George Clooney, Kathryn Bigelow, Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Sacha Baron Cohen were all honored at last night’s Britannia Awards, an annual shindig held by BAFTA’s Los Angeles outpost to foster Anglo-American industry relations — or, you know, to throw what is reputedly always a pretty good party. Scott Feinberg gives a comprehensive rundown of the event, where the likes of Julia Roberts, Judd Apatow and Chiwetel Ejiofor were also on hand to present. Receiving his award from his recent co-star, Cumberbatch offered this pointed soundbite: “Chiwetel, it feels bizarre that I’m standing here getting the British Artist of the Year Award after watching your performance in ’12 Years a Slave.'” [Hollywood Reporter]
Over at the AFI Fest, David O. Russell received a career tribute and unveiled six minutes of “American Hustle.” [LA Times]
Foreign Oscar hopefuls “The Past” and “Omar” are among the leading nominees for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. [Screen Daily]
Susan Wloszczyna considers the post-Oscar career of Natalie Portman. Is she making the right choices? [Women and Hollywood]
Greta Gerwig on the films that have defined her life at different ages, from “Singin’ in the Rain” to (as if you needed another reason to love her) “Beau Travail.” [The Dissolve]
Alfre Woodard (nice to see her again in “12 Years a Slave”) is a fan of Asghar Farhadi’s “The Past.” [New York Times]
Emmanuel Lubezki gets technical about his work in “Gravity” in this thorough ASC interview. [American Cinematographer]
Alex von Tunzelmann gives “Philomena” a history test, and it makes the grade. [The Guardian]
Alex Pappademas writes the best of the Blockbuster Video obituaries. [Grantland]