8 Days Until Oscar. Do "Moonlight" or "Arrival" have Oscar twins from the past?

With 8 days to go until Hollywood's High Holy Night let's compare our two pictures with 8 nominations each this year, Denis Villeneuve's thinky sci-fi drama and Barry Jenkins' ravishing memory/identity drama. While both films might come up empty handed on Oscar night they each have a reasonable shot at one or two statues -- Moonlight could theoretically win Supporting Actor and/or Adapted Screenplay and Arrival's best Oscar shot is probably in one or both of the Sound categories unless it surprises with Adapted Screenplay itself in what could arguably be a five way race if Moonlight is not as strong as pundits suspect there.

ARRIVAL	MOONLIGHT
Their 8 Nominations
Picture	Picture
Director	Director
	Supporting Actress
	Supporting Actor
Adapted Screenplay	Adapted Screenplay
Cinematography	Cinematography
Production Design
Film Editing	Film Editing
	Original Score
Sound Mixing
Sound Editing

In the categories where they're competing which film do you prefer?

For extra fun, though, let's find out if the either of these films have any exact Oscar doppelgangers from the past shall we?

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Tweetweek

In awards season, if an A- beats an A+, the A- is automatically an F

— Sam Coffey (@SamRS72) February 13, 2017

Five days left of Oscar voting. pic.twitter.com/OpJcQjGiMS

— Rebecca Keegan (@ThatRebecca) February 16, 2017

More truths and amusements and curiousities after the jump including Viola Davis, La La Land, Isabelle & Viggo, Kate McKinnon, and the perfect deployment of Tilda Swinton...

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In a previous life, Steven Soderbergh must have been a thief

Behold the first image from Lucky Logan which is Soderbergh's first post-retirement theatrical feature. It's yet another heist picture from a director who is very fond of stories about professional thieves and or elaborately planned ambitious crimes. See also Haywire, Oceans franchise, Out of Sight.

Pictured are Adam Driver and Channing Tatum in the background (why are they barely featuring a star as big as Chan in the first still?) and platinum blonde Daniel Craig in the foreground. They're doing an elaborate heist during a NASCAR race. 

Are you excited to welcome Soderbergh back to the movies? 

The Last Oscar Week

In this weekly feature from Murtada we follow Oscar contender appearances and interviews

The Oscars are just 9 days away so this will be our last Oscar Week column of the season. Let’s look at how contenders are hustling in Phase 2. In this phase campaigns pivot their messages to try and secure the win. This gives us more pointed and sometimes bold messaging. Like the exploitative use of the Muslim Travel ban by Lion. Always happy to see Sonny Pawar's expressive face, but this message is a bit of a stretch. Arrival is going for the heartstrings, showing Amy Adams hugging Jeremy Renner and talking to her daughter, rather than talking up the sci-fi elements. This is smart messaging since the mother-daughter relationship is what most leave the theater talking about...

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Thoughts I Had... the "Song to Song" Poster

Chris here, with a look at the next Terrence Malick flick. Last his other films of the past decade, this year's Song to Song has been long promised and long in the can, and is suposedly related to last year's Knight of Cups (both of which shot back-to-back). This Austin rock and roll based film is another starry dive we know little about - however this time we'll find out soon when it debuts next month at SXSW Fest and releases in the following weeks. The trailer will be here soon, but we now have a vibrant poster to ruminate over. Some thoughts...

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