Last Minute Drama: Oscar Nomination Rescinded

It wouldn't be the Oscars without drama. Or in this case, draaaaaa-maaaa. The day before the Oscars -- yes, the day before the Oscars -- the Academy rescinded a nomination. Greg P Russell had received his 17th nomination (he's never won) for his sound mixing on 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi but that nomination is no more. The decision was announced yesterday in light of information about phone calls to branch members. Telephone as well as email lobbying is against the rules. The other members of that particular sound team have retained their nominations so there are still 5 nominated films in the category.

Sing along at Greg's house "Alone...Yet Not Alone...♫ " 

For those who recall. The song "Alone Yet Not Alone" from the movie of the same name was the last rescinded nomination just 3 Oscar seasons ago for something similar, emails to branch members. While this is unfortunate, especially considering Russell's long history without a win and big contributions to blockbuster cinema (past nominations include Spider-Man, Transformers, and Skyfall), how do AMPAS members not know not to do this by now?

Review: The Autopsy of Jane Doe

by Steven Fenton 

I’ll start with a confession. I’m not typically the first in line for a horror movie...in fact, I’m rarely in line for them at all. But recently I’ve found myself opening up to the possibilities of the genre, and it feels like I’m not the only one. There’s something in the water (and no, I’m not talking about Blake Lively). This new wave of “sophisticated horror” (for lack of a better term), from high profile festival hits like The Babadook and The Witch and critical sensations like Get Out, has done an amazing job of re-branding the genre for new audiences. So that’s why when I heard one of my favorite festival programmer sing the praises of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, I knew I had to check it out.

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Final Oscar Predictions !

With the Oscars nearly upon us, it's time for final predictions. I've written up a lengthy piece for Towleroad which I hope you'll read and you can also compare my predictions to the other Gurus of Gold at Movie City News. I shan't reprint the whole thing here since we have all those charts you can peruse and months of articles on these very races. 

While nearly everyone expects La La Land to be the major champion of the night, I don't think it will be record breaking. Damien Chazelle’s popular musical would need 12 Oscars to beat the record of 11 which was set by Ben-Hur back in 1959 and then tied by both Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) and Titanic (1997). West Side Story (1961), yours truly's all time favorite movie, is the runner up to "most wins" with 10. La La Land might tie West Side Story but I'm predicting 9 wins. That's still a lot mind you but it's not quite record breaking. The number of wins for a Best Picture seems to be trending downward in the modern era. The only really truly big hauls in the past twenty years have been for The English Patient (9 wins for 1996), Titanic (11 wins in 1997), Shakespeare in Love (7 wins for 1999), Return of the King which was a special case as they were obviously rewarding the whole trilogy (11 wins for 2003), and Slumdog Millionaire (8 wins for 2008). I can't see La La Land winning less than 8.

But let's divvy up the categories into sure things, probably sure things, and very unsure things...

ALL LOCKED UP AND THEY SWALLOWED THE KEY

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1 Day to Oscar: First Time Nominees

by Murtada

With one day to Oscar, let’s salute 2016’s class of first time nominees in the four acting categories. So many great actors never get nominated, and many just get that one nomination. So it must so exciting for these lucky 7: Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, Naomie Harris, Mahershala Ali, Lucas Hedges, Dev Patel and Andrew Garfield.

They range in age from 20 (Hedges) to 63 (Huppert). As befitting that range there are newcomers, legends and everything in between amongst them...

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Tweetweek: The Oscars are Coming! The Oscars are Coming!

People get soooo crazy this time of year when Oscar anticipation (and predictable backlashes) reaches its peak. Seriously, people have lost their minds in the countdown to La La Land's triumph. One article this week even proclaimed it a fascist film. HAHAHA. Oh Oscar season. Never stop bringing the insanity.

So The Film Experience has no choice but to endorses this Tweet as TWEET OF THE WEEK -- it's such a perfect satirical jab at the madness. (More of the best tweets of the week, most of them Oscar focused, are after the jump...) 

Just saw La La Land mugging an old lady in an alleyway.

— Tom Reagan's Hat (@andymannion777) February 25, 2017

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