The Hurt Locker Archives - The Playlist

‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Shrek,’ ‘Hurt Locker’ & More Join The 2020 Class of The National Film Registry

Charles Barfield — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 15:52:44 +0000

Unlike the Oscars or other annual awards, being selected by the Library of Congress as one of the 25 films picked to join the National Film Registry is on a whole different level. By being chosen, a film is given the honor of being deemed one of the most influential and important films to ever be released. And this year, the 25 films chosen include a wide variety of features, from superhero films to war dramas to musical comedies.

Continue reading ‘The Dark Knight,’ ‘Shrek,’ ‘Hurt Locker’ & More Join The 2020 Class of The National Film Registry at The Playlist.

Whatever, Dad: James Cameron Told Guillermo Del Toro Not To Do ‘The Hobbit’

Rodrigo Perez — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 19:19:00 +0000

Oh, James Cameron. Every time you open your mouth we’re mildly astonished (and sort of pleased), but we suppose we shouldn’t be. This time it’s about “The Hobbit.” Wait, what does this director have anything to do with “The Lord Of The Rings” prequel? Well, since Cameron has an opinion on everything and since he’s producing Guillermo del Toro’s next project, “At The Mountains Of Madness,” he just has to weigh in.

“I was telling [Guillermo] for a long time to get out of that thing because there is only room for one captain on the ship,” Cameron told Australia’s Herald Sun.

Continue reading Whatever, Dad: James Cameron Told Guillermo Del Toro Not To Do ‘The Hobbit’ at The Playlist.

James Cameron Says ‘The Hurt Locker’ Would Have Been Better In 3D

Edward Davis — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 18:17:00 +0000

“I think [“The Hurt Locker”] would have been better in 3D. Absolutely. It wouldn’t have been hugely better in 3D, but I’m talking a future where you don’t have to put ‘in 3D’ on the movie poster anymore, the same way you don’t put ‘in color’ on posters anymore.” — James Cameron in the new issue of EW (not online yet, but sitting right in front of this writer). Sorry, but that’s a future we’re not really looking forward to.

Continue reading James Cameron Says ‘The Hurt Locker’ Would Have Been Better In 3D at The Playlist.

Confirmed: Jeremy Renner Will Play Hawkeye In ‘The Avengers’

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 02:06:00 +0000

The loose talk was apparently a bulls eye. In late 2009 “The Hurt Locker” star Jeremy Renner said he and Marvel had been in discussions about playing the archer character Hawkeye in “The Avengers.”

That talk cooled slightly when Renner backed away from that claim somewhat and cautioned to fans that those conversations were very early ones. It appears now those discussions went well.

THR is reporting that Renner is in final negotiations to play the archer character in “The Avengers” film that will be directed by Joss Whedon (final negotiations is basically done deal, btw).

Continue reading Confirmed: Jeremy Renner Will Play Hawkeye In ‘The Avengers’ at The Playlist.

The ‘Hurt Locker’ Goes 4D In This Amusing MTV Movie Awards Promo

Edward Davis — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:05:00 +0000

We gotta admit, we’re pretty impressed with the 2010 MTV Movie Awards this year. Getting Isabelle Huppert to host is a nice change of pace and nominating “Sin Nombre,” “The White Ribbon,” “Goodbye Solo,” “Still Walking” and “35 Shots Of Rum” for Best Movie is a bold move. Oh, and how about including the end of “The Limits of Control” in the best WTF Moment category, nominating “A Single Man” for Best Kiss and the brotherly squabble in “Anvil!

Continue reading The ‘Hurt Locker’ Goes 4D In This Amusing MTV Movie Awards Promo at The Playlist.

2010 Oscar Acceptance Speeches

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:57:00 +0000

In case you missed the 82nd Annual Academy Awards ceremony last night, here are a bunch of the acceptance speeches. If you want more context, here’s all the winners, and here’s our detailed live blog. In case you were under a rock, “The Hurt Locker” was the night’s big winner taking 6 awards in total including Best Picture and Best Director. Some of these clips are a little ghetto, but deal with it, that’s all that’s out there at the moment.

Continue reading 2010 Oscar Acceptance Speeches at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Win Best Picture & Tops The 2010 Academy Awards With 6 Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:06:00 +0000

And bullseye. Goliath goes down. In your face 3D, “The Hurt Locker” won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Picture.

The intense action-based Iraq War film took six awards in total, including one for its director Kathryn Bigelow, who went down in the history books as the female director to ever win a Best Directing Academy Award prize.

Some argued the David vs. Goliath story over the blockbuster vs. the longtail award or the spectacle vs.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Win Best Picture & Tops The 2010 Academy Awards With 6 Awards at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Liveblog

Katie Walsh — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 23:48:00 +0000

It’s the most wonderful night of the year — The 82nd Annual Academy Awards! The population at large has had a bad case of Oscar fever, and the only cure is little gold naked men statues. Can you blame us for being in the grip of Oscarmania? The awards show this year is bigger and badder than ever. Double your Oscar hosts, double your fun! Alec Baldwin teams up with Oscar vet Steve Martin for what could possibly be the best pair of co-hosts ever.

Continue reading The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Liveblog at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Predictions

Rodrigo Perez — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:04:00 +0000

OK, are these picks obvious you say? Sure, the 2010 Academy Awards (for the films that came out in 2009) have been pretty easy to figure out as they generally are each year.

Sure, there are always curve balls, surprises and whatnot, but if you pay a modicum of attention you should be able to guess at least 17 out of 24 picks correctly.

The season obviously changes and films fall in and out of favor, so there’s really no point in making several predictions during the year.

Continue reading The Playlist’s 2010 Oscar Predictions at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Producer Penalized For Errant Email, Has Oscar Invitation Rescinded

Kevin Jagernauth — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:30:00 +0000

Oh boy, we’ve all sent emails we shouldn’t have by accident, but it’s worse when it goes public. “The Hurt Locker” producer Nicolas Chartier is probably wishing there was a rock he could crawl under until sometime this summer, after an email sent to Academy voters and industry insiders backfired in a big way.

You can read it below:

I hope all is well with you. I just wanted to write you and say I hope you liked Hurt Locker and if you did and want us to win, please tell (name deleted) and your friends who vote for the Oscars, tell actors, directors, crew members, art directors, special effects people, if everyone tells one or two of their friends, we will win and not a $500M film, we need independent movies to win like the movies you and I do, so if you believe The Hurt Locker is the best movie of 2010, help us!

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Producer Penalized For Errant Email, Has Oscar Invitation Rescinded at The Playlist.

‘The White Ribbon’ Wins ASC Cinematography Award, ‘The Hurt Locker’ Takes Sound Mixing Prize

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:52:00 +0000

Looking to lock in your final Oscar picks? Here’s some recent decisions that will help you along the way.

While it did seem like the front-runner all along, we were somewhat surprised to see Michael Haneke’s austere, but beautiful, black and white Cannes winner, “The White Ribbon” take the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Outstanding Achievement Award last night in Los Angeles.

The competition in the field, was pretty fierce and ‘Ribbon’ cinematographer Christian Berger beat out “Avatar” photog Mauro Fiorem, Barry Ackroyd for “The Hurt Locker,” Dion Beebes work in “Nine,” and Robert Richardson’s lensing on Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”

While “The White Ribbon” and its digital black and white photography is elegant and striking… call us purists, but we still prefer traditional b&w cinematography with those grains, contours and textures [nothing is on par with say Gordon Willis’ “Manhattan” or the great James Wong Howe’s work on films like “Seconds” (’66), “Hud” (’63) or “Sweet Smell of Success,” or Haskell Wexler’s incredibly textured work on “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (’66) for random examples off the top of our head].

Continue reading ‘The White Ribbon’ Wins ASC Cinematography Award, ‘The Hurt Locker’ Takes Sound Mixing Prize at The Playlist.

For Your Consideration: Brian Geraghty As ‘Captain America’

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:03:00 +0000

Who? Couch that for a second, let’s go back to the casting choices rumored for Marvel’s “The First Avenger: Captain America” which were leaked yesterday.

Most fanboys and even semi-interested parties either shrugged, groaned or went, “huh?” went it came to the relatively unknown, untested names being thrown around as the final contenders. They basically break down into two groups. John Krasinski of NBC’s “The Office” sitcom and everyone else — the lesser-known pretty boys: Chace Crawford, Garrett Hedlund (“Tron Legacy”), Mike Vogel (“Cloverfield”), Scott Porter (“Friday Night Lights”), Patrick Flueger (“The 4400”) and Michael Cassidy (“Smallville”).

Continue reading For Your Consideration: Brian Geraghty As ‘Captain America’ at The Playlist.

2010 BAFTAs – ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Best Picture, Dominates With 6 Awards

Oliver Lyttelton — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:01:00 +0000

Tonight brings the British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ annual awards ceremony, one of the final events of the season, and one of the last major indicators of which way the Oscars may end up going. Because our ticket to the awards, um, mysteriously never arrived, and because Britain is yet to join the 21st century and televise its award ceremonies (an edited version starts airing at 9pm GMT), we’re going to update the winners as we get them, and then liveblog the ceremony.

Continue reading 2010 BAFTAs – ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Best Picture, Dominates With 6 Awards at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ & ‘Up In The Air’ Top The WGA Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:59:00 +0000

Are you buying the surging meme? Are you one of those believing the Harvey Weinstein self-made hype — bought hook line and sinker by the media — that “Inglourious Basterds” is going to win Best Picture, because Weinstein believes that if you repeat the sentiment often enough people will listen? And hell, he’s right, people are listening. Or at least the media has in the last few weeks because, well, lemmings will do that some times.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ & ‘Up In The Air’ Top The WGA Awards at The Playlist.

UPDATED: ‘The Hurt Locker’ Producers In Oscar Eligiblity Controversy

Simon Dang — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:15:00 +0000

UPDATE: According to THR, all four producers have now been recognised by the Academy in what is being described as a “rare and extraordinary circumstance.” Chartier is again noted as being the man in question but fortunately the potential awkwardness has been averted.

When “The Hurt Locker” was announced as an Oscar Best Picture nominee on Tuesday morning, some may recall that it was announced that producing credit for the film was still to be decided.

Continue reading UPDATED: ‘The Hurt Locker’ Producers In Oscar Eligiblity Controversy at The Playlist.

Snubs & Surprises From The 2010 Oscar Nominations

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Alright, the 2010 Oscar nominations are in and obviously “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” are going to go toe to toe at the ceremony with 9 nods a piece, and it’s made juicier by the fact that the two directors, James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow were once married. Be sure to expect a lot of Battle of the Sexes/Exes/Lovers crap from the lesser media (TV, bloggers who will engage in such nonsense, etc.).

There weren’t a myriad surprises this year, a lot of it was set in stone a long time ago, but it wouldn’t be the Oscars if there weren’t some curveballs thrown our way.

Continue reading Snubs & Surprises From The 2010 Oscar Nominations at The Playlist.

‘Avatar’ & ‘The Hurt Locker’ Lead The 2010 Pack With 9 Oscar Nominations Each

Rodrigo Perez — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:25:00 +0000

For the record, we (I) hate calling them the 2010 Oscar awards. They’re for the films that came out in 2009. So in 10 years from now when you’re asking who won the 2010 Oscars, you’re probably going to be thinking about the films that came out in 2010, not 2009. Just sayin’.

We didn’t do predictions for this year’s 82 Annual Academy Awards because many of them seemed obvious and set and stone and as everyone expected, James Cameron’s “Avatar,” Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air,” Lee Daniels’ “Precious” and Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” all scored Best Director and Best Picture nods for their respective films.

Continue reading ‘Avatar’ & ‘The Hurt Locker’ Lead The 2010 Pack With 9 Oscar Nominations Each at The Playlist.

Kathryn Bigelow Takes The DGA Award

Rodrigo Perez — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 07:54:00 +0000

Hell yes. Kathryn Bigelow, director of “The Hurt Locker” bested her ex-husband James Cameron (“Avatar”) in the DGA (Director’s Guild Award) winners race tonight making her the frontrunner in the 2009 Oscar race.

God, could she and the Iraq war film actually take the Oscar Best Picture and Best Director? We’d love it more than life itself, but are still skeptical. Here’s hoping. But as Roger Ebert noted last night, only six times in sixty years has the DGA winner not won the Oscar for Best Picture which bodes very well for her and her film.

Continue reading Kathryn Bigelow Takes The DGA Award at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Bests ‘Avatar’ In The 2009 PGA Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Fuck a duck and holy shit, just when you thought that Awards season might be over and set in stone comes a major game changer, “The Hurt Locker” just beat “Avatar” in the PGA (Producer’s Guild Awards). For the layman out there, if the Director’s Guild, or SAG is the 9 out of 10 (or close enough) bellwether of what happens at the Oscars, well the PGAs are the Guild equivalent of Oscar at the Oscars.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Bests ‘Avatar’ In The 2009 PGA Awards at The Playlist.

‘An Education,’ ‘Hurt Locker’ & ‘Avatar’ Lead The 2009 BAFTA Nominations

Rodrigo Perez — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Lone Scherfig’s “An Education,” Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker” and James Cameron’s “Avatar,” lead the pack this year for the Orange British Academy Film Awards, each tying with eight nominations apiece including Best Film, Best Director (each film also grabbed Best Editing aside from ‘Education’).

“An Education” also took additional prestige noms in the Best British Film category, Best Actress for Carey Mulligan, Best Supporting for Alfred Molina, Best Adapted Screenplay (Nick Hornby).

Continue reading ‘An Education,’ ‘Hurt Locker’ & ‘Avatar’ Lead The 2009 BAFTA Nominations at The Playlist.

The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2009 (*Editor’s Picks Only)

Rodrigo Perez — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:45:00 +0000

Getting a definitive top 10 out of the Playlist team is hard.

There’s a lot of differing opinions and some writers, due to their locations (we’ve got people in the U.K., Australia, Canada and U.S. places other than NY/LA), don’t get to see most of the year’s films until January 2010. And yes, we’re deep in January now, but some are still making their way through everything (example, “The Lovely Bones” just hit wide this past weekend).

Continue reading The Playlist’s Best Films Of 2009 (*Editor’s Picks Only) at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Score Finally Arrives In Stores Tomorrow, Available On iTunes Now

Kevin Jagernauth — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 20:32:00 +0000

It took a little while but Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders’ underrated and understated score for “The Hurt Locker” is finally seeing the light of day in a proper release, having hit iTunes digitally last week on January 12th, and with physical copies finding store shelves tomorrow, January 19th via Lakeshore Records.

Beltrami and Sanders’ score wasn’t the flashiest or most bombastic of the year, but it was definitely one of the most effective.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Score Finally Arrives In Stores Tomorrow, Available On iTunes Now at The Playlist.

‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Big At The Broadcast Film Critics Choice Awards

Rodrigo Perez — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:17:00 +0000

If you recall from when we posted the nominees for the Broadcast Film Critic Awards (BFCA) a month ago, we mentioned how they can often serve as a surprisingly effective preview of what the Oscars might bring. For instance, last year they were able to predict nine eventual Oscar winners, including all of the major categories, after “Slumdog Millionaire” connected with both the critics and the Oscar voters alike. The year before “No Country For Old Men” was the film that was able to align itself with both audiences, and the BFCA used it to predict seven Oscars.

Continue reading ‘The Hurt Locker’ Wins Big At The Broadcast Film Critics Choice Awards at The Playlist.

Kathryn Bigelow To Be ‘Held By The Taliban’ Update: Terrence Malick May Produce

Kevin Jagernauth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:07:00 +0000

Update: Following yesterday’s not-quite-accurate tweet from Production Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Kathryn Bigelow is not officially attached to direct (yet) but that the offer has been made (the project has been shipped out to handful of studios/agents for consideration). The more intriguing development is that Terrence Malick wants to jump aboard as producer and “pitch his take on the material to potential buyers.” Um, a Bigelow film produced by Terrence Malick? Sign us up.

Continue reading Kathryn Bigelow To Be ‘Held By The Taliban’ Update: Terrence Malick May Produce at The Playlist.

WGA Noms: ‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Trek’ Score Nominations: Perhaps Due To Ineligibilty of ‘Basterds,’ ‘Road,’ ‘Single Man’? Let’s Hope So

Katie Walsh — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:20:00 +0000

The WGA nominees were just announced, via THR, and James Cameron’s out-of-control freight train “Avatar” picked up steam with a nomination for best original screenplay. Pardon us, but what the F?

Of all the merits of ‘Avatar,’ its screenplay was definitely not one of them, trafficking in stock, black-and-white characters, lazy cliches (“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” please) and rehashing beloved children’s classic “Fern Gully,” by adding guns and robots. It’s actually a bit of a slap in the face to writers in this category frankly.

Continue reading WGA Noms: ‘Avatar’ and ‘Star Trek’ Score Nominations: Perhaps Due To Ineligibilty of ‘Basterds,’ ‘Road,’ ‘Single Man’? Let’s Hope So at The Playlist.