Film Bitch Award Medalists (aka If I magically chose all the Oscars)

by Nathaniel R

The Gold Medalists for acting this year: Colman, Cumberbatch, Negga, Domingo

The Film Bitch Awards are now in their 22nd year (gulp). While I don't normally track the stats of my own awards the way we all delight in tracking Oscar stats, I did notice that for the first time in all of those years the Picture/Director fields were an exact match. The nomination portion is more fun than the virtual medal ceremony since I've always believed that nominations are wins and spreading the wealth is more artistically accurate! The Power of the Dog emerged as the big winner (no surprise) with 5 Gold Medals. Dune and Zola were the only other films that picked up multiple gold medals in the Oscar parallel categories. (NOTE: The "extra" categories are not yet complete but we'll try to wrap them up before Oscar night).

See the Oscar parallel winners
Page 1  Picture, Director, Screenplay, Animated Feature
Page 2  Lead and Support Acting.
(Half of the 12 medalists -- gold, silver, and medal -- were not Oscar-nominated which is fairly typical. If I could choose only one "Performance of the Year" across all categories, it would be Ruth Negga for Passing. )
Page 3  Visual Categories
Page 4  Sound Categories

Oscar Volley: Best Picture in the final days...

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Baby Clyde, Elisa Giudici, Abe Friedtanzer and  Eric Blume to discuss Best Picture. We're not saving it for last. This conversation began BEFORE the PGA went to CODA but ends afterwards...

the five films with the most nominations this year.

ABE FRIEDTANZER: I'm thrilled to be talking the top Oscar prize with my esteemed colleagues Eric, Elisa, and Baby Clyde. I do think there's plenty to discuss here, but I believe that one film is very far out in front. That's The Power of the Dog, of course, which some may doubt after it missed out on an ensemble nomination from SAG. There is absolutely momentum for CODA after its win there and its triumph the night after that with the Hollywood Critics Association. But Dog also underperformed with nominations from the latter group, so the comparison isn't all that helpful. There just isn't enough going against Jane Campion's western for it to lose, in my opinion. But there are nine other nominees, and at least a few of those will siphon votes. Aside from CODA, King Richard gets a boost from its ACE Eddie win, and Drive My Car is worth considering since it hasn't been in competition with many other groups. What films do you think are still in the mix?

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The ASC winner is 'Dune' but will it repeat at the Oscars?

by Nathaniel R

With the PGA, WGA, and now the American Society of Cinematographers, we have our last clues going into Oscar night. Not that guilds always line up with Oscar wins mind you. They do share some members with the Academy but all the guilds have far more members than their parallel branches in the Academy. Here's what they chose this year...

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Oscar Volley: Best Cinematography could make History

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio Alves, Nick Davis, Ben Miller, and Eurocheese discussing the Best Cinematography race.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: From an aged future that looks like the ancient past to a black-and-white nightmare of Expressionistic Shakespeare, from digital polish to a rainbow of 35mm lens flares, the Best Cinematography Oscar race presents a cornucopia of varied visual strategies. However, to celebrate this category for variety feels somewhat disingenuous this year. For the first time since the color and black-and-white categories merged in 1967, the Cinematography ballot looks identical to the Production Design one. Even though voted on by separate branches, these lineups' sameness speaks to a broader problem – how the Academy feels increasingly resistant to expand its interest beyond a select group of pictures each season…

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Best Picture, Black-and-White Edition

by Cláudio Alves

Ever since NEON released a black-and-white version of Parasite during the awards season's peak, we've begun a tradition here at The Film Experience of looking the Best Picture nominees each year, and trying to imagine what they'd look like devoid of color. Naturally, we'll never know that since making a black-and-white movie is much more complex than simply turning the saturation to zero. Matters of design and lighting are involved, as are other elements of pre and post-production. Still, it's fun to peruse movies in search of striking imagery. But of course, beyond personal amusement, there's another component to this exercise…

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