oscars

Every year, tax season inspires Americans ... to gripe and complain. But rather than focus on the depressing side of your yearly ordeal, why not consider the more enjoyable things that taxes have inspired -- namely, a long list of films. On Oscar weekend, there's no better time to recall these taxing classics.

Much like the Super Bowl, the Oscar broadcast is also becoming as much about the commercials as it is about the big show. And thanks to the popularity of the Best Picture nominees this year, advertisers are likely to have an even bigger audience than 2010's 41.3 million viewers.

Usually, the Oscars highlight the chasm between Hollywood's elite and average Americans. But, says one movie critic: "This is one of the rare years when critics and paying audiences backed the nominees." Also notable in 2011 is a youth movement in the nominees -- and the show's hosts.

The biggest name in movies will be missing from the red carpet on Oscar night even though it had more work in No. 1 hit films than Brangelina and Jeff Bridges combined. In the category of highest number of appearances for a product or brand in blockbuster hit movies, the award goes to ... Apple....

Create your own red carpet event for an Oscar-viewing party on Feb. 27. Celebrity event planner Mark Addison, who's worked with stars such as Kelly Ripa, Drew Barrymore and Queen Latifah, knows how to throw an Academy Award bash on a budget. Addison shared his tips on how to make a viewing party...

The Hurt Locker won an Oscar but lost at the box office. Its producers now plan to sue thousands of suspected pirates for downloading the film illegally on BitTorrent, where the movie was downloaded more than 10 million times.

Roger Ross Williams hated his job as a television producer. Desperate for something different, he went to the Catskills, N.Y. home of his neighbor, Elinor Burkett, an author and journalist who also has a home in Zimbabwe. "'Save me,'" Burkett jokingly recalls Williams said to her, to an audience in...

While the two sides in this dispute reached a tentative agreement to settle before millions of viewers were left with no Academy Awards telecast, more fights like this are bound to occur. So, don't be too quick to ditch your rabbit ears.

So you're Kathryn Bigelow and you've just won an Oscar for Best Picture 2010. It's very exciting to receive that gold statue! But what exactly is that Oscar worth in cold hard cash? Of course, the accolades, fabulous parties, and future opportunities based on the Oscar win are, in some ways,...

Even though the Academy Awards banned official swag bags four years ago (thanks to an IRS decree that actors must pay taxes on the gifts), companies still scramble to get their items into the luxury-laden gift baskets.