Oscar Volley: Adapted Screenplay... weak list or weak field?

The team is pairing off to discuss each Oscar race. Here's Eurocheese and Eric Blume...

ERIC:   Euro, I'm so happy to be discussing the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay with you.  Personally, I feel like it's one of our weakest years in this category.  Before we get into each nominee and the race, do you have any candidates you personally loved that didn't make the slate?

EUROCHEESE:  It is strange how all the top contenders, and frankly most of the great films of the year, were original storylines. Even Glass Onion, sneaks into this category thanks to its lead detective but it's really an Original Screenplay...

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"Pinocchio" and "Living" among USC Scripter Nominations

by Nathaniel R

The annual USC Scripter awards honor film and television adapted from other literary sources. The cool thing about them is they award both the current screenwriter and the original author being adapted.

It should be one of the nomination announcements that excite us the most each year in terms of assessment of screenwriting -- the jury is generally made up of writers and critics -- but they often fail to live up to their potential. Usually that's a result of them hewing very close to the Oscar conversation rather than suggesting that the full jury has actually been watching plentiful movies year round and thinking about the craft of writing. Whch is not to say that some of their choices aren't strong but there's usually at least one title that suggests they've been reading Oscar tea leaves rather than books and screenplays. I'll leave it to you to glean what that title is this year. They get a little more creative with the TV side, perhaps because there's no current awards buzz (Emmys were over a few months ago) to piggyback on...

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"All Quiet on the Western Front" dominates the BAFTA longlists

by Cláudio Alves

"All Quiet on the Western Front" | © Netflix

After the Academy announced its shortlists in ten categories, some questions loomed over prognosticators' heads. Does a better-than-expected performance at this phase of the race indicate broad industry support? Moreover, is All Quiet in the Western Front – featured in 5 of AMPAS' rosters – the non-English-language film to beat and Netflix's best bet at a Best Picture nod? What were once mere suspicions feel like near certainties in the face of the BAFTA longlists. While we should always take these things with a grain of salt, it's hard to ignore how well the war movie did. Out of 15 possible categories, it features in all 15 shortlists, including such surprising places as Best Costume Design.

Come discover the full longlists, after the jump…

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Oscar Volleys: Best Costume Design is all about opulence - you own everything.

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Cláudio Alves and Elisa Giudici with a conversation on Best Costume Design... 

"Babylon" | © Paramount Pictures

CLÁUDIO: Just as we're starting this conversation, I see my TL full of early reactions to Babylon, which was screened at long last. It still feels too soon to predict how the movie will do, whether critically or in the awards race, but it'll be polarizing. Some love it, some hate it, and the same singular elements have been recipients of both praise and loathing. With all this in mind, we can consider Babylon's chances in the Best Costume Design category. Honestly, at this point in the season, it feels like one of only two locks in the race…

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ICYMI - "Aftersun" led the British Independent Film Award Nominations

by Nathaniel R

"Aftersun" has been a hit with 'indie' awards groups like BIFA and Gotham.

The title here is a bit of a goof. You probably didn't miss the BIFA award nominations on Friday but we did. Apologizes for the delay in reporting them. The BIFAs use juries to come up with their nominations and if those juries like something they go ALL in.... 16 nominations for Aftersun (now playing in select theaters) sounds like a gargantuan amount of nominations and at first glance it lools like it was nominated for every category for which it was eligible. But therunner up Blue Jean, scored 13 nominations so, again, they go all in if they like something. What that means is that there isn't much variation from category to category. For instance Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay are all interchangeable. After the jump some notes on the nominations...

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