Blog Posts by Jonathan Crow

Sony Picture Classics

Straight off, "No" is one ugly movie. Shot on a grainy 1980s U-Matic video camera with a muddy gray-and-brown color palette, the Oscar-nominated flick by director Pablo Larrain is not going to win you over with pretty pictures.

Of course, the movie takes place in a very ugly period in history: the waning days of Augusto Pinochet's brutal regime. No Chilean needs to be reminded that the military strongman seized power in 1973 following a CIA-led coup and then brutally crushed all dissent. Yet what made sense back during the realpolitik of the '70s became an embarrassment in the late '80s when the Soviet Union was gasping its last breath. Bowing to international pressure, Pinochet grudgingly allows a referendum on his reign to go forward in 1988. A yes would give the mustached generalissimo another eight years in power. A no, in theory, would not.

[Related: Steven Soderbergh talks about his retirement, becoming a ‘a primitive’ and the next iternation of cinema]

Enter Gene Saavedra (a

Photo: Disney

“The Avengers” isn’t going to be much of a presence at the 2013 Academy Awards – the movie received just one nomination, for Best Visual Effects. But that doesn’t mean last year’s biggest blockbuster won’t be getting some love on the upcoming Oscar telecast.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the producers of this year’s Academy Award show, have announced that five of the stars of “The Avengers” will be presenting as a team. Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Mark Ruffalo will be joining forces to defend justice and hand out some statuettes.

In a press statement, Zadan and Meron said, “We are happy to re-unite the ‘Avengers’ cast to present on our show. Audiences who enjoyed the year's biggest box office hit will be excited to see these terrific actors back together again.”

While Iron Man, Captain America, Nick Fury, Hawkeye, and The Hulk will be on hand, a few members of the crime-fighting crew will not.

Scarlett Johansson (aka “Black Widow” or “The Hot

Photo: Michael Kovac/WireImage

“It’s exhausting and an honor. It’s an exhausting honor,” said “The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence while on the red carpet at the Arlington Theater in downtown Santa Barbara this Saturday. Though last week the 22 year-old actress was reportedly suffering from pneumonia, she looked terrific in her off-the-shoulder Stella McCartney pant suit. Behind her was a throng of squealing teenage girls who would periodically shout her name in unison.

A frontrunner for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in David O. Russell’s “Silver Linings Playbook,” Lawrence was in town to receive the “Most Outstanding Performer of the Year” award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival; one more prize to put on her increasingly cluttered trophy rack.