Oscar Volley: Animated Feature Film

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Abe Friedtanzer and Juan Carlos Ojano.

ABE: It's always a pleasure to talk awards with you, and I'm excited to dive in to the Animated Feature race this year. While I wish that we could have been discussing out-of-the-box choices like Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, Eternal Spring, or Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be or even mainstream fare that for some reason didn't click like Lightyear and The Bad Guys, there are five worthwhile nominees that did make the cut. I know that I had to seek out The Sea Beast once nominations were announced since I hadn't yet streamed that title, while the other four didn't come as much of a surprise. Going into this race, it feels like Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio is the clear favorite. But it didn't net any other Oscar nominations, which many thought it would. Neither did any of the other nominees, however, so maybe we're back to square one...

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Oscar Volley: "Naatu Naatu" vs Pop Divas for Best Original Song

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category in the lead up to the ceremony. Here's Baby Clyde and Chris James to talk Costume Design.

CHRIS: A round of APPLAUSE for my volley co-host, Baby Clyde. Now, let's Tell It Like A Pundit - what is going on with the Original Song race? On the surface, it seems like "Naatu Naatu" has this category in the bag after winning this prize at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. RRR's grand dance number is one of the most memorable scenes of the year and would make for a worthy winner. However, one can't forget that it is against some heavy hitters, such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga, both for films that made over a billion dollars at the box office. Are we underestimating them?

And do you have any favourites that weren't nominated?...

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Drag Race RuCap: "LipSync LaLaPaRUza Smackdown"

CLÁUDIO ALVES: After weeks of epic-length write-ups, here we have an episode that feels poised to be taken care of quick and dirty. It’s the return of the LaLaPaRUza, a lipsync tournament to the death - in total, there are eight battles to consider and little else to examine. The 40-minute edit means there’s no time to indulge in whatever’s not part of the face-off, including any inkling of storyline development. Still, it’s an exciting chapter with a heartbreaking conclusion, one frustrating twist, and a slew of fabulous queens. Did you have fun?

NICK TAYLOR: In the words of Dorothea Fields, yes and no…

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Oscar Volley: "Avatar" versus what in Best Visual Effects?

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category in the lead up to the ceremony. Here's Abe Fried-Tanzer and Nick Taylor to discuss Visual Effects.

Black Panther Wakanda Forever

ABE FRIED-TANZER: Hey Nick! Here we are discussing the category with the most stages of finalists, giving us a window into what could have been. I appreciated the inclusion of interesting choices like Bardo, Good Night Oppy, and RRR on the initial twenty-wide list, and was pulling for Nope and Thirteen Lives to move on from the next stage of ten. But none of that happened, and we’re left instead with five very different choices, none of which are based on original material.

There are some intriguing stats to share about these nominees, like that Black Panther: Wakanda Forever placed, but its predecessor (which scored a Best Picture mention) didn't in the same race...

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"A Man" leads the Japan Academy Film Nominations

by Nathaniel R

"A Man" received 13 nominations from the Japanese Academy.

Last year the Japan Academy Film prizes were had a slightly higher profile on this side of the pond due to the international success of Drive My Car (which was also popular with Oscar voters). This year, there's no Japanese breakout film unless you count popular anime titles but it's still worth sharing what the Japan Academy is loving. With 13 nominations Kei Ishiwaka's A Man (which premiered at Venice) is the film to beat and it's worth noting that it came out after the deadline for the Oscar submissions this year [updated] and also wasn't submitted by Japan in the new Oscar season. The Japanese ceremony was two days before the Oscars this year on March 10th. Here are the nominees and UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE WINNERS AFTER THE JUMP...

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