Beauty vs Beast: Queen Anne's Choice

Happy Oscar Nominations Eve, everybody! Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" which this week shall tackle one of the probable juggernauts nomination-wise tomorrow, or so we hope -- Yorgos Lanthimos' giddily profane The Favourite boasts a triumverate for the ages, with Queen Anne (Olivia Colman) sitting astride two wars, the more interesting one between her comely, craven subjects Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and cousin Abagail (Emma Stone). Everybody's predicting richkly deserved nominations for all three (while simultaneously bickering about their Lead vs Supporting placement) but we're more interested where you'd come down from Queen Anne's place...

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PREVIOUSLY Last week you guys wisely took Joan's advice and didn't fuck with her, fellas - Faye Dunaway's stark-raving turn in Mommie Dearest trampled through the roses to a win of just under 80%. Said Roger:

"I love MOMMIE DEAREST. In terms of Oscar eligibility, Faye Dunaway absolutely should have won the Oscar. Her performance is incredible and almost experimental. I think this is a rare example where the overused remark of losing one’s self in a role is warranted. The line between Faye Dunaway and Joan Crawford is blurred beyond distinction. Both actresses are so enthralling that seeing one as the other, Dunaway as Crawford, is so electrifying it borders on hyperreality."

"Roma" is the not so surprising superstar of the 1st annual LEJA Awards

We told you back in December about a new critics organization LEJA (Latino Entertainment Journalists Association) and they've announced their first year's worth of awards winners. Roma leads with TEN wins (nine proper plus a special award for Yalitza Aparacio as "Breakout," despite the fact that she also won Best Actress). The only other multiple winners were Black Panther (3), If Beale Street Could Talk (3), A Star is Born (2), and Into the Spider-Verse (2). They've mostly they avoided category fraud except in the messy Best Supporting Actor category where they rubberstamped Mahershala Ali. But we'll forgive that since they honored Bradley Cooper as Best Actor and he's been weirdly denied wins all season despite his multiple threat sucess with A Star is Born. The full list of LEJA winners is after the jump.

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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...

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