Oscar Race: Best Cinematography

Here's an interesting punditry challenge. We aren't going to find out what the American Society of Cinematographers feels about this past year in cinema until March 9th, which is the day before the Academy's ballots are due. This allows us one whole month to wonder what the cinematographers in the industry are feeling about what they're looking at. Anything is possible, really, until it's not. Remember when Germany's Never Look Away scored an out of nowhere nod just two years ago? Here's what our crystal ball says right now though its imagery isn't always in focus.

PREDICTIONS

the only locks...

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Showbiz History: Cabaret, Mannequin, The Wedding Singer

7 random things that happened on this day, February 13th, in showbiz history...

1972 Bob Fosse's film version of Cabaret is released in theaters becoming an immmediate sensation. We hope you've read Team Experience's super deep dive of this movie -- we love it so. A year later at the Oscars it looks like a sweeper only to lose Best Picture to The Godfather. It retains the record of most Oscars ever won by a movie that didn't win Best Picture with 8 statues in total. The only movie that's come close to tying that record was Gravity (2013) which fell one short. Four films are tied for third in this particular "loser" trivia with 6 wins: Star Wars, A Place in the Sun, and two very recent ones: La La Land, and Mad Max Fury Road...  

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How many female directors are going to be nominated?

by Juan Carlos Ojano

In hindsight, concerns that "there are no movies" or cries to "cancel the Oscars" during the pandemic were premature and also insulting. We could lament all the films postponed or we could embrace the extraordinary films we got. 2020 was a rich year of diverse voices behind the movies. That happily translated to the awards conversation: BIPOC and female filmmakers have had an unprecedented presence in the run up to the Oscar nominations.

Looking back at Oscar history, only five women have been nominated for Best Director...

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Would you rather?

We haven't looked at Instagram in ages so let's share some fun celebrity photos with our fantasy game. Would you rather...

• try on hats with Kaitlyn Dever?
• kiss alpacas with Nicole Kidman?
• burn palo santo with Madonna?
• workout at home with Cheyenne Jackson?
• visit Sydney Opera House with Rossy de Palma?
• hit the recording studio with Rosamund Pike?
• wash a car with comic JT Firstman?
• get drunk (for charity) with Annaleigh Ashford?
• visit the Redwoods with Laura Dern?
• dance with Taron Egerton?
• have a beer with Cary Elwes?
• mudbath it with Hailee Steinfeld?
• sing to goats with Kevin Bacon?

Pictures are after the jump to help you decide... 

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Showbiz History: Annie Get Your Gun and What We Do in the Shadows

6 random things that happened on this day, February 12th, in showbiz history...

1949 Annie Gets Your Gun starring Ethel Merman closes on Broadway after a nearly three year run. The troubled film adaptation directed by George Sidney (a replacement for Busby Berkeley who was fired) and starring Betty Hutton (a replacement for Judy Garland who was fired) arrives the following year. 

1959 The Black Orchid starring Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn opens in theaters. Sophia Loren had won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival the previous summer...

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