Review: Tabloid (2011)

* * * 1/2
Director: Errol Morris

There are people who dismiss the documentary genre as whole, clinging to this idea that they're staid and, for lack of a better word, "boring." If those people sat through just one of Errol Morris' films, I think they would be won over to the genre forever. I have yet to see an Errol Morris film that isn't wholly entertaining and thought-provoking and his most recent film, Tabloid, is certainly no exception. Sensational, fascinating and not a little unsettling, Tabloid is a greatly intriguing and well-made film.

Guide to Oscar: Best Foreign Language Film

No category is ever a greater lightning rod for controversy than the Foreign Language category. Introduced in 1947, it has undergone numerous alterations to its eligibility rules to arrive at the current system.

As it is now, every country is invited to submit a film for consideration to be nominated. The submitted films are all screened by a committee of Academy members and whittled down to a nine film short-list - 6 films chosen by the committe and 3 films chosen by an Executive Committee, whose job is basically to make sure that the committee (which consists mostly of older and retired Academy members, as they have the time to sit through all those long-listed films) can't completely embarass AMPAS by passing over particularly challenging films, as consistently happened in the years prior to 2008, when the Executive Committee was formed.

The nine short-listed films are then screened for a select group of Academy members, who go on to choose the five nominees.

This year's nominees:

Guide to Oscar: Documentary Feature

The Award for Documentary Feature has been given since 1942, when it was awarded to four different films, all of them war documentaries. Unlike many other categories, where members of the Academy are eligible to vote for the nominees regardless of whether they've seen all the eligible films, only those members who have seen all those short-listed films can vote to nominate them.

This year's nominees:

Friday's Top 5... Worst Snubs of 2012

#5: Tilda Swinton - Best Actress, We Need To Talk About Kevin

On the one hand, it's difficult to feel too bad about Swinton not getting nominated since she does already have an Oscar. On the other hand, it's kind of a shame that someone who makes so many interesting choices and has played so many challenging characters can credit her only nomination to date to a solid, but not particularly revelatory, performance in Michael Clayton.

Guide to Oscar: Best Animated Feature

The Animated Feature category was created in 2001 and the award is given only if there are 6 or more animated features which receive theatrical release in Los Angeles during the course of the year. If there are fewer than 16 films eligible to be nominated, 3 will compete for the award. If there are 16 or more eligible, 5 will compete.

This year's nominees are: