Oscar Volley: "Naatu Naatu" vs Pop Divas for Best Original Song

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category in the lead up to the ceremony. Here's Baby Clyde and Chris James to talk Costume Design.

CHRIS: A round of APPLAUSE for my volley co-host, Baby Clyde. Now, let's Tell It Like A Pundit - what is going on with the Original Song race? On the surface, it seems like "Naatu Naatu" has this category in the bag after winning this prize at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards. RRR's grand dance number is one of the most memorable scenes of the year and would make for a worthy winner. However, one can't forget that it is against some heavy hitters, such as Rihanna and Lady Gaga, both for films that made over a billion dollars at the box office. Are we underestimating them?

And do you have any favourites that weren't nominated?...

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Year in Review: Best Music and Soundscapes

by Nathaniel R

Are all cinephiles "visual" people or are some more sonically attuned? I ask this because in order to draw up my own lists of "bests" in the aural categories, I have to really focus to note the soundscapes. In some cases, as with the sinuous alien creepiness of Nope and the haunted bold swings of TAR, the genius is hard to miss even for those of us who are more visually oriented. If any of you have theories as to how Oscar's sound branch didn't include either in even their finalist lists, I'm all ears... no pun intended.

For the most part it's the images I remember which may explain why I am so allergic to end credit songs over a dark screen being hailed the "Best" of any given season in Original Song. Marry the images and sound and it's far more memorable and valuable to the overall film experience...

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Nom Reactions Pt 2: Lovely Craft, Headscratching Honors, Default Diane, and Sexiest Shortlist

We polled the team plus some friends of the site about their Oscar nomination reactions and wanted to share those little blurbs with you! (Here's the first four of eight questions if you missed those). Today's questions are...

1. What was your favourite non-acting nomination?
2. Which nomination was the biggest headscratcher?
3. Can anything be done about Diane Warren?
4. The sexiest category is ______

Our answers are after the jump and yours go in the comments...

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A hard push for "80 For Brady". Will you see it?

by Nathaniel R

Photo by Phillip Faraone / Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Though the talk this time of year is mostly around Oscar, the new comedy 80 For Brady claimed some space of its own this week in the media as it gears up to open in theaters. The movie "inspired by the true story offour best friends living life to the fullest when they take a wild trip to the 2017 Super Bowl LI to see their hero Tom Brady play"  premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It's gorgeous quartet of superstars (pictured above) were there "FONDA! MORENO! TOMLIN! FIELD!" Between them they have 12 Emmys, 8 Golden Globes, 5 Oscars, 2 Grammys, 2 Tonys, and numerous other awards, nominations, special honors, and lifetime achievement prizes.  But that's not all in 80 for Brady news...

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Awards Season Catchup: ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’

By Abe Friedtanzer

Being an Oscar completist means tracking down every title that may or may not get nominated, including the contenders for Best Original Song. In addition to nominations from the Critics Choice Association and the Golden Globes, Taylor Swift’s “Carolina” is officially on the Oscar shortlist. It’s the end credits song in Where the Crawdads Sing, based on the 2018 novel by Della Owens, a period trial drama with plenty of flashbacks and North Carolina drawls…

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