Oscar Volley: Is ‘Best International Film’ a done deal?

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio Alves and Nick Taylor discussing the Best International Feature Film race.

CLÁUDIO: Since the last batch of Oscar volleys in a pre-nomination world, few categories have been as shaken up as Best International Film. Back then, you could still wonder if All Quiet on the Western Front had been seen by enough people in the industry. Now, after its slew of Oscar nods and smashing BAFTA performance, it's competitive in multiple categories and expected to nab an easy victory in this one. I've already elaborated on my distaste for Edward Berger's war picture and find myself rather delighted to have been paired up with you, dear Nick, for this volley. You see, dear reader, here's someone who might dislike the movie even more than my nitpicky ass.

NICK: But I’ve softened on All Quiet a bit…

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SAG Acceptance Speeches, Ranked

by Nathaniel R

SAG Awards are often a good swift night. There's no dawdling around with filler, there's not much in the way of montages, but there are clips, acceptance speeches, and a parade of celebrities. In short, we're into it. The most sublime inspired combo in terms of presenter pairings was the evil twinnage of Jenna Ortega and Aubrey Plaza. (Whoever thought of that deserves a 20% raise.)  But what SAG is all about is the acceptance speeches.

They come one after the other, a veritable parade of gushing. This ranking was done on the fly from memory so... I do not stand by it should you want to fight in the comments. Nevertheless why not share the acceptance speeches? (the ones we could embed at least). Let's look at the speeches  from least best to best best...

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Can Jamie Lee Curtis win the Oscar?

by Nathaniel R

We'll discuss the full list of SAG winners in the next post but first the big surprise. Tonight's major curveball in the film categories was Jamie Lee Curtis' win for Everything Everywhere All At Once. But perhaps this win shouldn't have felt like a shock at all...

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Best Ensemble, Casting, Stunts, and More...

by Nathaniel R

EEAAO an easy choice for "Best Ensemble" discussions.

With the SAG Awards airing tonight -- we expect to see encore speeches from Blanchett, Fraser, Bassett, and Quan since the acting winners tend to get set in stone once televised ceremonies begin -- let's talk acting categories that Oscar doesn't have. Here are my personal favourites for Casting, Ensemble, Stunts, and Juvenile Performances, a couple of prizes which SAG has and two that they don't...

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Drag Race RuCap: “The Crystal Ball”

NICK TAYLOR: Following the high entertainment value and disappointing culmination of last week’s LaLaPaRUza, I thought this was a pretty satisfying episode! The Ball’s been through a lot -- originally a late-game nailbiter that’s sent home many a fierce queen, it’s been deployed very early as of season 10. Can you imagine if this had been the third challenge? A nightmare. But here we are, on the 200th episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, with officially half of the cast gone, to talk about the Crystal Ball! Was it everything you were hoping for, Cláudio?

CLÁUDIO ALVES: This was the season's most satisfying episode thus far from both a structural and entertainment perspective. At last, we have enough queens gone to make the editor’s job manageable within the 40-minute format, leaving enough space for a mini-challenge and even Ru’s typical pre-challenge walk-thru. My only quibble was with the actual performances…

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