ACE Editing: Big Little Lies, Best Picture Hopefuls and More...

by Nathaniel R

The guild nominations are here already? Oh, yup, it's January now. (Funny how the calendar keeps happening even if you're in bed for a week plus with the flu!) Hollywood's editors have spoken and here are the cutting and shaping jobs they loved best this year on screens  big and small. Curiously they have a hodgepodge of category sizes (3,4, or 5 nominees depending) and voting practices. In some categories the final voting for winners happens between January 5th and 18th and in others (within the TV side) there are blue ribbon panel voting situations where the screenings happen on the 14th. This always leaves us wondering what their prizes would be like if they were consistent. Would awards season have more surprises if those voting were forced to watch everything as they are in very few select categories within various organizations... often somewhat randomly? We think it might and wouldn't it be super exciting to try with the consistency and with the mandatory screenings?

One of the most notable things on their TV list is that Big Little Lies has been bumped from competing in miniseries (where it's competed at most every other awards shows) and is competing in regular drama series (where it surely belongs since they've announced a second season with the same characters/actresses).  Nominees in all categories after the jump...

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Soundtracking: The Best Musical Moments of 2017

Chris here. This past summer I started a series here at The Film Experience called Soundtracking that takes a deeper look at music in the movies. I hope you've loved reading (and listening) along!

2017 proved an appropriate year to start this musical exploration as brilliantly used tracks kept showing up in movies and television shows. Even some things that I didn't care for (Baby Driver, sorry) or missed entirely (Twin Peaks, sorry) proved that music is another storytelling tool that can define a narrative in interesting ways. Even films like The Florida Project and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 gave us memorable needle drops! Before Soundtracking brings a close to its first film year with full pieces on I, Tonya and Call Me By Your Name in the next two weeks, let's take a look at the best musical moments of TV and Film of the past year...

Top 5 TV Musical Moments...

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Criterion hints at 2018

Chris here. With the new year brings another instalment of our favorite cinematic visual puzzle: the Criterion Collection's animated hints at the films coming to their lineup this year! While the cat's already out of the bag that this year we will see Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides and Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man will get the cineaste luxury treatment, the always charming and coy drawing below provides some brain teasers of what else we might see. The more obvious guesses include Aki Karismäki's The Other Side of Hope and Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine - can you spot any other titles coming soon from Criterion?

Random Realization

Carey Mulligan would have been a huge silent film star 100 years ago.

VOTE In Our Thirst Trap Party. We Rounded Them Up For a Sexy NY's

Happy New Year's Eve! One last year in review list during the actual calendar year (though you know 2017 film year doesn't truly end until the Oscars are handed out). Here's Nathaniel R...

[Pictured left: Lady Bird just needed to see some D. We've all been there.]

In a not so festive season when we've all been thinking hard about a lot of terrible thinkings like corrupt governments and oligarchies, sexual misconduct and systemic isms that make life such an oppressive mess for so many people (and damage everyone -- even the opporessors -- since we all are truly in this life together) as well as the terror of both climate change and this particular cold snap  (I'm super sick right now, yay!)  it may feel counterintuitive to be silly and celebrate, I dunno, sexy movie men.

But it is New Year's Eve as I type this (my least favorite holiday since i can remember... I only like to goof off at home and make lists for this one) and we must start the New Year on a positive hedonistic note. Puritanism is bad for you anyway since sex and the enjoyment of sexy things can be a source of immense  joy and pleasure and intimacy and/or whatever both consenting parties have agreed upon. 

If you're a cinephile some part of you loves to look so this one's for you as we ogle some movie men after the jump. We squeezed them into six themed groups in their showoff or coy glory from which you should vote and choose the winners, okay? Okay!  

1 SIDEBAR HEROICS

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