Shorts Predictions -- All Oscar Categories Complete!

by Nathaniel R

some of the shorts contenders we're most curious about after investigating the titles

For better or worse all of the Oscar predictions are completed including the last three hold outs: Live Action Short, Animated Short, and Documentary Short. Though we have yet to see the shorts (that'll have to wait until nominations) predictions were made via an unholy combo of hunches, IMDb ratings, plot descriptions, tea leaves, blind faith, coin tossing, and a teensy bit but not much of seeing what other people around the web are saying but never following that exactly because nobody ever scores 5/5 in all shorts categories. Including me, of course, but there's always a first time. Maybe? 

 Final Predictions All Categories
INDEX | PICTURE   | DIRECTOR |
ACTRESS | ACTOR | SUPP ACTRESS |
SUPP ACTOR | SCREENPLAY  |
FOREIGN FILM | ANIMATION, DOCS, SHORTS |
VISUALS | SOUND

Happy 25th anniversary (again) to Michelle & David

by Nathaniel R

We celebrated Michelle Pfeiffer & David E Kelley's 25th wedding anniversary on its proper day back in November but it's worth pointing out that the notoriously private actress has suddenly joined Instagram! On the day she joined I must have received 100 private messages about it. Y'all know me so well. So far she's posted three things: a Catwoman clip, a video of her cat licking her face (the cuteness!), and this photo of her 25th anniversary dinner. Go take a look and follow our pforever pfavourite. 

P.S. Honestly, we thought she was the least likely of all iconic actresses to ever join social media.  Care to conjecture who convinced her to do this? Kids? Management? Maleficent 2's PR team? Superstar peers?

Green Book wins the PGA. Is Oscar next?

by Nathaniel R

Peter Farrelly accepting the Outstanding Producer for Theatrical Motion Pictures award for "Green Book"

The weekend before the Oscar nominations, Green Book gets another feather in its divisive cap. It took the top PGA prize last night. It was nominated against Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Crazy Rich Asians, The Favourite, A Quiet Place, Roma, A Star is Born, and Vice... most but not all of which will transfer to Oscar Best Picture nominations if past statistics hold. In the nine years of the modern Best Picture era (by which we mean 2009 and onward when the field expanded) only three movies have won the PGA that did not repeat at the Oscars: Gravity (2013), The Big Short  (2015), and La La Land  (2016). But it's really only two since Gravity tied at the PGA with 12 Years a Slave (the latter of which did not have to share the Oscar for Best Picture). This year's race will give us an even ten years of statistics in this new era. So by the end of the season, future PGA winners will feel like they have either a 70% or an 80% of winning the Oscar. Either way it's something to worry about if you don't like Green Book, and something to cheer for, if you do...

Click to read more ...

What did you see this weekend?

Weekend Box Office Estimates January 18th-20th (ESTIMATES) 🔺 = New or Expanded Theater Count /  ★= Recommended
W I D E 800+ screens	PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide
1. 🔺 Glass $40.5 on 3841 screens *NEW* Review	1.🔺 Stan & Ollie $391k on 84 screens (cum. $789k) Review ★
2. The Upside  $15.6 on 3320 screens  (cum. $43.9)	2. 🔺 Cold War $355k on 39 screens (cum. $748k)  Review, Podcast, Oscar FINALIST ★
3. 🔺 Dragon Ball Super: Broly  $10.6 on 1233 screens (cum. $21) *NEW*	3. Free Solo  $264k on 98 screens (cum. $13.1) Review  ★
4. Aquaman  $10.3 on 3475 screens (cum. $304.3)  Review, Podcast	4. Perfect Strangers  $185k on 132 screens (cum. $737k)
3. Into the Spider-Verse  $7.2 on 2712 screens (cum. $158.2)  Review ★	5.🔺 Destroyer $150k on 50 screens (cum. $636k)  Review, FYC Best Actress ★

Other than the big openings for M Night Shyamalan's Glass and the anime film Dragon Ball Super: Broly the story of the weekend was surely Cold War jumping up 264% percent. If it gets an Oscar nomination (or two? three?) on Tuesday its timing for a significant expansion (provided that that's next weekend) will be perfect.  

What did you see this weekend?  I spent the weekend announcing Film Bitch Awards so that was movie-madness enough for me. Instead I hit Broadway to see Choir Boy from Moonlight writer Tarrel Alvin McCraney. Recommended.

"Where are my lesbians?"

(A question fit for any occasion.)