321 Features vie for Oscars, but only 266 for Best Picture

by Cláudio Alves

Though a likely Best Visual Effects nominee, THE CREATOR is ineligible in the Best Picture race.

While we're still recovering from last night's Golden Globes (yay, Lily Gladstone!), the Academy has released its final eligibility lists pertaining to most categories outside the music, shorts, and specialized feature ones. Overall, 321 films will vie for Hollywood's little golden men. However, only 266 can compete for the Best Picture honor, a first in Oscar history. Such productions as Godland, Mami Wata, The Creator, The Marvels, and the new Ant-Man movie are out of the running. This year marks the start of RAISE - Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards – to whom films must submit a confidential form to guarantee Best Picture eligibility…

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Memorable Moments and Oscar Takeways from this year's Golden Globes

by Nathaniel R

Oppenheimer emerges as the big winner at the Globes (Photo by Rich Polk via Getty Images)

If you’re looking for a complete list of winners, that’s at the end of this post! 

Hello readers. Though I have been largely absent from writing, I am still me, therefore love movies and watch awards shows. The hilarious thing about my “notes” from awards shows (and also movies come to think of it) is that I always get so caught up in them that the notes ultimately end long before they should. The better the thing… the sooner the notes trail off! So herewith 8 expanded notes from the Globes, inspired by mostly indecipherable scribbles, and probably weighted towards earlier moments in the show...

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Weekend Awards Wrap-Up: Just Before the Globes

by Cláudio Alves

Da'Vine Joy Randolph won the Big Four critics awards. Nothing can stop her now!

Hours away from the Golden Globes, it's time to consider the past two weeks of winners, runners-up, and the whole shebang. The new year started with a golden tsunami, as Randolph consolidated her favorite status even more than before, and Past Lives staked its claim as one of the season's major contenders. The NSFC was more conventional than expected, while the Astras were their usual self, regional critics groups did their thing, and the Alliance of Women Journalists continued to prove its un-seriousness. Also, a potentially fake critics group is making some noise.

Though the Oscar nominations are just a few weeks away, the season is far from over. If anything, the race is just now heating up…

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Doc Corner: Wiseman and McQueen's duelling 4-hour epics

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

Like any sane and rational person, I devoted eight precious hours of my festive season to watching the two (yes, two) four-hour documentaries that have been offered up by famous directors. Length notwithstanding, the very idea of new films by Frederick Wiseman and Steve McQueen should be hard to pass up most of the time and so we have Menus Plaisirs – Les Troisgros and Occupied City, two very different movies that use their epic lengths to differing effect. Some better than others.

Although Wiseman’s familiarity with such a runtime makes his film the perhaps more naturally more successful, McQueen at least has enough ideas to make his latest work of non-fiction to (somewhat) keep up with the pace set by the chefs of three supreme eateries in France. Although it becomes quite clear that length, in this case, is not equal.

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Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2018

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

Happy New Year, fellow actressexuals! To start 2024, we return to this series with a banger of a year. 

One thing noticeable in this lineup is that the majority of these actresses are in films with clear auteurial vision. Two of them (Aparicio, Colman) worked with established directors that, by this point, have signature sensibilities and visual choices that are now being associated with them. Two of them (Lady Gaga, McCarthy) are in films directed by (relatively) new filmmakers that are beginning to hone their technical and directorial inclinations by this point. One of them (Close) worked with a director that is well-known and recognized in his home country.

Another thing to note: Lady Gaga marked her feature film debut as a lead actor while Aparicio was nominated for her first acting role ever.

Are you ready? The year is 2018...

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