BAFTA Nominations: 'Dune' has a huge lead while 'West Side Story' struggles

by Nathaniel R

Dune has a gargantuan lead at the annual BAFTA awards with 11 nominations. People often look to BAFTA for clues as to last minute shifts in the Oscar voting vibes... but we strongly caution against that now. BAFTA has changed so many of their rules in the past few years and added so many intricacies to their voting (including partially juried fields and 100% juried nominations in some categories) that it's difficult to say what any particular nomination actually means or who it came from. 

Musicals had a rough morning. tick tick BOOM! went without any nominations at all (despite multiple longlistings) while West Side Story struggled. Despite five nominations (including Mike Faist, yay!) it missed in all sorts of crucial places. Nominations and comments are after the jump...

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Oscar Volley: Best Cinematography, Half-Locked, Half-Not?

Continuing our Oscar Volley series at The Film Experience. Eric Blume, Elisa Giudici, and Glenn Dunks talk Best Cinematography. 

Greig Fraser shooting Timothée Chalamet in the desert for Dune (2021)

Eric Blume:  Glenn and Elisa, Do we all agree that we probably have two "locks" for Best Cinematography nominations:  Delbonnel for The Tragedy of Macbeth, and Greig Fraser for Dune?  Those feel like two very worthy nominees to me.  While I think Joel Coen's conception of his film is limited and flawed, I admired Delbonnel's execution of Coen's concept, really leaning into that austere Calvinist guilt like we got in Carl Theodore Dreyer movies, and stealing from Sven Nykvist's framing in Bergman movies...yet netting out in its own unique visual scheme to highlight those sets and costumes.  And I thought Fraser's work made Denis Villeneuve's arid sci-fi epic surprisingly sensual, which helped the film (which is dense and heavy) enormously by taking you out of your head sometimes and back to your senses. Do you think both are locks?  What are your thoughts on those two, and their closest challengers... 

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Oscar Volley: Can anything dethrone 'Dune' in Best Production Design?

With just over a week until nominations are announced Cláudio Alves, Mark Brinkerhoff, and Nathaniel Rogers discuss the Best Production Design race…

DUNE is in it to win it.

CLÁUDIO: The Art Directors Guild of America recently announced their nominees, and I'm in love with the Period Feature lineup. The French Dispatch, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and West Side Story offer such a varied approach to the matter of scenography, either swinging towards hyper-stylization or aiming for immersive historical accuracy. Honestly, I'd be OK if AMPAS just copied the guild's picks, though that's not likely to happen. Not with Dune in the conversation. As far as I'm concerned, it'd be a massive surprise if Patrice Vermette's conception of a dilapidated future doesn't end up winning it all. The scale of the achievement is undeniable, the sense of monumentality and balance between Villeneuve's sense of severe sci-fi and Frank Herbert's Baroque descriptions.

The question, then, is which of the period nominees will get the chop and if there are other outside contenders to consider. Examining the history of AMPAS' relationship to Paul Thomas Anderson's flicks, my guess is that Licorice Pizza is the most vulnerable. What do you think, Mark? 

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Oscar Volleys: What do voters want in Best Makeup and Hairstyling?

Continuing our Oscar Volley series at The Film Experience. This morning Glenn Dunks and Ben Miller on Makeup and Hair.

Ben Miller: Alright Glenn, let's get into one of the more fun craft categories, Best Makeup and Hairstyling. This category has sometimes gravitated towards being the MOST makeup, as opposed to the best.  Some presumed frontrunners include Dune, Cruella, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Do you have a personal preference and what do you look for in a potential nominee?

Glenn Dunks: I really like the make up and hairstyling category in theory. They are one of the most individual branches, often choosing lousy movies or those otherwise outside of the Oscar conversation strictly because they appreciate the technical work on display. I have to respect that...

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Producers Guild Awards say 'You can't sit with us!' to the blockbusters

by Nathaniel R

The Producers Guild of America has spoken and even though in past years they've shown a fondness for superheros and blockbusters nominating films like Star Trek, Wonder Woman, and Deadpool, this year they've dashed the Oscar dreams of the 8th Spider-Man movie and the 25th official James Bond movie and selected only Dune to represent big franchise filmmaking. The "surprise" nomination, though it really shouldn't be considered a surprise given that they even nominated Molly's Game, was Aaron Sorkin's Being the Ricardos. Their nominees are as follows...

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