Film Bitch Awards: Yellow Coats, Breathy Vocals, and Facial Reconstruction, Oh My!

by Nathaniel R

In an alternate reality somewhere I am a punctual cinephile, delivering his own personal awards with metronomic precision, one category per day for a month before the Oscar nominations or at least between the nominations and the big night. But we are in this reality and there are never enough hours in the day and always last minute screenings to shove in to try to see everything that people are talking about. While you'll have to wait to see my personal acting ballots until after the Oscar aftermath fades (as I'm still writing up star turns and need to have a clear head) but the rest of the 'traditional' i.e. Oscar parallel categories of my own awards are now up for your viewing / thinking / comparing-to-your-own-faves pleasure. I know it's Oscar day but I thought I'd throw this up if you're tired of talking predictions but are still hopped up with movie fever...

Click to read more ...

Berlinale 75: "Blue Moon" isn't your traditional biopic

by Elisa Giudici

Watching Blue Moon, I couldn’t help but think of Inside Llewyn Davis, one of the Coen brothers’ most accomplished yet underappreciated films. That movie introduced Oscar Isaac in what remains his most astonishing performance, portraying a talented but ill-fated musician who arrived just a bit too soon to achieve success. A similar fate awaited Blue Moon’s protagonist, though his story unfolds decades earlier, in 1943 New York, amid the turmoil of World War II...

Click to read more ...

The Oscar Shortlists for the 97th Academy Awards

by Nathaniel R

EMILIA PÉREZ © Shanna Besson

Today the Academy released the shortlists for the 10 categories that use this system, wherein a large number of eligible movies or narrowed down to a more manageable size for the voters in those categories. You can be sure we will be updating the Oscar charts as a result (and you'll find we already have for the other categories!) The lists are usually revealing, fun, disappointing, surprising, and energizing in roughly equal measure. This year though they skipped the "surprising" factor altogether, unless you count the variety in Best Original Score. Emilia Perez led the pack with six citations, but that wasn't surprising since the Spanish language trans cartel drama musical was eligible in most of the categories whereas most of its best picture competitors were not.  

Okay let's look at what they selected in each of those categories...

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Best Original Score

For today's Oscar volley, Eurocheese and Nathaniel discuss Best Original Score. 

Editor's Note: This conversation began before the finalist list for Original Score was announced on December 21st but we thought we'd share as is, given what was said!

EUROCHEESE: Nathaniel, I'm excited to discuss this with you! I left theaters several times this year thinking, I need to look that music up when I get home. It's always fun to connect which previous films come from the same composers as well. I expect we'll see both familiar and new faces in the line up this year.

Oppenheimer's epic soundscape comes from Ludwig Göransson, recent Oscar winner for his work on Black Panther (and a nominee for its sequel), He will no doubt score his third nomination for the orchestral nuance he brings, especially standing out in the film's quieter scenes. If I had my say, though, this award would go to Robbie Robertson's ode to the Osage Nation in Killers of the Flower Moon. If I could only award the film a single Oscar, it would be in this category. Robertson has never been nominated, despite his long standing collaboration with Scorsese (including films like Gangs of New York, Shutter Island and Silence). Since he passed away earlier this year, this will be the Academy's last chance to honor him...

Click to read more ...

Interview: Composer Michael Abels on "Nope" and "Chevalier"

by Nathaniel R

MIchael Abels photographed for the LA OperaOne of the most exciting film composers to gain prominence in the past decade is Michael Abels. He's received multiple nominations for his work and prizes, too like the Jerry Goldsmith Award and the World Soundtrack Award. We wait impatiently for an Oscar nomination to follow, given his memorable inventive scores that have played such a huge part in the mass appeal of the films of Jordan Peele. We were honored to sit down with him to talk about his diverse interests in musical genres, his history with piano and voice, his Nope score, and what's next.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity...

Click to read more ...