The red carpet has been unfurled and Hollywood is getting ready for its collective close-up. The 87th Academy Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, will be taking place at Hollywood's 3,300-seat Dolby Theatre tonight. It's pretty clear that it's down to "Birdman" and "Boyhood," both of which are jockeying for the best picture nod. Performers on hand include Lady Gaga, Rita Ora, Jennifer Hudson and Anna Kendrick.

At the last Cannes Festival this past May Abderrahmane Sissako's slow burn-tale about a town's descent into Islamist hell was the first movie I saw. By the end of fest (that is, about fifty movies later), "Timbuktu" waded around my brain like a very sweet but anxiety-inducing dream I once had. It's now nearly a year later now and director Sissako has triumphed as France's best filmmaker, getting some well-deserved recognition

Edith 'Little Edie' Bouvier Beale: "No, I'm not ready; I have no makeup on... but things are getting better!" (one of the many choice quotes from "Grey Gardens").

For the sadistic movie-goer "Grey Gardens" might just be the epitome of schadenfreude: look, rejoice, at how Big and Little Edie Beale, a mother-and-daughter team of recluses living in a run-down mansion in East

The film world a political injustice loveth (but it also loveth good cinema). And in a perfect storm of urgent, inspired filmmaking and jurisdictional accuracy the Golden Bear, the top award at the Berlinale, went to Jafar Panahi for his film "Taxi," a day after the FIPRESCI prize was given to him. Many of the other awards given out last night went to the underdogs, directors making cinema on a small but vital scale.

As usual, lots of mesmerizingly-good cinema to see and report on at the ongoing Berlinale. I'm a die-hard Cannester (it sounds weird, I know) but somehow Berlin being held in February just seems to work out better timing-wise for a lot of the more vital and less-established filmmakers. The wild, young things are here in Berlin and the older, more reliable filmmakers wait until May to make an appearance. Some, like Terrence Malick

“Farewell to Hollywood,” a documentary film by Henry Corra and [...]

This April the Newport Beach Film Festival will feature a [...]