Who'll be this years' surprise snub?

by Cláudio Alves

Nathaniel's final predictions will be up tomorrow morning but until then, let's talk potential snubs. Oscar nomination morning usually holds a few surprises. Sometimes, everything goes according to plan and the performers singled out by the precursors appear in their entirety but that's a rare event. We're thankful for that since the opposite would be dreadfully boring. Usually, there's one big snub like Timothée Chalamet for Beautiful Boy, Amy Adams for Arrival, Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, Jennifer Anniston for Cake or Tom Hanks for Captain Phillips. At the last minute, they all failed to secure an expected nod.

Of this year's crop of contenders, 12 have conquered nods from the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, SAGs, and Critics Choice Awards. Many pundits say DiCaprio is the most vulnerable and we should never be sure about Hanks given his recent Oscar history. Still, the rest of them seem solid if not altogether locked. Unless, of course, Margot Robbie manages to upset everyone and get in for the Tarantino flick instead of Bombshell. You can never know for sure, that's the eternal truth about prognosticating. 

All that said, here are those 12 contenders...

Click to read more ...

Chart Updates - All Acting Categories

Is it us or are the four of the acting races murkier than they usually would be during the week of Oscar voting? We chalk this up to a bit less precursor uniformity between Critics Choice, Globes, SAG nods, and the regional critical consensus. On the other hand that regional critical consensus has been very pronounced with a clear lineup of winners that go like so: Parasite/Bong Joon Ho / Nyongo / Driver / Dern / Pitt. But what we're dealing with right now is the nomination game which is far more complex than "who wins".

BEST ACTRESS - Six women are still very much in the mix and it's quite difficult to guess who will be left out. Passion suggests that Cynthia Erivo or Charlize Theron would be in danger of the "snub" but on the other hand you're not often the snubbee if you're the one doing the biographical role... especially if there's mimicry. For now we've opted to have Saoirse Ronan be the odd woman out but that doesn't feel right either given the very current groundswell of love for that picture. At any rate we think it's between the six listed on the chart with Alfre Woodard (Clemency) and Awkwafina (The Farewell) staring to look like impossible dreams in this final decision week...

Click to read more ...

Julia Fox in 'Uncut Gems'

by Murtada Elfadl

A star is born about an hour into Uncut Gems. The lead character, an obnoxious can’t-quit gambler (Adam Sandler) catches his mistress (Julia Fox) in the bathroom of 1 Oak Club in New York with The Weeknd. (Yes the Canadian popstar has a small role as himself.) What follows is a dragged-out funny intense loud lovers fight that starts in the club and spills into West 17th Street as Sandler and Fox scream barbs at each other and continue to fight to the bemusement of onlookers. She begs him to understand “Nothing happened, we were just doing coke.” He throws the ultimate final insult to end the fight “Go fuck The Weeknd.” Or so he thinks. That’s when Fox throws her whole body against the hood of the cab he’s trying to escape in, determined to continue the fight. That’s when we knew it; here’s an actress who will have a long career...

Click to read more ...

The precursors don't always matter

by Cláudio Alves

In these merry times of winter holidays and gift-giving, there's no better present than the gift of hope. For Oscar obsessives, this can come in many forms. One of them can be the reminder that the precursors aren't everything when it comes to the race for Hollywood's most coveted little golden man.

Even if your favorite performance of the year hasn't been getting any sort of awards love, that doesn't mean its Oscar chances are dead and buried. Remember the case of Marcia Gay Harden, a surprise nominee that became a surprise victor when she conquered the Academy Award for Pollock. What a thrill.

She's the patron saint of Oscar surprises. In honor of her, here's a list of those lucky actors who scored an Oscar nomination despite having no nod whatsoever from the Globes, the SAGs, the Critics Choice Awards, or the BAFTAs...

Click to read more ...

FYC: Jo Yeo-jeong

by Kyndall Cunningham

With every nerve-racking awards season, I find myself putting all my emotional stock into the Best Supporting Actress category. There are three main reasons for this: 1) actresses 2) ostensibly, it’s where all the scene-stealers are, and 3) it’s the only category I can count on a woman of color to win. Admittedly, post-Richard Jewell, I’m not nearly as excited about this category as I was, say, a month ago. But I still have faith that this will be the most interesting acting category this season with various wild cards and dark horses popping in and out until the Oscars nominations are announced in January. 

Media outlets have deemed The Farewell’s Zhao Shuzhen the favored dark horse this year, which is great! But I still believe that this category has room for another non-American actress despite the Oscars tendency to stay "local," as Bong Joon-ho would put it.

Jo Yeo-jeong. 

Click to read more ...