Oscar News

• The Los Angeles Film Festival next month will feature screenings of some anticipated Oscar contenders, including Vera Farmiga’s Higher Ground and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh.
• The 2010-11 Tony Award Nominations were announced this week, honoring excellence in Broadway Theatre. Among the nominees are Oscar winners Tim Chappel, Lizzy Gardiner, Joel Grey, Frances McDormand, Al Pacino and Vanessa Redgrave, as well as Oscar Nominees Fred Ebb, John Kander, Trey Parker and Marc Shaiman.

Review Round-Up

• Thor might be criticized for some lackluster plotting, but with a strong (for a summer blockbuster) 58 at Metacrtic, most of the reviewers seem to like the effects and other technology enough to push it into the tech categories next winter.

Oscar Box Office

• Although it won’t have much of an impact on the Oscars, April was a bounce-back month and the highest grossing month of the year for Hollywood.

Oscar Farewell

• Jackie Cooper, who holds the record for the youngest Best Actor nominee for Skippy, died at the age of 88. Among his other film credits were The Champ, the Our Gang series and Superman.
• Arthur Laurents, the playwright and screenwriter who was nominated for two Oscars for 1977’s The Turning Point, passed away Thursday at the age of 93. Laurents also wrote the book to West Side Story, which became a Best Picture-winning film.