Another Round of Links

• Scandinavia and the World makes a little joke about Denmark's Oscar winner Another Round
• Welp Magazine lists the 20 best Film podcasts of 2021. So sweet (and a surprise) that they included us.
• Variety Timothée Chalamet to play the young Willy Wonka in yet another origin movie/prequel to a popular film. (Sigh. we're so tired of fan-fiction as mainstream fiction. Mystery and using your own imagination is what makes so many classic characters great!)

More after the jump including new projects for Debra Messing, Lindsay Lohan, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sara Ramirez, and a win for Michelle Pfeiffer...

Click to read more ...

Directors should get the Best International Film Oscar

by Cláudio Alves

While many aspects of the Oscar ceremony annoyed, quite a lot of elements worked to significant effect. Chief among them, the fact winners were allowed to deliver their speeches with no apparent time limit. I don't know about you, but I love long acceptance speeches, especially those that take me on a journey. On the comedic side, we have Daniel Kaluuya, who topped his inspiring sentiment with euphoric comments about his parents having sex. The miracle of life indeed. In contrast, Thomas Vinterberg delivered a gut punch when he spoke about his daughter's tragic death upon accepting the Best International Film statuette for Another Round. It was a great, heartbreaking moment, illuminating the pain that can exist behind fantastic art. 

Considering all that, it's a pity that the Oscar itself doesn't belong to Vinterberg, nor will it be credited as his victory. As it happens, this is the only category where the winner isn't a person…

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Mads Mikkelsen in "Another Round"

by Cláudio Alves

AMPAS isn't particularly open to the celebration of non-English-speaking performances. Still, once in a while, one or two manage to score big with the Academy, even win gold. That might very well happen this year with Youn Yuh-Jung's Best Supporting Actress bid for Minari. However, that doesn't mean that 2020 didn't have lots of other great non-Anglophone turns ignored by Oscar. For instance, in the Best Actor race, Mads Mikkelsen might have come close to his first nomination for Thomas Vinterberg's Best Director and Best International Feature nominee, Another Round…

Click to read more ...

93rd Academy Awards: A contrarian take on the Best Director field

Editor's note. The Supporting Actress Smackdown is running late and will arrive tomorrow. Apologies! Meanwhile we continue our rundown of Oscar categories with Best Director.

by Elisa Giudici

Five directors. One European filmmaker. one Asian-American director. One woman of color. Another woman nominated for her directorial debut. One old sport named David Fincher. This year's director ballot does not lack variety! Ten days from the Oscar night and this competition is nearly over. All of these movies are clearly personal achievements, but will any prove a cornerstone in the career of its director? Every nominated director is at a different stage of their life and career, each movie a fascinating chrysalis. Every nomination here is like a gentle pat on the shoulder, a "this movie was really good, we are really curious to see what you will do next time!" kind of nomination.

From least likely to win to the one who will probably take the Oscar home, let's investigate a little...

Click to read more ...

BAFTA predictions? Why not!

by Nathaniel R

Rather famously the BAFTAs did a gigantic overhaul of their nomination process to insure gender parity and diversity in their nominations. Many of the individual category nominations were decided by tiny juries. But for the winners the whole voting body will vote. Given that the nominations themselves were impossible to foresee perhaps the winners will be too? So lets just try our hand at divining what might come to pass.

FILM

• The Father
• The Mauritanian
• Nomadland
• Promising Young Woman
• The Trial of the Chicago 7

WILL WIN: This is actually a tough call. BAFTA has disagreed with Oscar more than we commonly think for the top category...

Click to read more ...