Venice film awards leave critics vexed
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The jury at the Venice Film Festival   left critics and journalists perplexed and in some cases vexed   when it awarded top prize to China's "Still Life."
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The guessing game is almost over at the  Venice film festival, where few clear frontrunners for the  Golden Lion award for best picture have emerged ahead of the  prize ceremony on Saturday evening. By the end of the annual  11-day marathon of movies, press conferences, interviews and  parties, critics and journalists normally agree on a handful of  films they think could win the top honor, although their  predictions are not always correct.
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Cate Blanchett is named best actress at the Venice Film Festival while Brad Pitt wins best actor.
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The awards season has begun in right earnest. And the outcome of the first popular awards at GIFA has left its own trail of mixed responses.
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Two movies about the Iraq war and its  impact on Americans back home are among 22 competition entries  at the Venice Film Festival this year, lending political weight  to a cinema showcase laden with Hollywood productions.
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Top directors used the Venice Film   Festival on Friday to excoriate the Bush administration, the   war in Iraq and Hollywood itself, and presented three starkly   different movies to express their views.
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Theatre critics appeared less than impressed by Hollywood star Kevin Spacey&#39;s debut as artistic director of London&#39;s Old Vic Theatre.
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The quality of mercy, as Portia observes in the Merchant of Venice, is not strain&#39;d - but much of this year&#39;s Venice film festival has become extremely strain&#39;d.
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Two very different movies about the Iraq war are among the favorites for awards at this year's Venice film festival as it passes the halfway stage, and an unusually high number of male leads have stood out.
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Some of this year's most interesting Oscar battles revolve around what Academy Award voters hear -- rather than see.
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A string of embarrassing blunders,  including one which left Al Pacino with no seat at the premiere  of his latest movie, have plagued this year's Venice Film  Festival.
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The Venice Film Festival dazzled like never before this year with its string of Hollywood stars and hot arthouse directors, but the festival's new chief may find delays and embarrassing blunders are what people remember.
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Stephen Frears' "The Queen" is the   critics' favourite to take the best picture award at the Venice   Film Festival this year, with Emilio Estevez's star-packed   "Bobby" leading a strong chasing pack.
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The controversial new German film about the last days of Hitler is creating more controversy, after being submitted for Oscar considerations.
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As the Venice Film Festival winds down a  handful of front-runners have emerged in the competition for  the top prizes, with "Vera Drake," British director Mike  Leigh's story about an abortionist, inching ahead.
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The success of Martin Scorsese's  "The Departed" at the Oscars caused some Hollywood  hand-wringing on Monday over whether months of costly Oscar  campaigning truly pays off.
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Viewers may think some of the nominees for best picture at next week's Academy Awards are dark, but they pale in comparison with the movies competing for the coveted Oscar for best documentary.