Photo: Warner Bros.

Forty years ago, a literary musical based on a dark chapter in European history swept the Oscars with eight awards - "Cabaret." The racy movie, now available on Blu-Ray, made Liza Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, a screen musical star. In 1973, Minnelli beat rivals Diana Ross for "Lady Sings the Blues" and Maggie Smith for "Travels with my Aunt" for best actress.

Minnelli jumped on the phone with Yahoo! Movies to reminisce about the landmark musical that resulted in ten nominations and eight wins:

Photo: Manny Carabel/Getty Images

If you're having an Oscar party Sunday night and you've invited Ethan Hawke, don't count on him showing up.

Gotham Magazine has published an interview with Hawke in which the actor has gone on record about how he feels about the Academy Awards, and his opinions are not exactly kind. "People want to turn everything in this country into a competition," Hawke said. "It's so asinine ... if you look at how many forgettable, stupid movies have won Oscars and how many mediocre performers have Oscars above their fireplace. Making a priority of chasing these fake carrots and money and dubious accolades, I think it's really destructive."

'Zero Dark Thirty' photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Who’s got the time to watch every Oscar contender? Heck, who’s got the time to read full reviews about every Oscar contender? Since we live in a time-crunch society, and since 140 characters seems to be a highly digestible serving size of information, we present this year’s Best Picture contenders, continuing with Kathryn Bigelow's unflinching portrait of the Osama bin Laden manhunt "Zero Dark Thirty," summed up in three short and sweet Tweets.

Jennifer Lawrence fans were set all abuzz this week when the Silver Linings Playbook star touted her now-infamous 2005 spot for an MTV reality show. Turns out, however, that the actress had another not-so-well-known cameo prior to the Hunger Games franchise opening the door to fame.

Check out this 2009 clip from pop-rock band Parachute for their tune “The Mess I Made.” See anyone familiar?

Although it appears that Lawrence and the band’s lead singer, Will Anderson, have genuine chemistry—the two are apparently just friends. Anderson explained her casting in the video in a 2009 interview with Teen Hollywood: “She's on a show called The Bill Engvall Show and she's got some great movies coming out.,” he noted, adding that they are good buddies. "She's awesome.”

War Witch (Tribeca); Kon-Tiki (The Weinstein Company); Amour (Sony Pictures Classics); A Royal Affair (Magnolia Pictures); No (Sony Pictures Classics)

While you're probably already quite familiar with at least most of the nine Oscar nominees for Best Picture, you might not be as well-acquainted with the five films that are up for Best Foreign Language Film. Pack your bags for faraway cinematic lands with our handy round-up and rundown of the nominees in this category that might (might) throw your office betting pool for a loop.

Michael Buckner/Getty Images

As the stars are busily getting waxed and coiffed for this Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, thousands of people across the country are faced with the same problem: Who the heck do they vote for in their Oscar pool? "Argo" or "Lincoln"? Hugh Jackman or Daniel Day-Lewis? Jennifer Lawrence or Jessica Chastain? The choices can be overwhelming. I don't claim to have any insider knowledge at Price Waterhouse, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as a body, tends to vote in patterns. And knowing those patterns can give you a leg up on your friends, enemies, comrades-in-arms, and fellow cubicle dwellers in picking who wins Oscar gold.

'Life of Pi' photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Who’s got the time to watch every Oscar contender? Heck, who’s got the time to read full reviews about every Oscar contender? Since we live in a time-crunch society, and since 140 characters seems to be a highly digestible serving size of information, we present this year’s Best Picture contenders, continuing with Ang Lee's magical ocean adventure "Life of Pi," summed up in three short and sweet Tweets.