The Oscar Week: Who was the MVP of Phase 1?

In this weekly feature from Murtada we follow Oscar contender appearances and interviews. With Oscar balloting closing today, who did we enjoy on the campaign trail.

This was the last week of campaigning and contenders did not disappoint. Some got a boost from the Golden Globes, while everybody continued to cram in appearances. Amy Adams got her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Natalie Portman made headlines about gender wage disparity, for No Strings Attached of all her films. Many sang “I Will Survive”.

Today ends what is termed as Phase 1 in Oscar campaigning, the nomination portion. This phase started on Labor Day Weekend as films were unspooled at the Venice and Telluride festivals. So who made it through almost 5 months of interviews, appearances and came out on the other side surprising, charming and endearing to those of us who follow these things closely? Here are our favorites...

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Interview: Denis Villeneuve on "Arrival" and his Future with Sci-Fi

by Nathaniel R

Though awards season is a roller coaster of emotion each year, one of its purely happiest annual trends is the sudden recognition of talent that have been doing consistently fine work all along. This year's "it's about time!" contender is surely 49 year old French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve. A famous director at home with six wins at Canada's own Oscars, "the Genies," people are still learning his name in Hollywood and beyond. His international breakthrough was Incendies (2010) about twin siblings journeying to the war torn Middle East. It was nominated for the BAFTA and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language film. Since that breakthrough his profile in Hollywood has steadily risen and he's shown a gift for directing movie stars, versatility with genre, and a particularly refined skill at building and maintaining tension at feature length which has provided thrilling moments in all of his recent films from Prisoners (2013), Enemy (2013), Sicario (2015), and on to his current biggest hit yet  Arrival (2016).

Today he received a DGA nomination for Best Director, the surest awards season sign that a movie will be a Best Picture contender at the Oscars. Our conversation follows...

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Amy & Isabelle... and that perplexing Best Actress race.

Isabelle Huppert shared this lovely glamorous blur of two of our Best Actress Contenders at a Globe party on her Instagram account. Share worthy it is though our favorite part is Huppert's matter of fact no-frills captions which are usually "avec [insert celebrity's name]" brief. 

These two ginger beauties remind us that we've been playing with that Best Actress Chart all day and no combo of five women still feels quite right. Something's got to give. But we don't want to give any of them up! Now more than ever can't we cancel one of the male acting categories and just give them women another 5 slots?

Who do you think is stronger than the buzz suggests? I keep thinking Ruth Negga which is why I still am betting on her (for this update at least. We'll obviously have to revisit each chart for final predictions). And which leading lady is more vulnerable and could be a surprise miss? Sound off!

Fallon's "La La Land"-Spoofing Globes Opener

Chris here. While we were graced with an overall delightful (if fairly sober) Golden Globes ceremony, I think we can all safely say Jimmy Fallon was a dud. Chief offenses included gross imitations of famous black people, flatline jokes, and returning to the ceremony just when we thought we were done with him. But he did try to set himself up for success by opening the show with a La La Land-lampooning opening number that also featured some of the night's other nominees. Let's do a rundown of the good, bad, and ugly:

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Year in Review: Red Carpet 2016

We've been attacking 2016 from multiple angles for a year in review list-frenzy. We never quite finish in time so we'll spill into the new year a bit as we do.

But let's get festive for New Year's Eve with Jose's list of the year's Best Actress at an Event looks...

If ever there was a year where beauty was needed and much welcomed in any form we could get it, it definitely was 2016. Fortunately the world of fashion did not disappoint, and we saw a return to old Hollywood glamour that certainly served as a palate cleanser from the harshness of the modern world. Floral prints, dazzling metallics and princess moments made a splash on the red carpet, while more avant garde couture remained mostly on the runway. 

The 10 best dressers, as always, were able to combine the best of both worlds.  See the full list after the jump...

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