The Astronaut Dramas of the 2010s

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Two-time Oscar winner Goerge Clooney directs and stars in Netflix’s final awards contender to drop to streaming during this calendar year, the science fiction drama The Midnight Sky. Based on a novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, the film follows a lone scientist (Clooney) in the Arctic who must contact a group of astronauts to stop them from returning to earth. This is Clooney’s first film as an actor since 2016’s Money Monster and his first as a director since 2017’s Suburbicon. The film will join a curiously large cinematic trend of 2010s Hollywood: the astronaut drama...

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The 2019 Team Experience Awards

It's that time again: the Team Experience Awards! Before Nathaniel starts dishing out the Film Bitch Awards you've all been waiting for, the rest of us at The Film Experience compile our ballots for our favorites of the year in film. This year, Greta Gerwig's Little Women leads the mentions with 11 nominations - but it's Bong Joon-ho's Parasite that is our ultimate runaway favorite. As usual, our ballot features some major divergences from Oscar and some unheralded favorites. Look out for a majority female Best Director lineup, a different double acting nominee than the one Oscar chose, and a few contemporary surprises in the design categories...

Best Picture

1. Parasite
2. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
3. Marriage Story
4. Little Women
5. Pain and Glory
6. Atlantics
7. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
8. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
9. The Lighthouse
10. Hustlers
    

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Welcome to the one-nomination club

by Cláudio Alves

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the injustice of Oscar snubs, the general lack of diversity and other matters that forever plague the Academy Awards. One must remember, however, that, in the middle of this week's justifiable discontent, there are silver linings to consider. While the 92nd round of Oscar nominations are exhaustively dominated by Best Picture contenders (the most films ever with double digit nomination tallies), a few films managed to squeeze into the mix with just one nomination. In the past, many a great film ended the season with just a sole Oscar nod for its trouble.

Looking back at the last few years, we have such gems as First Reformed, Border, 20th Century Women, The Lobster, Elle, Silence, 45 Years and Gone Girl among many other notable movies. These films' nominations are little morsels of hope that remind us that the Academy isn't completely wrong, not always. So, let's celebrate those films that might not have conquered handfuls of nominations, but are still in the Oscar conversation…

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The Best Production Design Oscar Race

By Cláudio Alves

Will a Tarantino movie finally be nominated for Best Production Design?

Let's take a look at the Best Production Design Oscar race. While period pieces and fantasy extravaganzas dominate the costuming category, production designers are more open to other styles, too, like sci-fi, contemporary excellence, and even superhero movies. That said, at least in regards to the films that have already opened, the major contenders are roughly the same as with the Best Costume Design Oscar race. 

THOSE WE'VE ALREADY SEEN

Rick Heinrichs designed Dumbo's spectacular sets.

Rick Heinrichs won an Oscar for a previous collaboration with Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow) and his designs for Dumbo are quite good, like nightmare visions of an Art Deco Disneyland. I’m less enchanted with Gemma Jackson’s pseudo-Arabian designs, but it would be foolish to count Aladdin out of the race...

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Podcast: Hustlers, Ad Astra, and More...

with Murtada Elfadl & Nathaniel R

 

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 Hustlers - lots and lots of Jennifer Lopez love for you, plus thoughts on Loren Scafaria, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Constance Wu. Yes, we also talk Oscar buzz for JLo, which scenes Murtada wants to rewind again and again, and why Nathaniel was triggered.

25:00 Murtada gawks at Brad Pitty's beauty in Ad Astra while Nathaniel travels to Downton Abbey and marvels at Dame Maggie Smith's Oscar clip.

31:00 Best Supporting Actress chatter including Annette Bening in The Report

35:00 Recommendations from the New York Film Festival and which films are coming to regular theaters shortly after the festival: Pain & Glory and Parasite

40:00 Announcement: Murtada's new podcast "Sundays with Cate!" 

 You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

JLo, Brad, Dame Maggie