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Rian Johnson's "Looper" is not your standard issue time travel flick. It's also a neo-noir crime yarn that veers into a man-on-the-lam thriller before unexpectedly integrating elements of telekinetic horror. It's a full 118-minute meal that more than satisfies on every subsequent viewing. And while you can easily rattle off its numerous movie influences, the film that most inspired Johnson's crafting of the narrative, particularly as it settles into its second act, is a quieter kind of genre tale.

Most moviegoers probably didn't anticipate what was sold as a Bruce Willis sci-fi action movie to head off in so many surprising directions, but Johnson has been infusing his films with all kinds of unexpected flavors since his critically acclaimed debut "Brick" –- and, frankly, even most cinephiles familiar with Johnson's oeuvre up to that point were caught off-guard by the younger version of the movie's protagonist (Joseph Gordon-Levitt...

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have launched movie fans into excitement with the latest trailer for their new movie, “Barbie.” Gerwig directs the project and she also co-wrote the script with her partner Baumbach. Previously, both scored Oscar nominations in the same year for their work on “Little Women” (Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig) and “Marriage Story” (Original Screenplay for Baumbach). With “Barbie,” the pair of filmmakers could become the first couple to win an Oscar for the same feature film since 2018.

Gerwig and Baumbach would be up for Best Original Screenplay together, while Gerwig could also be up for Best Director, and both could be up for Best Picture (as producers). If they were to win together, they’d become the 19th couple to take home a pair of Oscars for the same movie.

They’d join these 18 joint champs:

Muriel Box and Sydney Box for Best Original Screenplay (1947) — “The Seventh Veil...

Peter Weir's "Witness" was a sleeper hit when it arrived in U.S. theaters on February 8, 1985. Back then, the first two months of the moviegoing calendar were dominated by the previous year's holiday season blockbusters and Academy Awards contenders, many of which were expanding from limited release. In 1985, this modestly budgeted crime thriller about a streetwise Philadelphia detective hiding out in a Pennsylvania Amish community was up against the box office juggernaut of "Beverly Hills Cop" and the critically acclaimed duo of "The Killing Fields" and "A Passage to India." The timing of the release indicated a lack of confidence on the part of the studio, especially since Weir's previous movie, "The Year of Living Dangerously," had been a major awards contender (with Linda Hunt winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for playing a Chinese-American man).

If "Witness" didn't seem promising coming out of the gate, perhaps that's because...

Euzhan Palcy, Diane Warren and Peter Weir will receive honorary Oscars at this year’s Governors Awards ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Tuesday. In addition, actor Michael J. Fox will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. The four statuettes will be presented at the 13th annual ceremony on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, in Los Angeles.

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is honored to recognize four individuals who have made indelible contributions to cinema and the world at large,” said Academy president David Rubin. “Michael J. Fox’s tireless advocacy of research on Parkinson’s disease alongside his boundless optimism exemplifies the impact of one person in changing the future for millions. Euzhan Palcy is a pioneering filmmaker whose groundbreaking significance in international cinema is cemented in film history. Diane Warren’s music and lyrics have magnified the emotional impact of countless motion pictures and inspired generations of musical artists.

Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani have the odds against them in the Oscar race for Best Original Screenplay. Their film, “The Big Sick,” trails in our predictions with 80/1 odds, according to the combined predictions of thousands of users who have made their picks at Gold Derby. But anyone who’s seen the film knows that this married couple has a tendency to overcome the odds.

“The Big Sick” is a fictionalized account of how Gordon and Nanjiani met and fell in love against all odds — including the life-threatening illness that gives the film its title. It’s an unconventional love story where cultural expectations, an induced coma and racist hecklers all need to be overcome.

And there are more hurdles ahead in their quest to bring this love story to the Oscar stage, especially the fact that their screenplay is the sole nomination for “The Big Sick.” Compare that...

The Academy Awards have every reason to boast about their diversity and inclusion of women this year. Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird”), Emily V. Gordon (“The Big Sick”) and Vanessa Taylor (“The Shape of Water”) are among the nominees for Best Original Screenplay. However, women have been drastically underrepresented among winners, and no woman has won either writing category in 10 years.

To date only 16 women have ever won an Oscar for writing, starting with Frances Marion, who won Best Original Story for “The Big House” (1930) and “The Champ” (1931). Then Muriel Box became the first woman to win Best Original Screenplay when she prevailed with her co-writer and husband Sydney Box for “The Seventh Veil” (1945).

But you have to fast-forward another 46 years before any woman won this category solo: Callie Khouri for her classic screenplay for “Thelma & Louise” (1991). Two years later, Jane Campion would also take home Original Screenplay for “The Piano...

Kumail Nanjiani was best known as a stand-up comedian and one of the stars of HBO’s “Silicon Valley.” But he took that classic advice to “write what you know” literally and penned “The Big Sick” with his wife Emily V. Gordon about how they met and fell in love, and how in the midst of that she fell gravely ill. Now the couple is nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and if “The Big Sick” wins not only would it be a fairy-tale ending for the pair, but Nanjiani would make history as the first person of Asian descent to win for writing.

Hanif Kureishi, who like Nanjiani is of Pakistani descent, made history as the first Asian writer nominated for Best Original Screenplay for “My Beautiful Laundrette” (1986). Then Indian-born M. Night Shyamalan revolutionized storytelling with his original screenplay for “The Sixth Sense” (1999) and reaped a nomination 13 years later.