Globe Predictions Anyone?

by Nathaniel R

A few days back David Poland asked the Gurus of Gold to predict the Globes and I became obsessed with the notion that I, Tonya would be the surprise heavyweight. I was pretty much alone in that with nearly the entire group thinking Lady Bird's got this in the bag (a couple of people think Get Out). I think my I Tonya prediction was more a product of my fear since the wildly positive response to the movie surprised me and sent me back for a second viewing which only strengthened my resolve that it's a) not good and b) highly problematic...

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NSFC falls hard for "Lady Bird"

by Nathaniel R

The National Society of Film Critics, founded in 1966 and the last important critics group to sign off on the season each year (we like that they wait until they've seen everything unlike some organizations), went all in for Lady Bird today, handing it half of their 8 prizes. That's quite a haul for a high school comedy! Of course the movie is brilliant but other brilliant films of its ilk have been routinely ignored by critics group so this has been a wonderful turn of events this season. Winners and runners up are after the jump...

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The Oscar Week with Haddish in New York & Chastain in Palm Springs

by Murtada

Welcome back to The Oscar Week, where we follow Oscar contender appearances and interviews and examine how they impact their chances. After a 2 week hiatus, all the contenders were back in full campaign mode on both coasts, cramming in as many events as they could before the Golden Globes. Even hitherto missing person, Sally Hawkins, made an appearance at the Palm Springs Film Festival.

However the week, the moment, maybe even the year belonged to Tiffany Haddish. She took the New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner by storm, delivering an 18 minute epic speech. Here are a few excerpts:

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Producer's Guild Nominations: Wonder Woman is this year's Deadpool

by Nathaniel R

The Producer's Guild, by "virtue" of the fact that they have more nominees than Oscar each year, often get fairly close to "predicting" the Best Picture list. This year they've chosen 11 titles. Recency bias surely helped give Molly's Game a winning hand and the PGA's love of the blockbuster delivered for Wonder Woman which is a good call here since it did help define the year and superhero movies are very much producer events. Last year Deadpool was nominated at the PGA and was the only film to drop off on Oscar nominaiton morning. The other 9 pictures selected are all then looking strong as Best Picture possibilities for the Oscar nominations on January 23rd. Nominations and more commentary after the jump...

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BAFTA's 2017 Rising Star Nominees

Chris here. This year has had so many breakthrough performances that you'd be hard pressed to whittle it down to five performers, but such is the pain of awards season. And yet one of the season's biggest prizes for new talents, BAFTA's Rising Star award, has just announced its five contenders for 2017 honors: Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth), Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country), Tessa Thompson (Thor Ragnarok), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird).

This makes for a stellar lineup of headliners of Best Picture contenders in Chalamet and Kaluuya, indie darlings with Pugh and O'Connor, and the big budget superhero badassery of Thompson. The latter actress is a bit of a headscratcher here considering she's been a ferocious talent for years (and in lead roles!) in the likes of Dear White People and Creed, but we love her so much that we'll accept her placement if only to see her getting the love she deserves. This prize has been a boys club of late so my money is rooting for Pugh, such an emergent and invigorating new talent in the taxing Lady Macbeth.

Now you'd have to go back to Kristen Stewart's 2010 win to find a non-Brit winner of this prize, so consider this a statistical leg up for Pugh, O'Connor, and Kaluuya. But the past two winners (Tom Holland and John Boyega) also had the visibility of franchise weight behind them - could that spell some strong chances for Thor's Thompson? Or is this just another in a string of breakthrough prizes for Chalamet?

The full BAFTA nominees will be announced on Jan. 9!