One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2011 was director Alexander Payne’s Oscar-winning movie The Descendants, which is available on Blu-ray and DVD beginning March 13^th. The movie earned Payne his second Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, after his win in 2004 for his previous film Sideways. The Descendants, which is based on the popular 2007 novel by author Kaui Hart Hemmings, also earned a Best Editing nomination for Kevin Tent, a Best Actor nomination for George Clooney, and a Best Director nomination for Payne, as well as a Best Picture nomination for the film.

The Descendants stars Clooney as Matt King, a real estate lawyer from Hawaii put in charge of his family’s land deal while he is dealing with his wife’s terminal coma, and two young daughters. Soon after finding out that his wife is going to die, Matt is struck with more bad news … she’s been cheating on him. Along with his children, and his oldest daughter’s (Shailene Woodley) friend Sid (Nick Krause), Matt goes on a quest to confront the man his wife was having an affair with. But when Matt finally comes face to face with the man she loves, he discovers that they have a connection even he couldn’t have imagined, one that could threaten his family’s cherished land deal.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Kaui Hart Hemmings about her novel and the process of making it into the hit film that it has become. The author discussed the movie, how pleased she was when Alexander Payne agreed to direct it, her involvement in the process of adapting the book into the screenplay; differences between the two, George Clooney’s performance, observing on set, Hawaii, Payne’s unique filmmaking style, and her surprise to the film’s overwhelming positive critical response.

Okay, the 84th Annual Academy Awards happened.  They're over.  That means we should all just sit back and enjoy that we have a long stretch of time ahead of us until the next awards season rises from the Pacific Ocean like Godzilla or some Lovecraftian monstrosity.  Before we move on to the serenity of non-awards season, though, there are a few videos that might make your day a bit more enjoyable, starting with Sacha Baron Cohen on the red carpet as his The Dictator character His Excellency Admiral General Aladeen.  Then there's a classily-edited montage of films that were notably snubbed back in the nomination phase, and finally there's a huge trailer for Jimmy Kimmel's fictitious Movie: The Movie.

With Oscar ballots due earlier this week, and only a few days to go until the Oscars on Sunday, February 26th, here is how things stand in the race for the gold... 

ABC’s Castle keeps getting it right by constantly keeping it fresh and next week’s brand new film noir episode that takes us back in a time machine to the 1940’s is no exception. Entitled The Blue Butterfly, fans will get to follow novelist Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), as they investigate the killing of a treasure hunter. In true Castle-style, there is an ominous twist when they discover that the current case is linked to a mysterious homicide from 1947 that involved a hard-nosed private detective. Of course with Castle on the case, all involved are lured into his theory that the only way in which to solve this present-day murder is to solve the mystery from the past. Through stylized flashbacks with Castle as the private eye and Beckett as a femme fatale, the 1947 case is resurrected.

Cast member Tamala Jones (Medical Examiner, Lanie Parish) speaks about her character’s 1947 alter-ego as well as this most special of episodes that she is calling her all-time favorite. “We had the best time ever making this one! This is my personal favorite and everyone is just going to love it!” Excited that Mark Pellegrino (Lost, Supernatural, The Closer) is guest starring as Tom Dempsey, she says of his performance, “He plays a mean gangster that owns the nightclub that my character, Betsy, sings in.” Also guest starring in this episode are Patrick Cassidy as Clyde Belasco, Chad Everett as Jerry Maddox, Ellen Geer as Viola Maddox and Darin Toonder as Frankie.

The awards-speculation winds are blowing up a gale today.  The windy months of accolades and formal awarding is just a part of awards season, though, and we're about to move from the nomination phase into the actual business of handing out statues and the like.  With most of the major guild nominations announced, the Golden Globes take place this weekend, but the Critics Choice Awards went ahead and got the drop on the most feverish part of this interminable season.

The Critics Choice Awards went down last night, and the recipients largely support the general discussion we've been hearing throughout the last couple of months.  Silent film homage The Artist took home prizes for Best Picture and Best Director, so any bookie with a mind to take Oscar bets is probably marking Michel Hazanavicius's film as a definite favorite.  George Clooney, meanwhile, won Best Actor for his work in The Descendants and Viola Davis of The Help won Best Actress.  She increasingly seems like a sure thing, and her co-star Octavia Spencer could pull out an Oscar win for the same film.  Christopher Plummer, meanwhile, continued to march through several months that will see him deservedly winning every Best Supporting Actor prize he can get his hands on.

I believe one of the most important, and certainly underappreciated, jobs in the cinematic process is the editor. You don’t always realize it when you are watching a film, but their work is on every frame of the picture and without it, you’d literally have, well … nothing! Any good director will tell you that an editor’s contributions are absolutely vital to the filmmaking process. There have been many great director/editor teams over the years such as Steven Spielberg and Michael Khan, Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker, Ron Howard and Dan Hanley/Mike Hill, Quentin Tarantino and the late Sally Menke, and most recently, Alexander Payne and Kevin Tent.

Matthew Lillard is probably best known for his work on the Scream franchise and for playing Scooby-Doo’s BFF Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo series of live-action films. But the actor has been working in the entertainment industry for over twenty-years and has appeared in several popular movies including Hackers, She’s All That, Summer Catch, and The Perfect Score, as well as the critically acclaimed SLC Punk! Lillard is now receiving some of the best reviews of his life for his career transforming performance in director Alexander Payne’s The Descendants, which was just nominated for several Golden Globes and is currently a frontrunner for best picture at this year’s Academy Awards.

The film, which is currently in limited release and opens wide on December 16th, stars Oscar-winner George Clooney as Matt King. Matt is a real estate lawyer from Hawaii put in charge of his family’s land deal while he is dealing with his wife’s terminal coma, and two young daughters. Soon after finding out that his wife is going to die, Matt is struck with more bad news … she’s been cheating on him. Along with his children, and his oldest daughter’s (Shailene Woodley) friend Sid (Nick Krause), Matt goes on a quest to confront the man his wife was having an affair with. Lillard plays Brian Spear, the man he’s desperately searching for, but when Matt finely locates him, he discovers that Brian is closer connected to his own life than he could ever have imagined.

I recently had a chance to sit down and speak with Matthew Lillard about his work on The Descendants. The actor discussed his new film, his pivotal character, working with director Alexander Payne, his insecurities about playing George Clooney’s wife’s lover, and his overall career.

Ah, awards season, when the film critics of the world all become Lieutenant Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, loving that gasoline smell of accolades and lists as it rains down on the mixaphorical jungle of cinema.  Last year at this point, David Fincher's The Social Network was rolling along like an unstoppable critical juggernaut, only cede Oscar glory to The King's Speech, but so far this year, the adulation is getting spread out amongst several recurring pictures. 

Over the weekend, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, the San Francisco Film Critics, and the American Film Institute all unveiled their best of lists.  The Descendants and The Tree of Life both got some love, as did The Artist, and The Tree of Life also received some notice.  Martin Scorsese and Hugo spend some time in runner up spots, while both Christopher Plummer and Albert Brooks earned notice for the respective turns in Beginners and Drive.  These awards give a good overview of the movies and work you'll be hearing about incessantly between now and late February, so give them a gander.  AFI threw in a list of great television series for good measure, too.

With the 84th Academy Awards only three months away, it’s time to go on record with some Oscar predictions. The race is officially on, with front-runners beginning to take the lead and dark horses waiting in the wings to shake things up. Several movies have still not yet been released, but every film that hopes to qualify for the Oscars will be in theaters by the last day of December. Let's take a look at how the six major categories are taking shape, with the top ten contenders fighting for five coveted slots…

Obviously, actor Beau Bridges is part of a Hollywood dynasty as he is the son of screen legend Lloyd Bridges (Airplane!) and brother to recent Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart), but Beau has created quite a name for himself with his career having made almost two-hundred film and television appearances since he first began acting as a child in the ‘1940s. After a small role on his father’s popular show Sea Hunt, Beau went on to appear in numerous television series throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s but it was his role opposite Sally Field in Norma Rae, the role she won an Oscar for, which finally validated Beau Bridges as an actor and not just for his surname. However, it was teaming with his brother for ‘1989s The Fabulous Baker Boys that would bring the actor his highest praise. Since then, Beau has starred on two successful television series (Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1), and several critically acclaimed films including Jerry Maguire, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, and The Good German. Now the actor returns once again with another critically acclaimed film called The Descendants, which is earning him rave reviews and promises to be a frontrunner at this year’s Oscars.

The film, which is currently in limited release and opens wide on December 16^th, stars Oscar-winner George Clooney (The Ides of March) and was directed by fellow Oscar-winner Alexander Payne (Sideways). The Descendants tells the story of Matt King (Clooney), a real estate lawyer from Hawaii put in charge of his family’s big land deal while he is dealing with his wife’s terminal coma, and two young daughters. Soon after finding out that his wife is going to die, Matt is struck with more bad news … she’s been cheating on him. Along with his children, and his oldest daughter’s (Shailene Woodley) friend Sid (Nick Krause), Matt goes on a quest to confront the man his wife was having an affair with. Beau Bridges plays Matt’s older cousin Hugh, who has a vested interest in the family’s land deal, and also possesses information on the man Matt is looking for. But when Matt finds out what Hugh knows, it could put the land deal in jeopardy and tear a riff between the two cousins permanently.

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with actor Beau Bridges to discuss his work on The Descendants. The legendary actor talked about the new film, working with director Alexander Payne, his love for Hawaii, George Clooney, how filmmaking has changed over the years, and the book his father gave him about acting that he has now passed on to his own daughter.