Saturday, February 8, 2020 at 10:23PM by Nathaniel R
And the winners are...
BEST FEATURE The Farewell
Though Lulu Wang's lovely family drama didn't receive any Oscar nominations, it proved the most beloved film at the Independent Spirits...
Monday, January 6, 2020 at 8:27PM This week is huge for precursor nominations (Visual Effects Society, DGA, PGA, and BAFTA all hit tomorrow) but today was the Writers Guild of America's turn.
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
A strongish lineup even if we wouldn't single out 1917's strength as its writing. Curiously, both The Two Popes and Hustlers were eligible for Original with the WGA (and missed) but they're both competing in Adapted for Oscar voters where they actually belong since they're based on a play and a magazine article respectively. Did the confusion cost them votes? This WGA lineup is bad news for critical darlings like Honey Boy, Uncut Gems, and Dolemite is My Name, any of which might have made headway in a weaker year for Originals. But the three strongest alternate threats for an Oscar nomination weren't eligible...
Saturday, December 28, 2019 at 10:21AM by Nathaniel R
Remember all those years ago when the Mystic River (2003) team was trying to fight Lord of the Rings for the Oscar and trying a variation of “actors are the best special effects” as its campaign angle? That’s always been true even though those Hobbits deserved the win (if you think those movies would have been half as good without Elijah Wood’s purity and awe or Viggo’s resigned gravitas or Sir Ian’s commanding wit think again). In 2019 Avengers Endgame wouldn’t have obsessed the world so much if the core group of actors hadn’t spent the last decade building-up the love and squabbles of this superpowered chosen family. Similarly Captain Marvel benefitted early in the year from a fun chemistry between Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson, the actress bringing out a new, or at least revived, energy in Jackson’s umpteenth return to Nick Fury. Sometimes animosity is its own kind of chemistry, setting off dangerous sparks. Don’t you wish there were more scenes of Al Pacino and Stephen Graham as mouthy rivals in The Irishman, ice cream sundaes and all?
Chemistry is the magic and impossible-to-fake ingredient that elevates any human interaction to its most evolved form, including the fictional ones. Our “best onscreen chemistry” list begins with fascinatingly lop-sided relationships...
FAVOURITE EXAMPLES OF CO-STAR CHEMISTRY THIS YEAR
Monday, October 28, 2019 at 9:01AM by Nathaniel R
Once you start seeing who shows up at ceremonies that they don't even technically have to be at, you know who is serious about their own awards prospects. Or maybe who just wants to be there to support their film in the event that constant reminders help a film get nominated (that's a yes, they do). At the Honorary Oscar ceremony last night in Los Angeles the stars were out in force and it's easy to see the films that are already serious about pushing their awards prospects hard: the cast and/or directors of Booksmart, Hustlers, Little Women, Waves, Atlantics, Pain and Glory, Bombshell, Marriage Story, 1917, Harriet were out in force.
Let's look at the lovely gowns and tuxes shall we?
Wednesday, July 3, 2019 at 12:22PM by Nathaniel R
Let's wrap up the midyear review now with a general overview and behind the scenes beauty. Please don't consider this list 'official' awards since the back half of the year is usually more impressive than the first half due to annoying Oscar-focused distribution patterns. The point, nevertheless, is an important one: we should always be appreciating art and keeping lists so we don't forget delights that opened in non-awards season months like most awards voters do.
TEN BEST MOVIES
