Davey Jones of the Monkees has died at 66

By ANDY GREENE

Davy Jones of the Monkees has died of an apparent heart attack at age 66. The singer, who had been on a solo tour this month, complained of chest pains last evening and was admitted to a hospital this morning in Stuart, Florida.

Jones was born in Manchester, England and started acting as a child. In 1964 he had the misfortune of appearing in the cast of Oliver! on the same episode of The Ed Sullivan Show where the Beatles made their debut. The next year he was cast in The Monkees, a comedy show/band inspired by the success of the Beatles. They were an instant hit in the ratings and the record shops, scoring massive singles with "Last Train to Clarksville," "I'm a Believer," "Stepping Stone" and "Pleasant Valley Sunday." Jones – who played tambourine in the band – was the lead vocalist on the classics "Daydream Believer" and "I Wanna Be Free." At the peak of their popularity in 1967 the group sold more albums than the Beatles.

The Monkees' music was written by some of the best songwriters of the day, including Carole King and Neil Diamond. As the group grew more popular, they insisted on writing their own music and playing their own instruments. Although their later work has attracted a huge cult audience over the years, their mainstream success quickly dwindled and the group split in 1971. Jones went onto a solo career, and he memorably performed his song "Girl" on an episode of The Brady Bunch.

Jones returned to acting in the late 1970s when his solo career failed to take off, but he found it difficult to escape the shadow of the Monkees. By the mid-1980s Monkees mania was reborn when MTV and other stations began regularly airing old episodes of the TV show. The band (minus Mike Nesmith) reunited for a highly successful reunion tour in 1986. They toured off and on through 2001, when infighting led to another split. Last summer they patched things up for a 45th anniversary tour, though it was called short because of what guitarist Peter Tork called a "glitch."

Nesmith posted a tribute to Jones on his Facebook page. "I will miss him, but I won’t abandon him to mortality," he wrote. "I will think of him as existing within the animating life that insures existence. I will think of him and his family with that gentle regard in spite of all the contrary appearances on the mortal plane. David’s spirit and soul live well in my heart, among all the lovely people, who remember with me the good times, and the healing times, that were created for so many, including us. I have fond memories. I wish him safe travels."

Oscar predictions 2012: Critics handicap the Academy Awards

An Oscar statue guards an entrance of the Kodak Theatre on the eve of the 84th annual Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on February 25, 2012.

Photograph by: Joe Klamar , AFP/Getty Images

BY JAY STONE, POSTMEDIA NEWS

Her turn as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady is a bravura performance that goes beyond impersonation and finds a sad and regal truth about a once-powerful woman now battling memory loss. Moreover, it's the kind of thing Hollywood loves. But giving the Oscar to Streep would seem so, well, déjà vu.

Will win: Davis stole every scene from Streep in the 2008 film Doubt, and she will steal the Oscar from her this year. It will be a well-deserved win - Davis's performance as the downtrodden maid in The Help is a wonderfully subtle amalgam of dignity, humiliation and, finally, strength - that is helped along by the fact that she is a relative newcomer to the Oscars (she was nominated for her supporting role in Doubt), and that minority actors have been shut out for too long. She would join Halle Berry as the only African-American woman to win the Best Actress Oscar.

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees: Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn), Jonah Hill (Moneyball), Nick Nolte (Warrior), Christopher Plummer (Beginners), Max von Sydow (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)

Should win: Branagh was hilarious as Sir Laurence Olivier in My Week With Marilyn, but this is Plummer's year. He was previously nominated in 2009 for The Last Station, an accomplished turn that nevertheless felt like a last-minute acknowledgment that this brilliant performer had never won an Oscar. In Beginners, he plays an older man who comes out of the closet after his wife dies, and he brings a tone of tender urbanity that is so economical, you almost don't notice your heart is being broken. An exquisite miniature from a master.

Will win: Plummer.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees: Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Jessica Chastain (The Help), Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids), Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Octavia Spencer (The Help)

Should win: If they gave awards for most memorable scene, Mc-Carthy would walk away with it for her pooping bridesmaid in Bridesmaids. But Spencer is also difficult to forget: Minny, her outspoken maid (what is it with all the maids?) in The Help gives the picture much of its backbone, and she brings to it the perfect combination of anger, sass and feistiness. She's a scenestealer, and scene-stealers always win the supporting awards.

Will win: Spencer.

Best Director

Nominees: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Alexander Payne (The Descendants), Martin Scorsese (Hugo), Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris), Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)

Should win: All of them, really, but the most interesting work was done by Malick, who created not just a world - Texas in the 1950s - but an entire universe. Malick's poetic/philosophical/ontological coming-of-age story encompassed the free and open fields of a Texas childhood with the cloistered terrors of an unhappy father, and, as a kind of bonus, the creation of the universe itself, a dreamy special-effects metaphor of one man's life.

Astounding, really.

Will win: The Artist director Hazanavicius has several things going for him, including momentum, freshness, and the sheer courage of his project: a Frenchman coming to Hollywood to make a silent movie about American cinema. The historic tropes, the visual storytelling, and the bandwagon effect will propel him to Oscar.

If you pay attention to the early awards - the Golden Globes, the Producers' Guild, the Directors' Guild and others - it's going to be a silent night tonight when the Academy Awards are handed out. The silent film, The Artist, is the odds-on favourite to dominate. But is it worthy?

Here's who should win (and who will win) the main Oscars on Sunday night:

BEST PICTURE

Nominees: The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life, War Horse

Should win: The combination of "show" and "business" is nowhere more apparent than in this category, where art and entertainment battle. The Tree of Life is the most daring and artful film, but The Artist - a silent movie about an actor who can't adapt to the era of talkies - is the year's most delightful surprise. It's a robust combination of novelty, ingenuity and sheer joy that, moreover, feeds into the zeitgeist. (Hugo is also concerned with old cinema; Midnight In Paris celebrates 1920s culture; and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close features a silent performance by Max von Sydow.) It would be only the second silent movie (after Wings, the 1927 silent that won the first Oscar) to be named best picture.

Will win: The Artist.

BEST ACTOR

Nominees: Demian Bichir (A Better Life), George Clooney (The Descendants), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

Should win: In a normal year, this award would go to Clooney, who showed new depths of vulnerability and confusion as the lawyer with a comatose wife in The Descendants. There are two Clooneys: the Ocean's Eleven smoothie and the conflicted alpha male of Up in the Air, Michael Clayton or even Syriana, for which he won the Supporting Actor Oscar in 2005. This role is different, though. Clooney allows himself to be clunky (those flip-flops!), lost, and even sexually humiliated. It's a sly bit of casting by director Alexander Payne that undermines Clooney's hunky image and calls on him to discover real emotion.

Will win: Dujardin's turn as George Valentin in The Artist is a charming, insouciant performance of old-school charisma, all accomplished with (practically) no words. It's a different kind of acting in a different kind of picture, and while Dujardin works in a much more limited range, he was irresistible as the swashbuckling silent film star who falls and rises again. He'll be carried along by The Artist wave to the first Best Actor Oscar for a Frenchman.

Best Actress

Nominees: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs), Viola Davis (The Help), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)

Should win: You can't say that Hollywood has ignored Streep: She has 17 Oscar nominations, more than any other actor in history. But academy voters seem to be of two minds about her. She's almost always good enough to nominate, but she would win every year if they let her, and it wouldn't look good. (Streep's latest Oscar came in 1982, for Sophie's Choice.)

And the winner is - Your guide to the Oscar categories and the nominees,

WATCHING THE OSCARS

Where & when: The red carpet live broadcast begins at 7 p.m. tonight on ABC and at 8 p.m. on CTV. The ceremony begins at 8: 30 p.m. on CTV and ABC.

More online: For more Oscar stories and photos of the stars, go to ottawacitizen.com/oscars

AND THE WINNER IS...

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud & Incredibly

Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse


BEST DIRECTOR

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

BEST ACTOR

Demian Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The Help

Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Max Von Sydow, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

A Cat In Paris

Chico & Rita

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

BEST FOREIGN FILM

Bullhead, Belgium

Footnote, Israel

In Darkness, Poland

Monsier Lazhar, Canada

A Separation, Iran

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Midnight in Paris

Margin Call

A Separation

The Artist

Bridesmaids

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants

Hugo

The Ides of March

Moneyball

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Artist

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

War Horse

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Anonymous

The Artist

Hugo

Jane Eyre

W.E.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Man or Muppet from The Muppets

Real in Rio from Rio

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

The Adventures of Tintin

The Artist

Hugo

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

War Horse


BEST DOCUEMENTARY

Hell and Back Again

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth

Liberation Front

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Pina

Undefeated

BEST FILM EDITING

The Artist

The Descendants

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Artist

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST MAKEUP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

BEST SOUND EDITING

Drive

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

BEST SOUND MIXING

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo

Moneyball

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

War Horse

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Real Steel

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement

God Is the Bigger Elvis

Incident in New Baghdad

Saving Face

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Dimanche/Sunday

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris

Lessmore

La Luna

A Morning Stroll

Wild Life

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Pentecost

Raju

The Shore

Time Freak

Tuba Atlantic

No one does it like Pixar, very nice!

Will 'The Artist' dance away with best picture Oscar?

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Nine films are nominated for best picture at Sunday's Oscars, and if you want to see them before finding out who wins the Academy Award, you have only a few days left.

According to Las Vegas oddsmakers, "The Artist" is the favorite to claim the big prize. And after its star, Jean Dujardin, and director, Michel Hazanavicius, received top honors from the Screen Actors and Directors guilds respectively, it would appear to be Hollywood's favorite as well.

"It's fun, it's emotional, it's about the industry, and the artist, and all those things appeal to people," David Poland, veteran Oscar watcher and founder of MovieCityNews.com, told Reuters. "This is the movie that made people feel good."

"The Descendants" and "The Help" are also in the hunt. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were named best actress and best supporting actress at the SAG Awards, and actors are the biggest group of academy voters, which could tip the scales in favor of "The Help" in a close vote.

"The Artist" and "The Descendants" are still in theaters, but many of the nominees, including "The Help," are already on DVD, available via online streaming as well as pay-per-view or On Demand (check with your provider).

Oscar gold fails to translate to cash this time

By David Germain

AP Movie Writer

LOS ANGELES—It's a common complaint among movie fans -- that the Academy Awards honors films no one has seen.

Not quite right, but closer to the mark this year than most.

For the first time in the three years since Oscar organizers expanded the best-picture category to more than five films, there's not a single blockbuster in the running. Billion-dollar worldwide hits such as "Avatar" and "Toy Story 3" have been in the best-picture mix the last two years, along with such huge smashes as "Up," "Inception" and "The Blind Side."

The only contender this time that has made it to the $100 million mark domestically is the Deep South tale "The Help" at $169.7 million -- big business for a drama with a heavily female audience.

But the rest of the best-picture lineup ranges from a slim $13.3 million domestically for the family drama "The Tree of Life" to a modest $78.8 million for the World War I saga "War Horse" -- one of the smallest audiences ever for a film from blockbuster maestro Steven Spielberg.

It's not just studio bottom lines that are affected when Oscar films fail to catch fire at the box office. The Oscar show itself can suffer, since bigger TV audiences tend to tune in when enormous hits such as "Titanic" or "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" are in the thick of the awards race.

As of last weekend, the domestic haul for this season's nine best-picture nominees totaled $595.6 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com. That's less than half the business done by the 10 nominees a year ago and about a third of the revenues for the 10 contenders two years ago (the Oscars have only nine nominees this time because of a rule change requiring that films receive a certain percentage of first-place votes).

The big hits of 2011 -- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 1," "The Hangover Part II" -- just were not best-picture material.

"I think there is a disconnect, but then I think there's supposed to be a disconnect. It's not about what are the most popular films. It's the films deemed by the voting body to be the best pictures of the year," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "Often times, what the academy thinks is a great movie isn't a movie a general audience wants to see."

Only four times in the last 30 years has the year's top-grossing film won best picture at the Oscars -- 1988's "Rain Man," 1994's "Forrest Gump," 1997's "Titanic" and 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

"The Hurt Locker" -- domestic gross just $17 million -- won best picture two years ago over "Avatar," which pulled in $760 million domestically and $2.8 billion worldwide.

Critical acclaim and commercial success merged last year as "The King's Speech" was crowned best picture, the Oscar attention helping it to a domestic take of $138.8 million, a fortune for an old-fashioned period drama.

Most of "The King's Speech" riches came after Oscar nominations were announced, the film packing in audiences in the wake of all the awards buzz.

That's often been the great value of Oscar nominations for films that lack big marketing budgets. But this season, that usual bump at the box office has lost much of its bounce.

George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" fared the best, pulling in $24.3 million domestically since the nominations Jan. 24 to raise its total through last weekend to $75.6 million.

"We still have a movie out there that's in release, and we want to get people to see it," "Descendants" producer Jim Burke said on nominations morning. "Frankly, these nominations help in that cause. We make what we call human films, and it requires word of mouth and people telling others to see it and critical response and audience reaction. It all helps. It all helps a lot."

The silent film "The Artist," which has 10 nominations and is favored to win best picture, would be one of the lowest-grossing winners ever, with $28.1 million through last weekend. The Oscar attention certainly has helped, though. A bit more than half of its box-office cash has come in since the nominations.

Martin Scorsese's Paris adventure "Hugo," which leads with 11 nominations, has had a so-so commercial run, padding its domestic dollars to $67.3 million, up $11.4 million since nominations day. Yet it has a timeless appeal that could keep it alive on video for the long haul.

"It seems to be a picture that plays to the entire family and plays for different ages," Scorsese said. "It might have a life more than a year or two. Maybe in the future people will still see it and get more out of it as they grow older."

That's a key purpose of the Oscars -- calling attention to films that deserve to live on for years to come, rather than those that put up big numbers over opening weekend.

Oscar attention can make all the difference for tiny films such as the Irish drama "Albert Nobbs," which went into general release the weekend after the nominations and has pulled in $2.4 million since, largely on the strength of acting honors for Glenn Close and Janet McTeer.

"We did this little film for love and almost no money, and now we're here walking up red carpets," McTeer said. "It means that more people are likely to see the film. When you've done a film for the love of the beast, it's very, very exciting. It's wonderful that more people might go and see it. That's why we do it, isn't it?"

------

Associated Press Entertainment Writers Derrik J. Lang and Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

Jennifer Aniston unveils Walk of Fame star

Los Angeles. Photo / AP

Jennifer Aniston unveiled her star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame today.

The Wanderlust actress unveiled the tribute on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street, while boyfriend Justin Theroux and her father, Days of our Lives star John Aniston, 78, looked on.

Jennifer's Just Go With It co-star Adam Sandler spoke to the crowd at the unveiling, telling them: "Everyone loves this girl - my wife loves this girl, Justin Theroux loves this girl.

"She prayed for three things. To have everyone in the entire world be fascinated with her haircut, to one day star in a movie about an evil leprechaun who kills people, and most importantly, receive a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame. Well today, Jennifer, the trifecta is here."

The 43-year-old former Friends star has previously said she was "extremely flattered, humbled, nervous and excited," to be awarded the star.

She said at a press conference: "It feels very surreal to be honest.

"I was born here and it's sort of something you went and saw as a kid and got excited about just walking and seeing the names. To imagine that you're going to be there is really special. It's fun."

Last July Jennifer's hand and footprints were also immortalised in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre, also in Hollywood.

- BANG! Showbiz

Whitney Houston's funeral: Bobby Brown did not attend

Image Credit: Ray Tamarra/WireImage.com

by Kate Ward

Bobby Brown was reportedly not in attendance at Whitney Houston’s funeral, but not for a lack of trying. People reports Brown was turned away from the ceremony Saturday at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, N.J. A source tells People: “Bobby was outside the church … he hugged his brother and then got in a car, and they drove him off … They wouldn’t allow him in.”

Another source says that Brown was invited to attend, and had planned to in order to support his daughter with Houston, Bobbi Kristina: “She wanted her dad to be there for her mom … She is not going to be happy that he was turned back.” Some even say Brown made it into the funeral, with HLN tweeting, “He walked by Whitney’s casket and then came back up the isle. His eyes were red, and his head was down.” Earlier, Al Sharpton, who is attending the funeral, tweeted: “I am at Whitney’s funeral. I spoke with Bobby Brown trying to calm him down and not distract from the services. Today is about Whitney!” Brown reportedly left in a Cadillac Escalade with children Landon and LaPrincia.

Tuskegee Airmen Honored At 'Red Tails' Screening In Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES -- This week's most noteworthy film screening didn't take place in Hollywood or Beverly Hills. Instead of starlets gliding past photographers on a red carpet, elderly men in wheelchairs, using canes or leaning on family for support were escorted by cadets up the steps of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza theater.

These men constituted most of the remaining Los Angeles-area members of the original Tuskegee Airmen group, and they were there on Wednesday for a special showing of "Red Tails," George Lucas' multimillion-dollar portrayal of the first African-American air corps in the United States.

Tuskegee Airmen being escorted into the theater. Photo by Kathleen Miles.

The sold-out screening packed in about 400 people, all of whom burst into tremendous applause when the World War II veterans stood at their seats. As some audience members snapped photographs, others took a moment to explain to their children "how big of a deal this is!" And throughout the night, the audience punctuated the film with laughter and applause. When the screening ended, the Los Angeles chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc. hosted a private reception with a live band, a buffet, a few short speeches and a movie poster signing by the airmen.

Tuskegee Airmen watch "Red Tails" at Rave Motion Pictures. Photo by Kathleen Miles.

Los Angeles resident Levi Thornhill was one of the Tuskegee Airmen who came. He had been part of the original 332nd Fighter Group, who served with distinction as airplane escorts for bomber planes on strategic missions in Europe. After the film, he praised Lucas for his attention to detail and gave "Red Tails" a ringing endorsement.

"I'm wondering where in the world [Lucas] found all those P-51s, the Red Tails," said the 89-year-old Thornhill. "I think he did a very good job, a very good job. And I've seen a lot of movies with airplanes in it!"

As a crew chief at the all-black Ramitelli airfield in Italy, Thornhill was in charge of making sure the planes were kept in the best possible shape for combat. While racist policies shaped and limited his early years in the military, he said it was easy to keep a clear head about the Red Tail missions while in Italy.

"The great thing was that there wasn't much interaction between whites and Negroes because we were segregated," Thornhill said bluntly. "We could pay attention to what the hell we were supposed to do and didn't have to deal with all that other crap."

Still, he kept tabs on the burgeoning civil rights movement back home with help from family and friends. "I used to get newspaper clippings from home with stuff that I needed to know -- good and bad stories about what was happening between the races," he recalled

After his original service ended, Thornhill re-enlisted in the Army because he couldn't find another job. The re-enlistment eventually turned into an Army career, during which he saw a multitude of changes, including the desegregation of the military. He retired in 1965 with the rank of major and went on to become an airline engineer.

Another veteran of the Tuskegee Airmen watching the movie was 89-year-old Ed Tillmon, who graduated as a second lieutenant bombardier and was part of the 477th Bombardment Group. The group was scheduled to carry out missions in Japan, but the war ended just before they were set to leave the United States.

"I think every one of us knew that we were fighting three wars," said Tillmon, referring to the Japanese front, the European front and segregation back home. In fact, while his group never saw combat overseas, Tillmon was part of another historic battle -- the Freeman Field Mutiny, in which 162 African-American officers were arrested for attempting to integrate the whites-only officers club on the base.

Tillmon is modest about his role in history. Although a picture of him in uniform always sat on the mantel, the great-grandfather didn't share his story with his three children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren until this past decade.

"My kids didn't even know that there was such a thing as Tuskegee Airmen," he said matter-of-factly.

Following the war, the Kansas City, Kan., native earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Kansas and went on to become a commercial banker. For the past 44 years, Tillmon has been living in Santa Monica, Calif. "After the war, I think most of us that came back, especially Tuskegee Airmen, got involved in activities not associated with flying because there were no jobs in the major airports," he said.

Tillmon expressed his hope that "Red Tails" would help keep the Tuskegee Airmen legacy alive. "The younger generation -- they like action in movies," he joked.

George Lucas has been vocal about his 20-year struggle to make the $58 million film. In early January, he claimed that Hollywood studios rejected "Red Tails" because of its all-black cast, and since then he has voiced concerns about how "Red Tails" might hold back African-American filmmakers for "decades" if it underperforms at the box office. 

The film opened to wide release on Friday, Jan. 20. Only time will tell its impact on African Americans in Hollywood, but for the Tuskegee Airmen, this movie couldn't have come a moment too soon. Los Angeles resident Roger "Bill" Terry, founder of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., served as a technical adviser on the making of the movie before his death in 2009. Another of the veterans who attended Wednesday's screening is in hospice care with Twilight Brigade.

For more information visit: www.tuskegeeairmen.org/

Douglas Trumbull: It’s Time to Get Back to Why People Go to the Movies

 by Carolyn Giardina Getty Images

Also Saturday at the Beverly Wilshire, Arri received an Academy Award of Merit—an Oscar Statuette—for its Arrilaser Film Recorder. In addition, six scientific and technical achievements were recognized with Scientific and Engineering Awards (Academy Plaques) and one received a Technical Achievement Award (Academy Certificate).

“It is time for us to get back to why people go to the movies,” asserted Trumbull, whose visual effects credits include 2001: A Space Odyssey and whose inventions include ShowScan, a large format system that incorporated 65mm film, shooting at 60 frames per second (fps). “How can we produce a motion picture that is so spectacular on giant movie screens, at high brightness, with high frame rates if that is necessary … all the things we need to work together with the movies that we are making.”

Trumbull continues to innovate, with current initiatives including Show Scan Digital, a patent-pending process that uses 24 frames per second but allows the filmmaker to embed 60 frames per second sequences as desired for creative use.

Erland emphasized the Academy’s mission. “The (Academy Awards) show exists to support the awards, and the awards exist to support the Academy’s mission and to foster the pursuit of excellence in our art form,” he said. “And we should be ever cognizant of that. If our Academy stands for excellence in motion pictures—and it must—then the real task before us is to manage the trends such that motion pictures stay relevant to the Academy’s mission and the ideal we espouse.”

Erland additionally cited an effort to introduce an institute for motion picture studies that would collaborate with Hollywood organizations including AMPAS.

Milla Jovovich hosted the ceremony and presented awards including the Academy Award of Merit to Franz Kraus, Johannes Steurer and Wolfgang Riedel for the Arrilaser Film Recorder. “We are very pleased that we receive the Oscar in particular for this product because it is the first digital system Arri ever built,” Kraus explained. “The Arrilaser has been a success in itself, but it was really the foundation to further digital projects: the Arriscan (film scanner) and the Arriflex D-20 (digital camera). Without those products there would not have been the in-house engineering competence and the customer confidence for the successful design and marketing of the Alexa camera.”

The Arrilaser had been awarded an Academy Plaque in 2001 and was upgraded this year to a Statuette as it has become ubiquitous in the industry.

Radu Corlan, Andy Jantzen, Petru Pop and Richard Toftness accepted Scientific and Engineering Awards for the Phantom high-speed camera, which incidentally became the first digital camera to be honored by the Academy.

“It enables you to shoot over 1000 frames per second to slow things down incredibly,” said SciTech Awards committee chair Richard Edlund of the significance of the Phantom technology.

“It is a specialized camera,” he said of the Phantom, adding that “very soon” a “digital production camera” might additionally be honored.

“Sony is coming out with a 4K camera that is starting to deliver now,” he added. “A 4K origination format will compete successfully with film. Not only on a sharpness basis, but no scratches, no dust, no film grain fading … those photochemical artifacts are going away. But new artifacts will appear. You are always trading one thing for another.”

On improvements to digital imagery, Edlund cited the “Lowry Process,” offered by Reliance MediaWorks, which uses  GPU-accelerated, motion estimation-based image processing tools to enhance image quality. The technology received a Scientific and Engineering Award during the evening and Edlund said “if used in a production, it can make a 2K camera compete with film.”

The Lowry process has been used on digitally lensed features, such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, as well for restoration and remastering on classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

John D. Lowry, Ian Cavén, Ian Godin, Kimball Thurston and Tim Connolly were honored for the development of the Lowry process.

John Lowry died just a few weeks ago, on Jan. 21. “I hope he has left a lasting legacy with his spirit of innovation,” honoree Thurston told The Hollywood Reporter. “He taught me that nothing is impossible.”

Colleagues also remembered Dr. Jürgen Noffke, who passed away in 2011. Noffke and Uwe Weber were honored with Scientific and Engineering Awards for the Arri Zeiss Master Prime lenses

Scientific and Engineering Awards were additionally presented to Michael Lewis, Greg Marsden, Raigo Alas and Michael Vellekoop for the Pictorvision Eclipse electronically stabilized aerial camera platform; to E.F. “Bob” Nettmann, Michael Sayovitz, Brad Fritzel, and Fred Miller for the Stab-C Classic, Super-G and Stab-C Compact stabilizing heads; and to Fufifilm, Hideyuki Shirai, Dr. Katsuhisa Oozeki and Hiroshi Hirano for the Fujifilm black and white recording film Eterna-RDS 4791, for archival use.

A technical achievement award was presented to Andrew Clinton and Mark Elendt for micro-voxels in Mantra software.

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova opened the evening with a performance that included their Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly.