Welcome

The Film Experience™ was created by Nathaniel R. All material herein is written by our team.

This site is not for profit but for an expression of love for cinema & adjacent artforms. 

Powered by Squarespace
DON'T MISS THIS

Follow TFE on Substackd 

COMMENTS

Oscar Takeaways
12 thoughts from the big night

 

Keep TFE Strong

We're looking for 500... no 390 SubscribersIf you read us daily, please be one.  

I ♥ The Film Experience

THANKS IN ADVANCE

What'cha Looking For?
Subscribe

The Films of 2018. The 19th annual FiLM BiTCH Awards

PICTURE | ACTING | VISUALS | AURALS | EXTRAS | SPECIAL | SCENES - you are here

 

and the nominees are...

 

Best Musical Scene in a Musical
(or Performance Heavy Picture)
The First Concert
Joanna Kulig & cast
Cold War

"Eat Me Alive"
Elle Fanning & Alex Sharp
How to Talk to Girls at Parties
Royal Doulton Music Hall / Cover is Not the Book
Emily Blunt & Lin-Manuel Miranda
Mary Poppins Returns
"La Vie En Rose"
Lady Gaga
A Star is Born
"Shallow"
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper
A Star is Born
 It's crucial for the film's trajectory and dramatic / evolving callbacks that the first concert is jawdroppingly pure and breathtaking. Success.  A manic expressive wild and wacky collision of teenage rage, scattershot emotion, punk fever, sexual climax, and silly sci-fi This two part number, the centerpiece of the sequel's most vivid and successful section is imaginatively rendered and joyfully performed.   This number, purposefully a bit scrappy and silly but smashingly performed, gives the big Hollywood movie a DIY charm to kick off the swoony romance  A seismic cinematic moment: Art blooming, a romantic leap of faith, destiny seized. It's the star's birth but as explosive as a supernova.
 

Finalists: "Always Remember Us This Way" and "Maybe It's Time" from A Star is Born, "Rock Around the Clock" from Cold War, "Nowhere to Go But Up" from Mary Poppins Returns

Semi Finalists: "Waterloo" and "Mamma Mia!" and "Fernando" from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

Note: If a musical number opens or closes a film it is part of the opening or ending category.

 

 

Best Musical Scene in a Non-Musical
"Too Late to Turn Back Now"
Laura Harrier and John David Washington
BLACKkKLANSMAN
Traditional Irish Song
Emma Thompson
THE CHILDREN ACT
Court Dance
Rachel Weisz & Nicholas Hoult
THE FAVOURITE
"Rain on the Roof"*
Hugh Grant and Cast
PADDINGTON 2
"I've Never Been to Me" Joaquin Phoenix and
YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE
 Spirits are high and black joy is visible on the dance floor following a thrilling speech. The charity dinner. It's all unravelling for this no nonsense high court judge. The Favourite just keeps surprising, as in this delightfully anachronistic collision. But Queen Anne aint having it     The pleasure of this pink winking group number cannot be undersold. Too bad the film thinks its a credits sidebar!  The year's most surprising and most unnervingly gentle scene within such violent context.
Runners Up

 

Finalists: father and son dance We the Animals, 'dance with me, son' from Wildlife, rehearsal/mangling Suspiria, "when a cowboy trades his spurs for wings" from Ballad of Buster Scruggs 

Semi Finalists: african dance from Burning, "N***a Shit" from Sorry to Bother You, Tapdancing to Meatloaf in Book Club

Note: * If a musical number opens or closes a film it is part of the opening or ending category. We made an exception for Paddington 2 because it's kind of a post-ending ending and annoyingly not given full due with the credits rolling. But it would have made a smashing true ending to the movie!

 

 

Best Action Sequence
First Encounter with The Ghost
ANT MAN AND THE WASP
Final battle
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
Jack-Jack vs Raccoon
INCREDIBLES 2
Bathroom
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE FALLOUT
Han vs Chewie
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY
 Surprising, well choreographd, and so much visual fx fun.  The entire movie is an action sequence. What to pinpoint?   Props for bravery and feistiness, raccoon, but you're outmatched.    Amazing stunt work, a different kind of 'guns' loaded  Funny, character-driven, and surprising.
 

Finalists:  The Trench AquamanCasino Fight Black Panther , Heist x 2 Destroyer

Semi Finalists: Cliff Mission: Impossible - FalloutGemini Mission in First Man Final Tribe War Black Panther Iron Man SpiderMan and Dr Strange vs Thanos's minion Avengers Infinity War

 

 

Best Kiss
Henry Golding & Constance Wu
 CRAZY RICH ASIANS
Rachel McAdams & Rachel Weisz
 DISOBEDIENCE
Elle Fanning & Alex Sharp
HOW TO TALK TO GIRLS AT PARTIES
Nick Robinson & Keiynan Lonsdale
LOVE SIMON
Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga
A STAR IS BORN
 The proposal. Sweet and dreamy but grounded humorously by all that damn luggage.  "Do you think I should leave early?" No, Esti. No. So intimate. So tactile. So superbly acted! And to think it begins with vomiting where you think a kiss would be. Then a series of funny, sweet, weird, alien-mating ritual liplocks.  Ferris wheel climax. The dream boyfriend arriving in the nth hour. He's not disappointed at all. So much nuzzling adoration. May Cooper & Gaga find another reason to co-star.  

Runners Up

Finalists: Joanna Kulig & Tomasz Kot in Cold War,  Rachel Weisz & Olivia Colman in The Favourite, Stephan James & Kiki Layne's  in  If Beale Street Could Talk

Semi Finalists: Nicole Kidman & Sebastian Stan in Destroyer, Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany in Avengers: Infinity War, Amandla Stenberg & KJ Apa / Amandla Stenberg & Algee Smith in The Hate U Give

 

Best Sex Scene
Eva Melander & Eero Milonoff
BORDER
Joanna Kulig & Tomasz Kot
COLD WAR
Rachel McAdams & Rachel Weisz
DISOBEDIENCE
Lily Franky & Sakura Ando
SHOPLIFTERS
Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, and Ron Livingston
TULLY
 Unforgettable in its shocking specificity of self discovery and animalistic passion Torrid reunion sex. Their made-for-and-bad-for-each-other eroticism is fully realized by the actors. So steamy.  Character-driven, rushed, and ultra erotic... They've been waiting for years and they're all grown up now. Two parents getting frisky when they're surprised to find themselves alone at "home". But oops, spoke too soon.  Perhaps too implied to register fully as a sex scene but so smart, naughty, and character-driven "I'll show you what he likes" that we had to include it.
Runners Up

Finalists: Abraham Lewis, Marina Bye, and Ross Tomlinson "Release. Merge. Let Go. Ascend" bisexual self-discovery in How to Talk to Girls at Parties Transactional hotness from Elizabeth Debicki & Lukas Haas in Widows, Yoo Ah-in overwhelmed by Jun Jong-Seo's aggressiveness in Burning.

Semi Finalists: Michelle Pfeiffer & Keifer Sutherland's lonely colliding souls in Where is Kyra?, Tim Kalkhof and Sarah Adler /Roy Miller in The Cakemaker's deceitful mourning triangle, Stephan James & Kiki Layne's consummation/creation in If Beale Street Could Talk,  and Lesbian lunar tendencies via Marjorie Estiano & Isabél Zuaa in Good Manners

 

 

Best Opening Scene
BlacKkKlansman Cold War Eighth Grade The Favourite Widows
 Gone with the Wind & hate speech Recording folk songs  Opening vlog A much too extravagant gift  A kiss / a job gone wrong
Runners Up

Finalists: memory newsreel Museo

Semi Finalists: History of Wakanda Black Panther, "(Underneath the) Lovely London Sky" Mary Poppins Returns, Hotel purchase Crazy Rich Asians, 'an update on Emily' A Simple Favor, caught in the woods Leave No Trace

 

Best Ending
Disobedience The Favourite First Man First Reformed A Star is Born
       
Runners Up

Finalists: the scream Support the Girls, "I have a poem" The Kindergarten Teacher, couples portrait Wildlife 

Semi Finalists: BlacKkKlansman, Miseducation of Cameron Post, Cold War, and Western

 

 

Best Title Sequence Design
Annihilation
(closing credits)
Ant-Man and the Wasp
(closing credits)
Isle of Dogs
(opening credits)
Roma
(opening credits)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse
(ending credits)
  Hallucinogenic light show   Dioramas of the major sequences with shifting angles  That crazy good score illustrated plus multilingual credits  Hypnotic watery reflections  Busy duplicating textures and figures

 

Finalists: A Star is Born (opening title),The Darkest Minds (closing credits), Vice (mid-film credits)

Semi Finalists: Crazy Rich Asians (opening/closing credits), Black Panther (closing credits), Hereditary (closing credits), A Simple Favor (opening credits)

 

Best Scenes (excluding aforementioned categories)
BURNING EIGHTH GRADE EIGHTH GRADE HEREDITARY ISLE OF DOGS
 Dusk with a view of North Korea Live shooter drill The pool party  A family dinner The Oracle
MUSEO OLD MAN AND THE GUN PADDINGTON 2 THE RIDER ROMA
 Thieves in the night  Multiple escapes Pop up book for Aunt Lucy Breaking the wild horse The beach

Finalists: Wildlife dinner date, If Beale Street two families/good news, If Beale Street two women in puerto rico, Love Simon 'you can breathe now', Ben is Back Ben is, well, back! Surprise, Crazy Rich Asians mahjong, Widows gun show, BlacKkKlansman 'polaroid'

Semi-Finalists: Tully 'night in Brooklyn', If Beale Street "imaginary furniture", The Wife coffee with reporter, We the Animals fired from job, The Favourite a way in - bonding over rabbits, A Simple Favor 'role playing office visit'

A STAR IS BORN VICE
Parking lot composition Fake-out ending
 

 

NOMINATIONS IN ALL CATEGORIES, OSCAR PARALLEL AND EXTRA
(40 categories |  53 films honored)

14 nominations
A Star is Born (4 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze)

12 nominations
The Favourite (6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)

11 nominations
BlacKkKlansman (2 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze)

9 nominations
Black Panther (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

8 nominations
Cold War (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze)
First Man (2 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)
Roma (2 gold, 3 silver)

7 nominations
Eighth Grade (1 silver, 4 bronze)

6 nominations
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (3 gold)
Crazy Rich Asians (1 gold, 1 silver, 3 bronze)
Disobedience (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
Paddington 2 (2 silver)
Shoplifters (1 silver, 2 bronze)

5 nominations
Hereditary (1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze)
Isle of Dogs (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)
Mary Poppins Returns (1 silver, 2 bronze)
We the Animals
Widows  (1 gold, 3 silver)

4 nominations
Burning (1 gold)
First Rerformed (2 silver)
If Beale Street Could Talk (1 gold, 2 bronze)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (1 gold, 1 silver)

3 nominations
Annihilation (2 silver)
Ant Man and the Wasp (1 silver, 2 bronze)
Avengers Infinity War (1 gold)
How to Talk to Girls at Parties (1 bronze)
Museo (2 bronze)
Tully (1 gold, 1 bronze)
You Were Never Really Here (1 gold)

2 nominations
Border (2 gold)
Capernaum (1 gold)
Mission: Impossible - Fallout (1 gold)
A Simple Favor (1 gold, 1 bronze)
Sorry to Bother You (1 silver)
Vice (1 bronze)
The Wife (1 silver, 1 bronze)
Wildlife (2 bronze)

1 nomination
El Angel (1 silver)
The Children Act
Destroyer
Girl
Incredibles 2 (1 silver)
A Quiet Place
Love Simon (1 silver)
Mary Queen of Scots
Oceans 8
Old Man and the Gun (1 silver)
The Rider
Ruben Brandt Collector (1 bronze)
Solo: A Star Wars Story
Support the Girls
Suspiria

 

some random stats for fun (so far)
Please note: I am not thinking about these things at all while nominating! They are not intentional results. I'm only thinking about "best in ___ category" 

RANDOM FILM BITCH STUFF
• most gold medals: THE FAVOURITE (5 wins)
• most medals, any color: A STAR IS BORN (10 wins)
• most noms for a film that did not make my top ten list
: BLACK PANTHER (9 nominations)
• only film that won gold medals with each nomination: BORDER (2 noms/2 golds)
• most noms without any medal wins: WE THE ANIMALS (5 nominations)
• least medals for any of our best picture nominees: SHOPLIFTERS (3 medals)
• most medals for a film not in our best picture list: FIRST MAN (6 medals)
• most noms for a film I was lukewarm on: IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (4 nominations)
• most noms for a film I didn't like at all really: VICE (2 nominations)
• film I saw the most times this year: A STAR IS BORN (3 times + 1 at home)
• most noms for a foreign language film: [tie] COLD WAR from Poland and ROMA from Mexico (8 nominations)
• least noms for a film I am madly in love with: TULLY (3 nominations... what the hell, Nathaniel?)
• least noms for a film in my top ten list: A SIMPLE FAVOR (2 nominations) 
• highest ranking films in my own take on the year with zero nominations here: WESTERN at #14 (okay, now I feel bad) runner up is I FEEL PRETTY my 35th favourite of the year (so underrated as the comedies go)

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS AND/OR ACTING PRIZES
• most medals won by a single person: Lady Gaga (5 medals - best song x 2, best song score, best musical scene x 2)
• runner up most medals won by a single person: Rachel Weisz (4 medals - diva, kiss, sex scene, ensemble)
• film with most medals for acting categories [TIE]: SHOPLIFTERS (ensemble, supporting actress, youth performance) and WIDOWS (ensemble, supporting actress, breakthrough performer)

RELATED TO OSCAR STUFF
• most noms for a film not nominated for Oscar's Best Picture
: COLD WAR and FIRST MAN (8 nominations)
• most noms for a film nominated for Oscar's Best Picture: A STAR IS BORN (also the nomination leader with 14)
• most noms for a film that received ZERO Oscar love: EIGHTH GRADE (7 nominations)
• most noms for a film that received only 1 Oscar nomination: SHOPLIFTERS (6 nominations)
• least noms for a best picture nominee: GREEN BOOK and BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY (no nominations)