Costume Designers Guild Nominations

by Murtada Elfadl

The costume guild nominations were announced today and some of the titles expected were indeed nominated. Ruth E Carter for Dolemite Is My Name, Arianne Phillis for Once Upon a Time….. In Hollywood and Julian Day in Rocketman. All in the Period Film category. 

However, surprise no shows were The Irishman, Little Women, and Judy. Perhaps because it mainly has suits and no showy gowns and dresses, The Irishman was omitted. But then how do we explain them passing on Judy? After getting only 2 Golden Globe nominations does this spell doom for Little Women’s awards chances? Or has it started screening too late for this year’s earlier deadlines?

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SAG Predictions from a SAG Nominating Committee Member!

[Secret Guest Post]

Awkwafina announcing the nominees last season. I think she'll be nominated this year.Hello again to readers of The Film Experience!  I previously shared a few reactions from our SAG nominating committee screenings including The Farewell and The Irishman and Bombshell and Little Women. The following are my predictions for tomorrow, NOT who I nominated (I nominated only 8 of these 30 predictions.)

LEAD ACTOR
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Robert De Niro, The Irishman
Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Joaquin Phoenix, Joker
Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

LEAD ACTRESS
Akwafina, The Farewell
Cynthia Erivo, Harriet
Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story
Lupita Nyong’o, Us
Renee Zellweger, Judy

I’m skeptical about Ronan, Theron and Woodard in Best Actress since their screeners came relatively late...

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Ana de Armas and the perils of playing a good person

by Cláudio Alves

When looking at the 94 performances which have conquered the Best Actress Oscar, some jump out as weird anomalies. It's not so much a question of the actor's work as it's an issue of character type. Good people are rare. Not those who are idealized icons or martyred by nightmarish cruelty, but the few that are just regular decent folk. That's one of the reasons Emma Thompson's Margaret Schlegel from Howards End seems so out of place, for instance. She's an average person who seems intrinsically decent but whose goodness isn't simplistic sainthood. More importantly, she's all that but isn't boring to watch.

That's a rare feat and few actors can accomplish it. In screenplays, such roles tend to look simplistic and lacking in substance. Just think of how insufferable Cosette tends to be in Les Misérables or how unconvincing Jane can be in Pride & Prejudice adaptations. Tom Hanks is one of those rare performers who can take such a role and play it to perfection, bringing humanity to decency and making ordinary kindness interesting to watch. Emma Thompson is another. And, in a delightful surprise, so is Ana de Armas…

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What does Gwyneth Paltrow think of “Knives Out”?

by Cláudio Alves

This year’s been full of filmmakers commenting on other’s movies, auteurs criticizing blockbuster franchises and Hollywood stars lashing back. The Scorsese-Marvel wars are still active on social media and each day that goes by, another film professional adds their own two cents on the kerfuffle. To be honest, I don’t care about Chris Evans’ views on Scorsese or Michael Haneke’s opinion on Iron Man. However, it’d be lovely to read a certain Marvel-star’s reaction to the most delicious murder comedy of the holiday season. 

Wouldn’t everyone love to know what Gwyneth Paltrow thinks of Rian Johnson’s Knives Out? I certainly would…

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What did you see over the long Thanksgiving weekend?

What did you see over the weekend? General audiences were singing along to Frozen II in big numbers while Knives Out exceeded expectations with a strong opening weekend. After the jump everything still in wide release plus their counterparts at the moment in the world of platform titles...

Weekend Box Office November 29th-December 1st (ACTUALS) 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)	PLATFORM TITLES
1  FROZEN II  $85.9 (cum. $288.8) REVIEW	1  JOJO RABBIT $1.2 on 730 screens (cum. $18.3) TIFF WIN, PODCAST ★

2 🔺 KNIVES OUT $26.7 (cum. $41.4) REVIEW, WHODUNNITS ★	2 PARASITE  $1.0 on 382 screens (cum. $18.2) PODCAST, CLASS, BONG ★

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