Friday Awards Wrap-Up: Toronto, Dublin, and so much more

by Cláudio Alves

At long last, Danielle Brooks has won something for her performance in THE COLOR PURPLE.As the holiday break looms large on the horizon, a veritable tsunami of critics groups decided to announce their winners. It was a busy week, extending past the US regional prizes, and some consensus is forming. Killers of the Flower Moon has won almost a quarter of Best Picture honors, while Christopher Nolan is favored in Best Director. For the actors, Gladstone, Murphy, Randolph, and Downey Jr. are the critics' preferred quartet. However, one should note that, at long last, the Holdovers' hold on Best Supporting Actress has been broken. Both Danielle Brooks and Rachel McAdams managed some victories. Finally, some variety…

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The Oscar Shortlists are Here!

by Cláudio Alves

Like Scorsese's film, SOCIETY OF THE SNOW got into four different shortlists.

AMPAS has announced shortlists for ten categories, from International Feature to Makeup and Hairstyling. One can deduce plenty from the results, seeing what films overperform and which titles don't meet expectations. Well, at least that's true for the more general races. In something like International Feature, one can surmise other things, like the Academy's European bias, or how some titles are popular enough to make it there and Best Documentary. All in all, this should shake up predictions beyond these ten prizes, so there's much to analyze. After the jump, discover the complete lists and some additional commentary…

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Doc Corner: 'American Symphony' is a biography misfire

By Glenn Charlie Dunks

Director Matthew Heineman has made a name for himself covering warzones in narrative film (A Private War) and most prominently in documentary (City of Ghosts, Cartel Land). I don’t blame him for stepping back just this once and making a movie about a charming musician and his rise to zeitgeist prominence. The film is American Symphony about Jon Batiste, a soft lob of a tribute that somewhat perversely is the film that could very well win him an Academy Award. Even documentarians can follow the same tried-and-tested path. I just wish I liked it more.

Batiste is 37 years old. American Symphony doesn’t say this stat outright as far as I recall, but it goes to great pains to make the audience very well aware that he is some sort of wunderkind. A Juilliard graduate who landed a big break as bandleader on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and then shocked people by winning four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year as well as an Oscar for the original score to Pixar animation Soul.

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Oscar Volley: Who's Really Safe in Best Actress?

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eurocheese and Nick Taylor to talk Best Actress . . . .

Lily Gladstone is coming on strong for KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON . . . .

EUROCHEESE: Hi Nick! So excited to discuss the award we all care about most here at The Film Experience - Best Actress. This year has given us a deep bench of competitors, making this feel like a category where we could see a curve ball or two.

Maybe it's best to get the obvious out of the way first - Lily Gladstone's subtle, moving work in Killers of the Flower Moon steals the film from her veteran costars, and Emma Stone's risky, inventive performance is the heart of Poor Things. I don't see the Actress field without them, and I expect one of them will most likely run away with the Oscar. Which one of them takes it? I don't think that's clear yet. I don't put any stock in LA Critics' Supporting mention for Gladstone though - these are our sure things.

NICK: Hi Euro! I’m so excited to discuss this category with you again. I remember we did the pre-nomination volley for last year’s Best Actress contenders. There were so many fun performances to talk about, and in the end I got maybe 3/5 of my predicted lineup right. This year looks similarly crowded, though who knows if another To Leslie is lying in wait . . . .

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Best International Film: Shortlist Wishes and Predictions

by Cláudio Alves

Portugal's BAD LIVING is an actressexual feast, but it's unlikely to get shortlisted.

The Academy will announce its shortlists for various categories tomorrow, including Best International Film. For the past few months, I've been writing about a lot of these movies and have, so far, watched 44 of the 88 submissions. So, it seems logical that I'd have something to say before the race gets whittled down to 15 titles vying for five nomination slots and, inevitably, one little gold man. While predictions are important, I'll start by expressing more movie love, naming what films would make my shortlist. Undoubtedly, it'll be very different from the Academy's selection. If that's for better or worse, you decide…

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