Oscar Volleys: How Many Pop Hits in Best Original Song?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eurocheese and Baby Clyde...  

"Ciao Papa" in GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

EUROCHEESE: Well Baby, It's Cold Outside and you know what that means - we're Falling Slowly into awards season, and it's time to name the songs seeking Glory in the City of Stars. There are a few big hits that Take My Breath Away: Rihanna's "Lift Me Up," which seems to be everywhere at the moment; Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" in the year's biggest hit that just won't slow down; and the standout song from Del Toro's Pinocchio, "Ciao Papa," which I expect will make the cut. Do you agree these three are solid initial nominees, or do you have High Hopes that rest elsewhere? Any Secret Love that you see near the top of your list?

BABY CLYDE: Hey Mr Cheese, I Just Called To Say I Love You. The Academy must be salivating at the prospect of this year’s nominees. Am I correct in thinking that Rihanna, Gaga, Taylor and Billie Eilish are all legit contenders in this category...

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Mixed results for pop stars in the nominations

by Elisa Giudici

The most surprising snub of this round of Oscar Nominations was Lady Gaga missing her earned spot in the Leading Actress category. I am not speaking of quality, but about campaign effort. She did and said literally anything 'an Italian girl living in NY' can to fit the profile of an Oscar-nominated actress, at least 1990s style. I have to confess I am going to miss her ability to offer up a new small, crazy detail or anecdote each interview about how immersive and challenging it was to play Patrizia Reggiani in House of Gucci.

She is in good company. With their glamorous attitude and dazzling personas pop stars tend to catch the attention of Hollywood, but this year the results with Academy voters were not all welcoming...

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Oldest & Youngest Oscar nominees this year

46 days until the Oscars! You can now vote (daily) on every category on the Oscar charts as to who should win, so do it. Let your voice be heard. 

Judi Dench and Billie Eilish are the oldest and youngest nominees this year

We enjoy numbers and useless stats here at TFE so here is a little something on extremes to start your day, this year's oldest and youngest nominees (none of whom broke any Oscar-related age records that we know of, though). IMPORTANT CAVEAT ABOUT THIS LIST: Birthdates aren't available on many crafts people, producers, documentarians, and info is especially scarce when it comes to the shorts categories... 

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Oscar Volley: So many stars, too little shine in the Best Original Song race

Welcome to our Oscar Volley series at The Film Experience. Each day, members of Team Experience will have a conversation about the Oscar categories. Today, Baby Clyde and Josh Bierman tackle the always controversial Best Original Song.

Ariana Grande, Van Morrison, Billie Eilish, Beyoncé

Baby Clyde: Has there ever been such a starry array of contenders with so little to offer? You’d think at least one from a list including Beyonce, U2, Carol King, Van Morrison, Jay Z, Billie Eilish and Brian Wilson would know how to write a good pop song. They’ve previously written some of the greatest of all time! Unfortunately there is an unwritten rule that even the finest tunesmiths turn in absolute garbage when an Academy Award is up for grabs. It’s got to the point where I actually feel bad for Diane Warren...

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Doc Corner: Fun facts about the Best Documentary finalists

By Glenn Dunks

Elizabeth Chai Vasarheyi & Jimmy Chin won just 4 years ago with "Free Solo". They're back again with "The Rescue"

Cutting a list down from 138 to 15 is always going to be a daunting and even cruel task, but the shortlist is here for Best Documentary Feature so it is the end of the line for 123 of this year’s non-fiction works. I have been churning through a very long list of titles before even contemplating doing my Top 25 Documentaries list, but I can say that my personal list is looking very different.

AMPAS has selected the following titles to battle it out for a nomination and then the Oscar statue...

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