Blueprints: "Juno"

This week Juno celebrated its tenth anniversary, so Jorge takes a look at how Diablo Cody’s iconic dialogue was inflicted with meaning by the cast.

Juno first hit theaters ten years ago as a low budget indie hopeful. It ended its run as a major box office hit and Oscar favorite. It was the movie that put Ellen Page on the map, boosted Jason Reitman’s career, and gave us arguably the definitive Jennifer Garner performance. 

Screenwriter Diablo Cody won the Oscar for her debut screenplay, and she instantly became a recognizable name, the way many directors but few writers are. And not without merit. One of Juno’s biggest legacy is its quick-witted, snarky dialogue that, many times since then, has tried to be replicated...

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"Shape of Water" way way out front at the Critics Choice Awards

by Nathaniel R

As always, full disclosure: I am a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. So this award announcement is always filled with anxiety for me because I want to be heard. We all want to be heard. Nevertheless most of the longer shots I rallied for didn't make it, he said, pushing away a single tear. The Shape of Water led with 14 nominations... and it was so far out front it nearly doubled the nominations afforded to its nearest rivals (a clump of them jammed together with 8 nominations each:  Call Me By Your Name, Lady Bird, Dunkirk, and The Post).

As ever I'm disappointed that the nominations double so heavily as "general Oscar pundit predictiveness" but here they are in their fullness with very immediate and perhaps too impulsive commentary after the jump.

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Soundtracking: "Atomic Blonde"

Chris looks back at one of the best soundtracks of the year, Atomic Blonde...

There’s no other film I wanted to musically take up residence inside this year more than Atomic Blonde. The film is loaded with techno pseudo-political new age and best played at full volume, featuring the likes of The Clash to A Flock of Seagulls. It’s a film that gifts us with the glory of Til Tuesday’s glorious “Voices Carry” not once, but twice!

While some might reduce its endless stream of songs to added set dressing (cue Daniel Walber’s Atomic Blonde installment of The Funiture here) or just another fabulous costume, it actually does some heavy lifting to both immerse us into a specific world of its the Cold War setting and distinguish the era apart from the cinematic cliches of the subgenre. The electric glamor and brutality has been some of the film’s major discussion points for how the film looks unlike your average Cold War film, but it’s equally crucial that it doesn’t sound like one either... 

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The 25 Youngest Women Ever Nominated for Best Actress

by Nathaniel R

Saoirse Ronan hosting SNLTimothée Chalamet (about to turn 22) and Saoirse Ronan (23) are only a year apart in age and both are looking like major Oscar contenders in Best Actor and Best Actress, respectively. In other words, it MIGHT be a really young Oscar year. Despite their close ages they're miles apart in terms of Oscar statistics. If Timothée is nominated he'll be a first time nominee and become the 3rd youngest man ever up for Best Actor while Saoirse, if nominated, would be on nomination #3 and would just barely crack the youngest 20 contenders in her category. 

So, who are the youngest female leads ever nominated?  We're about to tell you but one thing is for sure: this list is MUCH younger than the corresponding leading man list.

DISCLAIMER: The male list was comparatively easier to order as there were significant gaps in ages. With so many women roughly the same age on this list it's possible the order is not entirely accurate (given that Oscar dates are not the same each year) but we did the best we could.

I'm just a human girl person and I ain't always perfect."

JUST MISSED THE LIST: Laura Dern was 24 when Rambling Rose came out but by the time Oscar season hit she had just turned 25. When Audrey Hepburn won on her first nomination Roman Holiday (1953) and Shirley Maclaine lost for her first nomination for Some Came Running (1958) they were both about to turn 25. Jeanne Crain was another 24 year old who just missed this list with Pinky (1949). They were the closest all rans...

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49 days til Oscar nominations. The #1 film of '49 was...

by Nathaniel R

With 49 days left of fervent prayers from contenders hoping to be among The Chosen on January 23rd, is it any wonder that Samson & Delilah (1949) popped into mind... shortly before Blade Runner 2049 (This is how my brain works -- my deepest apologies).

Biblical movies were once favorites of Oscar voters, especially in the mid 20th century. One might call them the sci-fi blockbusters of the day in terms of both their audience popularity and their difficulty being truly respected outside of "craft" categories. Samson & Delilah was, according to Wikipedia, the year's biggest box office hit in 1949... though that makes little sense. Apparently it was only released in NYC in 1949 and then hit Los Angeles in 1950 to become Oscar eligible for the 1950 Oscars instead of the 49 Oscars...

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