You guys. WHAT is happening? Not to sound paranoid but award season is trying to kill me. Day after day things worsen. Am I inside a Black Mirror episode through the use of some technology I wasn't even aware of? Or have I fallen through a rabbit hole to an alternate dimension where all obsessions curdle in on themselves to become one's worst fears? Are you also experiencing this nightmare with me? Please tell me it's not all in my own head.
Is the Oscar race as locked up as we think, or will SAG hold some surprises? Care to conjecture about what will win? I'll confess, perhaps foolishly, that I think we could be in for some surprises. Conventional wisdom will tell you that Close, Bale, Ali, and Adams will be the winners... though conventional wisdom will not solve the case of "who wins Outstanding Cast?" since the arguable Best Picture frontrunner Green Book and two most Oscar-nominated pictures Roma and The Favourite are not nominated in that category. With three heavy-hitters out, and Black Panther, Crazy Rich Asians, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Star is Born, and BlacKkKlansman as the nominees, that prize is something of a mystery...
Hopefully you're not sick of talking Oscar nods, yet, since here's the last bit of the post-nomination blitz coverage... though obviously Oscar discussions will continue through Oscar night but we can diversify our attention after this one.
Index (63 minutes) 00:01 Marina de Tavira for Roma (!) and women's stories at the Oscars 05:00 Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman & Coen brothers Buster Scruggs 12:00 Netflix and working hard for your nominations; it pays off 17:00 The joy of reaction videos: Richard E Grant and more 20:30 Best Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel for Never Look Away 23:30 Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale, or Rami Malek? 29:45 No more Potterverse nominations but that Elizabeth vs Mary franchise never goes away. And the same people are rewarded for it again! 32:35 Nominations we don't quite understand but aren't opposed to. 40:00 A24 Oscar fate: First Reformed and Eighth Grade 43:15 Discussions of these career moments and potential futures for the 20 acting nominees. 57:00 Saying nice things about Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody 60:00 Random happy thoughts to wrap-up
What do these two talk about when they're not talking about T'Challa?We still have so much Oscar work ahead of us but this is a notice that the Best Picture Chart is now updated. You can vote (DAILY!) on which Best Picture you think should win the race and also check out various rankings of the movies by thing liks global success, running time, degree of horniness, how violent they are or aren't, and so on.
We can also discuss whether or not the movies pass the Bechdel Test. If you've been living under a rock all that test is (which should be easy to pass) is that a movie has to 1) have two female named characters who 2) talk to each other about something other than a man. That's it! Should be easy to pass but many many many films fail. Sadly only two of the Best Picture nominees are easy passes (The Favourite and Roma). But perhaps two more do as well. In Black Panther do the women discuss anything together besides T'Challa together? I think they do discuss the glories of Wakanda and possibly strategies for battle but I haven't seen the movie since February so perhaps I'm equating their fierceness with robust conversations? And in Vice do the Cheney women talk to each other about anything other than Dick? Perhaps they do discuss Mary's sexuality and Liz's political campaign? Or is that only a mom & dad conversation? My memory is a bit fuzzy on these details but perhaps yours isn't?
Anyway, enjoy the chart and the various lists. We love to list and we're just trying to keep ourselves, and you, entertained. Check it out and return to discuss.
We're almost to the nominations, can you believe it? So we're furiously trying to wrap up our predictions. Let's do Costume Design and the rest of the eye candy categories.
COSTUME DESIGN My favourite tech category should give three-time winner Sandy Powell a historic THIRD double-nomination in a single category with both Mary Poppins Returns and The Favourite feeling secure for nominations. It also feels like there's little chance that Black Panther could miss, and we expect voters will want to take this opportunity to finally hand Ruth E Carter her Oscar (this will be her third Oscar nomination, tying her with Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer for most Oscar nominations for a black woman). Those are the locks...
Sunday, February 3, 2019 at 11:53PM 
by Nathaniel R
