How Do Stage-To-Screen Adaptations Fare At The Oscars?

Will Viola Davis be able to win Best Actress at the Oscars?The first step to Oscar success is appearing like a frontrunner. This is why adaptations always are at the top of people’s year in advance predictions. Yet, sustaining that early buzz (often sight unseen) can be a dicey proposition.

Both Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night in Miami are play adaptations that are towards the top of many Oscar predictions right now. Now that both are available on streaming (Netflix and Prime Video, respectively), audiences are finally seeing and enjoying both films. While critics have been giving out their awards recently, the major precursors for the Oscars (guilds, Golden Globes, Critics Choice) still have not been announced. Can we look to the awards run of their source material as a signal for how they will perform at the Oscars?

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More critics prizes: St Louis, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Denver, and Houston

Here's five more groups of prizes from critics groups that have announced in the past handful of days. Chloe Zhao continues her total sweep of Best Director prizes for Nomadland, an achievement we haven't seen in quite some time. Generally there's one award where someone steamrolls but it's usually in one of the acting categories. Promising Young Woman, Trial of the Chicago 7, Soul, First Cow, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom also do well in this week's regional critics haul...

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Almost There: Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Departed"

by Cláudio Alves

Many actors have long-lasting creative partnerships with their directors, bringing out the best in both artists. Unfortunately, when it comes to Oscar, not everyone gets recognized for these joint efforts. Many thespians don't get that golden recognition for their best work either, adding a tinge of bitterness to their triumph. Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese's 21st-century muse, did get nominated for two of the director's pictures, 2004's The Aviator and 2013's The Wolf of Wall Street. However, I'd argue that the actor's best performance in a Scorsese flick got snubbed. In 2006, despite a lot of precursor attention, The Departed failed to secure an Oscar nod for its ill-fated protagonist…

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Showbiz History: Multiple cult classics and volatile awards seasons

5 random things that happened on this day, January 19th, in showbiz history

1962 Tender is the Night opens in movie theaters. The film stars Jennifer Jones. 

1964 Joan Crawford stars in Strait-Jacket, new in theaters which is now a total cult classic. Here's one of my favourite posts I ever wrote. 

1990 Another cult classic, Tremors, debuts on this day...

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Critics Choice TV Nominees Are Here

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

Right in the middle of seemingly thousands of critics’ prizes for film work, today we got the TV nominations for the Critics Choice Association, nearly three weeks ahead of their corresponding film lists. It’s the first major mid-year opportunity to see what television may still be in the conversation from the Emmys and what new series have been strongly received. There’s plenty to say about this list that isn’t entirely consistent, nominating certain performers from some shows while questionably ignoring their costars. It’s also worth noting that not a single one of the comedy or drama winners from last year were eligible this time around, though that’s just as much about series that ended (Fleabag, Watchmen) as shows that have yet to premiere their latest seasons (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Succession).

For the second year in a row, Schitt’s Creek is nominated in all five eligible categories, and it’s joined this time around by three drama series in pulling off that same feat – nominations leaders The Crown and Ozark (each with six total bids due to a second cited performer in one of the categories) and new series Lovecraft Country. The best residual breakthrough from the Emmys appears to be What We Do in the Shadows, which scored four acting bids, for all except my favorite series regular, Kayvan Novak. I’m particularly pleased that a slew of actors who missed out on Emmy nods, like Josh O’Connor, Tobias Menzies, Bob Odenkirk, Tom Pelphrey, Janet McTeer, Nicholas Hoult, and most importantly, Daisy Edgar-Jones, did manage to score here. Read on for the full list of nominees, with some more commentary by category...

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