Oscars

It wasn't a disaster — more of a mishap. But it was almost as if ABC forgot that the Oscars red carpet is the longest-running fashion runway in history. Keyboard critics took to social media to throw a collective hissy fit about the network's coverage, which was the only live broadcast of arrivals during the hour before the show started, due to a newly extended exclusivity deal. That magic hour is, of course, when the biggest stars in the best gowns typically arrive. But when fashion fans might have been seeing or hearing about Angelina Jolie's stunning black velvet Atelier Versace gown, they were instead treated to an awkward Nick Nolte attempting to answer questions about a pet crow that he may or may not own. It was a missed opportunity — to put it mildly.

Joyce Redman, a two-time Oscar-nominated Irish-born actress whose erotically charged dinner-eating scene opposite Albert Finney was a highlight of the bawdy 1963 British film comedy "Tom Jones," has died. She was 96. Redman died Thursday in Kent, England after a short battle with pneumonia, said her son, actor Crispin Redman. A veteran of the London and Broadway stage, Redman received her first Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress for "Tom Jones," which starred Finney as the incorrigible 18th century English title character who has a series of amorous adventures.

Should Kathryn Bigelow and James Cameron both be nominated this year for Oscars, as expected, they wouldn't be the first exes to share the distinction. Carole Lombard and William Powell both received lead acting nominations for the great 1936 screwball comedy "My Man Godfrey," a movie they made three years after an amicable divorce. Cameron already has enjoyed his king-of-the-world moment at the podium. If Bigelow wins, they'd be only the fourth wedded and/or divorced couple to own Oscars in either the acting or directing categories.

Grab your blankets and beach chairs, Oscar is going casual. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday the slate of movies for its first outdoor screening series, to be held at its new Oscars Outdoors venue in Hollywood. The lineup, which kicks off June 15 with a screening of "Casablanca," is a mixture of classics and contemporary films designed to appeal to a broad swath of the moviegoing public. Screenings will take place Friday and Saturday evenings through Aug. 18, with Saturday evenings devoted to family-friendly fare, such as "The Princess Bride" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

"The Artist," the black-and-white silent film about Hollywood's rocky transition to the “talkies,” took the biggest honors at the 84th Academy Awards on Sunday night, including best picture, director and lead actor. It was a night filled with firsts - and an especially good night for the French. “The Artist” was the first silent film to nab best picture honors since the first Academy Awards were held in 1929, when “Wings” took the top prize. And for the first time in Academy Awards history, a French actor (Jean Dujardin)

Well, the 58th Academy Awards have come and gone. I, for one, am not sorry to see them go. A few suggestions for next year: Dump Jane Fonda and Alan Alda as hosts. They were as interesting as watching oatmeal cook. Instead, keep Robin Williams and add Steve Martin as his co-host. They should keep the audience awake. Bring back Statler and Waldorf, the two Muppets in the balcony. They were almost as funny as Williams. Eliminate all production numbers. I watch the Oscars to find out who wins , not to see Debbie Reynolds, Howard Keel, et al., dance around.

Last night's Oscars were great for British people, so-so for everyone else. ( Los Angeles Times ) It was also a great night for Melissa Leo, who shocked the audience with an F-bomb after winning. ( Los Angeles Times ) "True Grit" went home with zero Oscars after 10 nominations. ( Los Angeles Times ) And Corey Haim and Betty Garrett were left out of the In Memoriam montage. ( Hollywood Reporter ) Some might say the Oscars were a triumph for conservative values.

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Wednesday: Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones and master makeup guy Dick Smith will receive honorary Oscars this year. ( Los Angeles Times ) A 30-minute piece of one of Alfred Hitchcock's early film efforts has been discovered in New Zealand. ( Los Angeles Times ) Laurence Fishburne will be Perry White in "Man of Steel. " ( Hero Complex ) William and Kate flew on an economy airline when coming home from Zara Phillips' royal wedding.

Recently on this page we observed that despite the nomination of two black women for acting Oscars this year, leading roles and influence in the entertainment industry continue to be largely out of reach for African Americans. Now, a months-long investigation by The Times into the membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which votes on who should receive Oscars, reveals that the organization is overwhelmingly white and male. We're not surprised, and neither are Academy officials.

Does the surest path to Oscar gold run through Buckingham Palace? With Colin Firth's portrayal of Britain's King George VI in "The King's Speech" already generating strong Academy Awards chatter, Hollywood's longstanding love affair with English monarchs seems to be burning as strong as ever. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first swooned for the royals when Charles Laughton won one of the earliest best actor Oscars for 1933's "The Private Life of Henry VIII," in which he played the king known for his gargantuan appetites for food, women and power.

In the end, the Oscars just couldn't leave Hollywood. After entertaining multiple offers to relocate the event, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday that it would keep the Academy Awards at the theater at Hollywood & Highland, negotiating a new 20-year deal with the CIM Group, which owns the complex. CIM also announced that Dolby Laboratories had signed on as the new name sponsor for the complex's 3,400-seat theater, taking over from Kodak, which had filed for bankruptcy.

"Chimpanzee,"the latest Disney nature film, might as well be called "Simply Irresistible," because thanks to the mischievous monkeyshines of a baby chimp named Oscar, it comes pretty close. This is the most storified yet of Disney's True Life Adventure family films, which began with the release of "Earth" in 2009, and was followed by "Oceans" in 2010 and last year's"African Cats. "Classified as documentary, "Chimpanzee" feels more feature filmy as it follows a band of about 30 chimps, with tiny Oscar the breakout star.

In a world devoted to the instant and the new, Bob Marley, dead for more than 30 years, could be a dusty musical footnote. Instead, the enormous popularity of the transcendent reggae superstar shows no signs of abating, a situation"Marley," a moving and authoritative new documentary, takes as its mission to illustrate and explain. Only 36 when he died of cancer on May 11, 1981, Marley went from strength to strength as a recording artist and cultural figure, breaking out from early Jamaican success to enthrall a world of listeners in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.

It's difficult doing what "Monsieur Lazhar"does, conveying the delicate reality of human emotions in a way that engages without being overdone, but this French-language Canadian film makes it look like child's play. The story of how an Algerian substitute teacher in French-speaking Montreal and his middle-school class help each other confront the presence of death in life, this film deals almost casually with a range of issues and themes, handling with a light and even affectionate touch weighty subjects like grief, guilt, community and love.

At this year's Oscars, Philippe Falardeau spotted his idol Steven Spielberg standing alone, firing off a text message. Falardeau panicked. How, the French-Canadian director fretted, could he break the ice and strike up a chat? "I was like, 'What do I do? What am I going to say to this guy?' So I just ran away," Falardeau, 44, recalled recently over breakfast at a Sunset Strip hotel. "I was just too shy. I blew my assignment. " Perhaps. But Falardeau seems to be making the most of an improbable career that was handed to him 20 years ago when he was picked for a TV-show filmmaking contest, and that reached a midlife apogee this year when he earned a foreign language film Oscar nomination for his fourth feature, the bittersweet classroom drama "Monsieur Lazhar.

SUNDAY That sinking feeling: "Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron," hosted by the A-list director and sometime undersea explorer, is one of myriad offerings this week commemorating the 100th anniversary of the most famous disaster in maritime history. (National Geographic, 8 p.m.) It's all about women behaving badly when "Nurse Jackie" and "The Big C" return with new episodes. And Jennifer Love Hewitt, below, rubs some folks the wrong way in the new drama "The Client List.

QVC is coming to the Academy Awards. That's right, QVC. The home shopping network is turning the red carpet into a literal marketplace, throwing a live-for-TV party at the swank Four Seasons Hotel on Oscars weekend, and inviting celebrity guests to mingle and sell in front of the cameras, in hopes that a little Tinseltown glamour will rub off on hometown America. It's a genius idea, really. Considering how much time and money go into product placement during awards season, the red carpet might as well be a sales floor.

The score for Oscar Bettison's chamber concerto "Livre des Sauvages" ("The Book of Savages") should come with an IKEA-like warning: Some Assembly Required. The half-hour work, which will be given its premiere Tuesday at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella new music series, employs a toy piano, hotel desk bells, melodicas (with foot pumps), tuned cowbells, tuning forks, conch shells and a "wrenchophone. " The concert, to be conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, also will feature works by Stockhausen and Cage.

Neil Travis Film editor earned Oscar for 'Dances With Wolves' Film editor Neil Travis, 75, who received an Academy Award for his work on the 1990 film "Dances With Wolves" and an Emmy for the 1977 miniseries "Roots," died March 28 at his home in Arroyo Grande, Calif. The cause was not disclosed. His death was confirmed by United Talent Agency, which represented him. When an early version of "Dances With Wolves" came in at more than five hours, Travis worked with director-producer-star Kevin Costner to slice two hours from the epic western.