Animated Short Finalists, Ranked

by Nathaniel R

"Once Upon a Studio" brings decades of Disney together

We love animation but we know we give it short shrift here at the site. So let’s rectify that, at least in miniature during this final quiet moment before the official Oscar nominations. I've recently seen all but one of the finalists for Animated Shorts (the missing piece: I'm Hip by two-time Oscar nominee John Musker). Though no one asked, I've ranked them in ascending order of preference after the jump. It's worth mentioning that to get to the finals you've already bested nearly 100 other contenders so the overall quality is high. I say that so you aren't offended if #14 is your favourite, which it very well might be! Each person's personal rank would surely vary.

Okay, now on to the nostalgia exercizes, sentimental messages, surreal head trips, disturbing images, and slapstick antics...

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Team Experience - Final Oscar Prediction

by Christopher James

Who will win big at the Oscars?Tomorrow morning the Oscar nominations will be revealed at 5:30 a.m. PST / 8:30 a.m. EST / 1:30 p.m. GMT / 9:30 p.m. CST. With just one day left, it’s time for the members of the Film Experience team to make their final predictions, as Nathaniel did the other day.

It’s going to be a tight race for most nominations between our frontrunners - Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Poor Things. All have the possibility to get over 10 nominations each. Will the Oscars default for its Best Picture nominees across the board, or will we get some interesting shockers up and down the ballot?

Take a look after the jump for each of the team’s predictions. Please click on any of the prediction images to get a larger look at what each writer predicted...

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Nathaniel's Final Oscar Nomination Predictions

by Nathaniel R

It's that time to finally stop over-analyzing and just share it! Long time readers might say "what over-analyzing? you've barely spoken!" but please know that I've still been over-analyzing in my head if not out loud. But let's do this quickly and move on that strange long deadspace between nominations and Hollywood's High Holy Night, the time period in which we hope to be more active and really dive into the Oscar contenders and our own personal awards. But before we get there: FINAL OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS...

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Oscar Volley: Best Supporting Actor

It's the final pre-nomination Oscar volley. Here's Eric and Chris to discuss Best Supporting Actor

A win for Ryan Gosling in "Barbie" would age so well. But Oscar rarely goes comedic.

CHRIS:  Hey Eric! It's Barbenheimer 2.0 in the Best Supporting Actor race. In my mind, the two most secured nominees in the bunch are from the pair of box office summer behemoths - Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer and Ryan Gosling in Barbie. It'll be interesting race to see if Gosling can overtake Downey Jr. to win for a comedic performance, but that's a post-nomination conversation. It's not just that both of these men starred in the hottest movies of the year, they gave indelible performances that are cemented in the conversation this year (well, I would say Gosling did, but I'll hold space for the Downey lovers). 

May December was gaining momentum and critical acclaim at just the right time to be a major awards player (at least around the time the Globe nods were announced), which made me ecstatic...

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Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2016

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

This year’s group of nominees prove to be interesting with regards to their character introductions. One of them has one of the most disturbing, NSFW introductions this category has probably ever seen. Two of these films begin with a closeup of the actresses’ faces that also serve as the very first shots of their respective films. Three of the nominees are in the first scenes of their films (or four, if you count La La Land’s long take). Four of them are introduced with the key male character related to their personal journey.

All five of them are introduced in ways that strongly relate not only to how they identify themselves, but even how the people around them and their environment see them. As a group, all of the nominees’ first moments are filled with details that serve as the character's defining characteristics, even more than any other set of nominees since this series began. Are you ready?

The year is 2016. [NSFW CONTENT WARNING: Sexual violence]...

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