Women and Best Original Score

by Travis Cragg

Hildur Guðnadóttir already has an Emmy and a Globe. Is an Oscar next?Watching Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir walking up to receive her Golden Globe for Joker was one of the more interesting moments of last weekend's ceremony. My streaming service in Australia suddenly decided to log me out just as the presenter came on stage, so I was cursing the world and rebooting!  Once the anxiety was over, and Hildur was walking up to accept her trophy,  it was time to reflect on a woman winning the equivalent Oscar. The Globe win for Score doesn't always transfer to an Oscar win (sometimes the winner isn't even nominated -- as with All is Lost and First Man in recent years) but could Guðnadóttir repeat?

Has a woman ever won the Oscar for Best Original Score before? Turns out it has happened, but only with double-category caveats…

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Red Carpet Lineup: One Last Look at the Golden Globe Gowns

Though we gawked at beautiful men, giggled at Viking hats, and pursed our Devil-in-Prada lips at flowery dresses the big fashion blowout post is only happening now. Procrastination is sometimes healthy because we need escapism constantly of late given the increasing despair in the world. Oscar nomination balloting is now complete but until the world is no more award seasons will continue to roar.  Which lewks were your favourites? We'll divvy it up into categories starting with blue and red families...

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Almost There: Kate Winslet in "Revolutionary Road"

Here's Cláudio Alves with a new series on performances that got lots of precursor love but no Oscar nomination. Previously we discussed Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks...

January 11th, 2009 was Kate Winslet's night. After years of scoring endless nominations and very few victories, her effortful Oscar campaign was finally kicking into high gear. She had not one, but two triumphant victories on the Golden Globes' stage. In Best Supporting Actress, she won for her (leading) role inThe Reader and secured her frontrunner status. In Best Actress - Drama, she won for Revolutionary Road. After such a merry evening, many were expecting a double citation come Oscar morning. One thing was for sure – one way or the other, Kate Winslet would end the Awards Season with a little golden man in her hands.

Still, the campaign manipulations that worked hard to secure her two nominations failed at the last minute, when the Academy showed rare lucidity against the folly of category fraud...

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An Awards Night in New York

by Murtada Elfadl

Award events where the winners have already been announced have a particular way about them. The speeches are mostly prepared before, and the winners  - or their publicists and the people behind their movies - have a say in who gets to present them with the award. Last night the New York Film Critics Circle presented their 2019 awards and here are some of the presenter / winner pairings and why perhaps they’ve been chosen.

Yahya Abdul Mateen / Lupita Nyong’o…. He played her dad in flashbacks in Us

Claire Denis / Mati Diop …. Diop was in Denis’ 35 Shots of Rum...

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Soundtracking: Waiting for Guffman

by Chris Feil

Music is essential to the Christopher Guest universe, from This is Spinal Tap to the Oscar-nommed A Mighty Wind to “God Loves a Terrier”. Waiting for Guffman, however, carries such a hefty cult comedy weight with it that it hardly ever gets discussed for the musical oddity that it is. On top of the film’s improvisational comedic genius, Guest also creates it as a subversion of the classic American “let’s put on a show” midwestern musical and of the consuming culture that is musical theatre obsession. Both are presented as lies of the American dream, both to comedic extremes and tragic disappointment, as the film charts the exploits of clueless dreamers in the small town of Blaine.

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