Friday, October 9, 2020 at 2:52PM by Nathaniel R
Sophia Loren with her son, director Edoardo Ponti
We try to save the best for last. We know where our bread is buttered. Or, rather, what kind of bread we like in the first place, and which buttery spread is the perfect topper. Which brings us to BEST ACTRESS...
Thursday, October 8, 2020 at 8:00AM by Nathaniel R
Curiously all the action, or "buzz", to date is in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor races. The other two acting competitions are seriously wanting... at least from this vantage point. We haven't seen a Best Actor race this empty of potential players since circa 2003. Sir Anthony Hopkins (The Father) may well be destined to become the oldest actor ever to win in the male leading category (he's 82, and the current record holder Henry Fonda was 76). Gary Oldman's upcoming take on Mank and Delroy Lindo's much acclaimed turn in Da 5 Bloods are probably can't-miss nominees given the lack of competition unless something goes very wrong for them. But the 4th and 5th slots just might be a free-for-all.
Much of that is due of course to the sparse field of films planning on opening before the eligibility deadline in February of 2021. Given this (currently) wide open race we might see someone from an ensemble picture like Trial of the Chicago 7 or One Night in Miami campaigning as lead. Who do you think might surprise us with a robust campaign and/or wild acclaim? Check out the new Best Actor chart.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020 at 11:00AM by Nathaniel R
With most of this year's buzziest titles featuring large casts filled with men, and with the general shortage of movies, Supporting Actress is looking much less competitive than usual. At least so far. This is why we're feeling so confident that the one to watch is 12 year old Helena Zengel of the western drama News of the World. It's a large role -- she plays the kidnapped girl that Tom Hanks is out to rescue -- and just last year with Germany's Oscar submission System Crasher, she made international waves receiving a nomination for Best Actress at the European Film Awards. Of course the film might not open. Nothing is certain this season...
Monday, October 5, 2020 at 6:48PM by Nathaniel R
we're in mourning that we won't get to see DUNE this year...
You've probably heard that Dune is no longer a 2020 picture and will now arrive in the final quarter of 2021. This necessitated yet another revision just as we'd finished nearly all of the Oscar charts -- our work is never done! The biggest impact is in the visual categories. These should be interesting to follow this year in the absence of the kind of big budget spectacle films that often dominated visual categories. Does this mean voters will get more creative and search out further afield Production Design possibilities like, say, Shirley, or First Cow or I'm Thinking of Ending Things or more lax and just nominate their favourite Best Picture candidates in every visual category even if those pictures are mostly contained in one location (hi One Night in Miami, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) or out on the open road in a beaten down van (hi Nomadland)...
Sunday, October 4, 2020 at 3:02PM 
Just as we'd given up on Minari being released for this year's awards season, a trailer shows up (albeit without a release date attached) and just as we'd decided that No Time to Die was going to be a hit in the craft categories -- especially given the dearth of big studio event films -- it gets delayed until Easter 2021. But we soldier on, happily, with the Oscar charts.
It's looking like a great year for black cinema (multiple films in play), a great year for Netflix (which didn't have the movie theaters closing problem), a good year for Nomadland, but otherwise things are still very uncertain.
The following charts are all updated...
What'cha think? Know of any original song contenders? (It's always so difficult to track them)...
