6 days til Oscar nominations. Who's about to get their 6th honor?

by Nathaniel R

We'll try to have final Oscar predictions up tomorrow but in the meantime, another discussion prompt. The following people are hoping to snag their 6th career nominations next Monday. Who do you think will actually pull it off? Will any of them win? What's your favourite of their five nominations to date. The names and Oscar honors after the jump.

ANTHONY HOPKINS The Father
Previous nominations: Silence of the Lambs (91 -win), Remains of the Day (93), Nixon (95), Amistad (97), Two Popes (19)...

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More prizes: LEJA, Detroit, Las Vegas, Hollywood, and more...

by Nathaniel R

The film prizes don't stop. We've recently updated the "Movies for Grownups AARP Awards" post (they surprisingly chose United States vs Billie Holiday as the year's best) and the Goya Awards post with the winners lists from those nominations, in case you haven't caught wind of those yet.

But other film critics associations have also continued to hand out prizes in this very extended awards season. So let's catch up shall we. Here are the prizes from various critics organizations like LEJA, WFCC, OAFFC, SEFCA, Detroit, Hollywood, Phoenix,  and Las Vegas... 

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Oscar Race: Live Action Short Finalists Reviewed

by Nathaniel R

As we did with the Documentary shorts finalists, we're reviewing the Oscar possibilities in Live Action short. Unfortunately this group is harder for audiences to see (at this writing) so we don't have screening links for all of them. We've been unable to track down Two Distant Strangers but let's discuss the other nine options, divvied up into four 'types'...

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PGA Nominations: Wa Wa Wee Wa! "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm" made the list.

The Producers Guild of America has spoken and has named these ten pictures as nominees for its top category.

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm Producers: Sacha Baron Cohen, Monica Levinson, Anthony Hines
• Judas and the Black Messiah Producers: Charles D. King, Ryan Coogler, Shaka King
• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Producers: Denzel Washington, Todd Black
• Mank Producers: Ceán Chaffin, Eric Roth, Douglas Urbanski
• Minari Producer: Christina Oh
• Nomadland Producers: Frances McDormand, Peter Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey, Chloé Zhao
• One Night In Miami… Producers: Jess Wu Calder & Keith Calder, Jody Klein
• Promising Young Woman Producers: Josey McNamara, Ben Browning, Ashley Fox, Emerald Fennell
• Sound Of Metal Producers: Bert Hamelinck, Sacha Ben Harroche
• The Trial of the Chicago 7 Producers: Marc Platt, Stuart Besser

This is great news for Judas and the Black Messiah as a late breaking contender as well as Sound of Metal which has had a lot of buzz for Riz Ahmed but less so for other awards categories.  The PGA choices are a tough break for News of the World and The Father. But all is not lost for the latter two hopefuls as Oscar does often change things up a bit. Stats and more PGA nominations after the jump...

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Gay Best Friend: Erich in "Midnight Express"

 a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Norbert Weisser co-stars as Erich in Alan Pakula's 1978 hit "Midnight Express."Our journeys into classic cinema has allowed us to explore the beginnings of the gay best friend trope and coding during the Hayes Code. Once the code was abolished, the late 60s and 70s were able to go wild. While sex, swearing and violence began to populate films, the depiction of gay people stayed relatively the same. Movies were able to actually define characters as LGBTQ+, but they were often villains or would meet a tragic fate. Sympathetic LGBTQ+ characters were tough to come by.

At first glance, the brutal prison drama Midnight Express would not seem like the place to find a nice gay best friend. But Erich (Norbert Weisser) stands out as a light among the considerable darkness. Erich acts as the confidant and guide for our protagonist, Bill Hayes (Brad Davis in a BAFTA & Globe nominated debut), who was sent to this Turkish prison for smuggling hashish from Turkey. His kindness is a wonderful tonic for the grim realities of the Turkish prison. 

However, once Erich acts on his desires, he is immediately removed from the narrative...

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