Peter O'Toole (1932 - 2013)

We're so sad to report that celebrated actor Peter O'Toole has passed away according to his agent. He was 81.

O'Toole received 8 Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the most-nominated actor to never win. In 2003, the Academy honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar. He initially declined, stating that he was still young enough to win a competitive Oscar, but he relented when the Academy insisted they would award it to him whether he was there or not.

He is much loved by Cosmo voters. At the first Cosmos, he was nominated for Best Individual Performance by an Actor for his performance in The Lion in Winter. He was nominated for the Best Actor of All Time Hall of Fame at the 2004 and 2010 awards before being inducted at the 2012 awards. He also shares in the Sexiest Ensemble win for Troy at the 2004 awards.

In addition to Troy, which won three of its nine nomination, O'Toole appeared in several other Cosmo-nominated movies. Lawrence of Arabia, which made him a star and earned for him his first Oscar nomination, was nominated for Movie With the Best Background Scenery at the first Cosmos and a Best Film of All Time Hall of Fame nomination at the 2012 awards. And in addition to his Best Individual Performance of All Time nomination for The Lion in Winter, the film has also received eight other nominations over the years, including three nominations for the Best Films of All Time Hall of Fame.

Trailer: Interstellar (2014)

Paramount has just released the first teaser trailer for Interstellar, a science fiction film from director Christopher Nolan starring Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, and Anne Hathaway that Hitfix thinks could be an Oscar contender next year. The film is currently scheduled for a November 2014 release.

In the film, a group of astronauts use a newly-discovered wormhole to explore interstellar space. But all of that is barely hinted at with this teaser.

Check out the trailer:

San Francisco Film Critics Circle nominations announced

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle has announced their nominees for their annual movie awards, and 12 Years a Slave leads with nine nominations. Their awards are one of the ones that the Cosmos use to calculate our Best Director nominees.

The nominees include:

Best Picture
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"Nebraska"
"12 Years a Slave"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"
Spike Jonze, "Her"
Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"
David O. Russell, "American Hustle"
Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Actor
Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Robert Redford, "All is Lost"

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Adèle Exarchopoulos, "Blue is the Warmest Color"
Brie Larson, "Short Term 12"
Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"
Harrison Ford, "42"
Will Forte, "Nebraska"
James Franco, "Spring Breakers"
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"
Lea Seydoux, "Blue is the Warmest Color"
Octavia Spencer, "Fruitvale Station"
June Squibb, "Nebraska"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Before Midnight"
"Philomena"
"The Spectacular Now"
"12 Years a Slave"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Original Screenplay
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Blue is the Warmest Color"
"A Hijacking"
"The Hunt"
"The Past"
"Wadjda"

Best Documentary
"The Act of Killing"
"The Armstrong Lie"
"Blackfish"
"Stories We Tell"
"20 Feet from Stardom"

Best Animated Feature
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"
"Monsters University"
"The Wind Rises"

Best Cinematography
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"12 Years a Slave"

Best Art Direction/Production Design
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"12 Years a Slave"

Best Editing
"All is Lost"
"American Hustle"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"12 Years a Slave"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

The Daily Beast's 13 Most Overlooked Movies of 2013

Daniel Radcliffe and Dane DeHaan costar in Kill Your Darlings

The Daily Beast has an interesting roundup of the 13 most overlooked movies of 2013. Their list includes:

• No - A Chilean drama starring Gael Garcia Bernal
• Upstream Color - A sci-fi drama which, to be honest, I personally could not get through.
• Shadow Dancer - A historical thriller set in 1993 Belfast.
• Frances Ha - Black and white comedy-drama
• Before Midnight - Sequel to 2004's Before Sunset, for which Julie Delpy just received a Golden Globe nomination
• The East - Spy thriller starring Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgård, and Ellen Page
• Much Ado About Nothing - Joss Whedon's modernized take on the Shakespearean classic
• The Spectacular Now - Comedy/drama about a hard-partying high school senior who decides to change his life
• Ain't Them Bodies Saints - Western starring Casey Affleck and Ruth Guthrie
• Short Term 12 - Brie Larson stars in this drama about a foster care facility supervisor
• Rush - Ron Howard's film is about so much more than Formula One racing
• Kill Your Darlings - Allen Ginsberg biopic starring Daniel Radcliffe
• The Counselor - Ridley Scott crime thriller starring Michael Fassbender

I've only seen three of these, and the one that I would recommend most heartily is Kill Your Darlings. How many have you seen?

Head on over to The Daily Beast to check out their descriptions of why they're worth watching.

Golden Globe nominations announced

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced the nominees for the 71st Golden Globe Awards, and 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle lead the motion picture nominations with seven nominations each. Lee Daniels' The Butler, which fared well at the Screen Actors Guild nominations announced yesterday, was shut out and did not receive a single Golden Globe nod.

The winners will be announced at a televised ceremony on Sunday, January 12, 2014.


Best Picture, Drama:
"12 Years a Slave"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"Philomena"
"Rush"

Best Picture, Musical or Comedy:
"American Hustle"
"Her"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best Director:
Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity"
Paul Greengrass, "Captain Phillips"
Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"
Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"
David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Best Actor, Drama:
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"
Idris Elba, "Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom"
Tom Hanks, "Captain Phillips"
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Robert Redford, "All Is Lost"

Best Actress, Drama:
Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks"
Kate Winslet, "Labor Day"

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy:
Christian Bale, "American Hustle"
Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"
Oscar Isaac, "Inside Llewyn Davis"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Her"

Best Actress, Musical or Comedy:
Amy Adams, "American Hustle"
Julie Delpy, "Before Midnight"
Greta Gerwig, "Frances Ha"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Enough Said"
Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Best Supporting Actor:
Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Daniel Bruel, "Rush"
Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave"
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Supporting Actress:
Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave"
Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"
June Squibb, "Nebraska"

Best Animated Feature Film:
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"

Foreign Language Film:
"Blue Is the Warmest Color"
"The Great Beauty"
"The Hunt"
"The Past"
"The Wind Rises"

Best Screenplay:
"12 Years a Slave"
"American Hustle"
"Her"
"Nebraska"
"Philomena"

Best Original Song:
"Atlas," performed by Coldplay - "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
"Let It Go," performed by Idina Menzel - "Frozen"
"Ordinary Day," performed by U2 - "Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom"
"Please Mr. Kennedy," performed by Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, and Adam Driver - "Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Sweeter Than Fiction," performed by Taylor Swift - "One Chance"

Best Original Score:
Alex Ebert, "All Is Lost"
Alex Heffes, "Mandela: The Long Walk to Freedom"
Steven Price, "Gravity"
John Williams, "The Book Thief"
Hans Zimmer, "12 Years a Slave"

Screen Actors Guild nominations announced

The Screen Actors Guild has announced their nominees for the 20th Annual SAG Awards, and 12 Years a Slave leads with four nominations, followed by Lee Daniels' The Butler with three, including nominations for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for both, an ensemble award that is the SAG equivalent of Best Picture.

The SAG Awards also includes an ensemble award for Best Stunt Cast. Whaddya think, should we include that category ourselves?

The full list of the awards, which cover both motion pictures and television, can be found on the SAG Awards website. Here are the motion picture nominees:

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

"12 Years A Slave"
"American Hustle"
"August: Osage County"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Lee Daniels' The Butler"

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"
Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years A Slave"
Tom Hanks, "Captain Phillips"
Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"
Forest Whitaker, "Lee Daniels' The Butler"

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"
Judi Dench, "Philomena"
Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"
Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks"

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips"
Daniel Bruhl, "Rush"
Michael Fassbender, "12 Years A Slave"
James Gandolfini, "Enough Said"
Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club"

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle"
Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years A Slave"
Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County"
June Squibb, "Nebraska"
Oprah Winfrey, "Lee Daniels' The Butler"

OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY STUNT ENSEMBLE MOTION PICTURE

"All is Lost"
"Fast and Furious 6"
"Lone Survivor"
"Rush"
"The Wolverine"

The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, January 18, 2014.

What movies should I watch?

We're getting down to the home stretch, with just a few more weeks left for films that want to be considered for a 2013 Cosmo (or Oscar) need to be released.

I've seen 39 movies released in 2013 so far this year. There are 63 more on my list of film I want to see (some I'm more eager to see than others). Help me prioritize and make sure I don't miss anything great!

Here are the 2013 films I've seen so far...

Bridegroom	Movie 43
Carrie	Much Ado About Nothing
Errors of the Human Body	Mud
Gangster Squad	Now You See Me
Girl Most Likely	Olympus Has Fallen
Gravity	Oz the Great and Powerful
The Great Gatsby	Pacific Rim
Hansel and Gretal: Witch Hunters	Parkland
A Haunted House	Safe Haven
The Hunger Games: Chasing Fire	Side Effects
Identity Thief	Sound City
Iron Man 3	Star Trek Into Darkness
Jack the Giant Slayer	This is the End
John Dies at the End	21 and Over
Kill Your Darlings	Upside Down
The Last Exorcism: Part II	Upstream Color
Lee Daniels' The Butler	Warm Bodies
Lovelace	The Way, Way Back
Man of Steel	What Maisie Knew

There are numerous additional films that I hope to see before it's time to vote on 2013 Cosmo nominees. Here's the list of things I hope to see -- though if I manage to see all of them, it will be about 100 films from one calendar year, which would be a personal record. So please, use the comments to help me prioritize what's on this list, and also mention anything overlooked here that you highly recommend.

(I know, I should have them in some sort of prioritized order, but I haven't done that yet. Some are ones that could be top Cosmo contenders. Others are here because they could be considered for niche categories like Sexiest Ensemble or Most Overrated Film. So here they are in alphabetical order.)

Adore Her All Is Lost The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug American Hustle Hours August: Osage County Inside Llewyn Davis Blackfish The Invisible Woman Blancanieves Jobs The Bling Ring Kiss Ass 2 Blue is the Warmest Color Kissing Darkness Blue Jasmine The Lone Ranger The Book Thief Monsters University C.O.G. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones The Canyons Mysogynist Captain Phillips Nebraska Charlie Countryman One Direction: This is Us Cloned: The Recreator Chronicles 100 Degrees Below Zero The Colony Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Dallas Buyers Club Phantom Despicable Me 2 The Philosophers Diana Prisoners Don Jon Romeo and Juliet Drinking Buddies Rush Elysium Saving Mr. Banks Ender's Game Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's The English Teacher Self Storage Eurotrapped Stag The Family Straight A's Family Weekend Teen Beach Movie The Fifth Estate Triple Crossed Frozen 12 Years a Slave Fruitvale Station The Wolf of Wall Street Geography Club The Wolverine The Hangover Part III The World's End Post a comment with your thoughts about what I should see.