Beauty Break: April Foolish Costume Design Predictions

by Nathaniel R

Fantastic Beasts won Colleen Atwood her 4th Oscar. Will its sequel give her her 13th nomination?

The original Mary Poppins lost the Costume Design competition. Could Sandy Powell win it for the sequel?

Even if the year's Costume Design prospects weren't so tantalizing we'd be salivating because we love the artform. After a relatively weak previous season, this category has the opportunity to come roaring back for 2018 in a big way. Consider that all four of the Academy's favorite working costume designers (with 43 nominations and 13 wins between them) might be back this year...

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"Remember that one, ladies?"

Just passing a love note to Eva Marie Saint for mentioning this dress while presenting the Costume Design Award last night...

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Final Oscar Predictions in Every Single Category!

by Nathaniel R

If only we had been able to devote more time to each category leading up to the nominations. Next year, my friends. Life, a cruel mistress this winter, had other plans this year. But we'll do better about diving into the nominees. As with most pundits I'm expecting The Shape of Water to be the nomination leader, but I don't think it will be setting any records as some are suggesting. The support for it seems less feverish and more pleasant. At least from my perspective. It can expect a big haul but not every single category. On the opposite side of the Best Picture spectrum is The Big Sick, the only potential nominee that could also be entirely shut out since it's hovering on the edges of its most nominatable categories: Picture, Screenplay, Supporting Actress 

So let's break it down by category shall we? We're just listing the basics here but each link will take you to that category's full chart with much more information and the pretty pictures. As always we'll be frantically updating every single chart on nomination morning (January 23rd). So be here frequently this week, pretty please...

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Costume Design and Cinematography Guild Honors

by Nathaniel R

Sometimes all it takes is one killer lewk. You might not have thought of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri as a "costume" movie but the Costumer Designer Guild gave it one of their contemporary nominations all the same. Must've been that already famous janitor jumpsuit with bandana on Frances McDormand. It's so very "Mildred". Either that or, you know, the Guilds are just voting on their favorite movies (as they are also prone to do) without thinking too much on their own fields within those movies. Who knows what lurks in the hearts of awards voters? No one truly as they're non monolithic.

More on their nominations (and the Cinematography guild also) with commentary after the jump...

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FYC: Five Best Documentary Tech Achievements of 2017

A special edition of the Doc Corner column by Glenn Dunks this week...

Documentaries are unsurprisingly scantly recognised outside of their own category. Steve James’ Hoop Dreams scored a still one-of-a-kind nomination for Best Editing in 1994, and the Best Original Song category has become a place for aging rock stars (and J. Ralph!) to get recognition for their work in documentaries. Yet outside of these rare occurrences, documentaries are almost never considered to be in genuine contention.

Considering the volume of documentaries being produced (170 eligible titles in 2017 alone!), it shouldn’t be unreasonably to expect that many are pushing the documentary medium to places that would have been unfathomable two decades prior. Those changes can be through form thanks to technological advancements giving filmmakers an ability to make docs as technically proficient as anything else no matter the budget. Or they can come through structure and narrative, allowing contemporary audiences that are hip to new ways of telling stories to experience something through the wonders of streaming that would have once struggled in experimental arthouses of downtown Manhattan.

So in lieu of a personal Oscar doc ballot (mine would include only one from the 15-wide shortlist), here are five For Your Considerations for achievements outside of the Documentary Feature category itself...

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