Amy Adams wins acting award at San Francisco film fest, and more movie news

WHO Amy Adams

THE DEAL Adams, soon to be seen as Lynne Cheney, wife of former vice president Dick Cheney, in Adam McKay’s biopic, “Vice,” received the Peter J. Owens Award for Acting from the San Francisco Film Festival earlier this week. Other honorees included Boots Riley, the first-time filmmaker behind “Sorry to Bother You,” and Steve McQueen, director of the crime drama “Widows.” The festival isn’t widely regarded as an Oscar bellwether, but it’s worth noting that San Francisco reportedly is home to more Oscar voters than any other city outside of Los Angeles or New York.

THE MOVIE “Black Panther"

THE DEAL The groundbreaking superhero film, the first to feature a nearly all-black cast, made it to the first round of Oscar voting in the category of visual effects. Among the 20 titles on the initial short list, revealed earlier this week, are the Neil Armstrong biopic “First Man,” Robert Zemeckis’ fantasy-drama “Welcome to Marwen,” the horror film “A Quiet Place” and the Warner-D.C. superhero film “Aquaman.” Academy voters will narrow this list down to 10 later this month. Final Oscar nominees will be announced Jan. 22.

WHO Mark Hamill

THE MOVIE “Star Wars”

THE DEAL The actor otherwise known as Luke Skywalker gave some advice to anyone preparing to bid on “Star Wars” props at an upcoming auction. “Be Advised — There was no ONE lightsaber I used in the films, but many, MANY, both for myself & my stunt double,” Hamill tweeted in response to an auction company advertising what it called “The original Mark Hamill ‘Luke Skywalker’ lightsaber” for a possible $150,000 or more. “Multiple duplicate back-up props are commonplace during production,” Hamill wrote. “When the handle ridges were cutting my hands, they even made a few w/ soft sponge ridges!” Information on the auction, scheduled for Dec. 11-13, can be found at profilesinhistory.com.