films must be nominated when the list of eligible movies is 16 or more.
Some films, such as Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog and Planet 51, may be disqualified by the fact that they have not yet been released. However, it’s doubtful that the number of eligible films will drop below 16.
Animated films may also be nominated in other categories, including Best Picture. Nominations will be announced on February 2, 2010, and the Oscars ceremony will take place on March 7.
The animated films being considered for nomination are:
