50 Days til Oscar, Ally!

Ladies and gentleman.... ALLY"

Not a still from the movie. They've actually put the Ally billboard up in Los Angeles in the same location it's supposed to be seen within the movie.

You have to hand it to the Warner Bros teams behind A Star is Born publicity both during its leggy run (now with a nearly $400 million global gross on a $36 million budget) and during awards season where it has consistently performed. They keep thinking of new ways to keep the film in people's minds, too, like this funny specific stunt pictured here. Will it feel like overkill by the time Academy members are voting. To some, sure, but those are likely the people who weren't going to vote for it anyway.

LAFCA Winners (and other critics organizations)

The Los Angeles Film Critics Organization is presumably the most crucial in terms of Academy Awards influence since they're the hometown critics of Hollywood and the industry actually hears what they think on a regular basis. This year, like virtually every organization, they threw their weight behind Alfonso Cuarón's Mexican memoir drama Roma. They got idiosyncratic (but smart) in only one category this year, Supporting actor, where they honored Steven Yeun who is remarkable in Burning. Otherwise they underlined actors who are already in the thick of the Oscar discussion. Sadly, two women who really needed their endorsement (Toni Collette and Elizabeth Debicki) were left in "runner up" position, a nice nod in their direction, but not helpful to their causes. 

The full list of winners and lists from LAFCA and three other critics orgs who voted today are after the jump. It was a very good day for Olivia Colman, Steven Yeun and Burning, and Roma...

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Podcast: Nick's Oscar Adventure!

For the season finale of the podcast Nathaniel R and Katey Rich grill Nick Davis about his FIRST TIME ATTENDING THE OSCARS!

Hear how the room responded to the Coco, Shape of Water, and Get Out wins. Name dropping galore ahead: Justin Paul, Aaron Sorkin, Sandy Martin, LaKeith Stanfield, Roger Deakins, Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele, etc 

Index (43 minutes)
00:01 Intro: snack boxes, commercial breaks
02:30 Gags, speeches, celebrity sightings
11:00 Wins and spreading the wealth
18:00 Song performances, mistaken identity
21:00 Laura Dern and Timothée Chalamet
24:30 Time's Up and "inclusion riders"
30:00 Los Angeles and Nick's Faye photoshoot
35:30 Moving on from these movies
42:00 Byeeeee 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Nick at the Oscars!

Doc Corner: 'LA 92' and 'Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992'

by Glenn Dunks

It’s not surprising that the spectre of the Los Angeles riots of 1992 has loomed large over documentary filmmaking this year. Emerging out from shadow of O.J. Simpson, whose story was everywhere in 2016, the 25th anniversary of this monumental moment in American history has been the focus of not just (by my count) five feature documentaries, but has also felt like an integral part of more contemporary films like Sabaah Folayan and Damon Davis’ Whose Streets, Yance Ford’s Strong Island, and Peter Nicks’ The Force.

It would make sense then that these films, which largely pull from many of the same archival footage sources, might be in danger of working against one another. Dampening their urgency and their power simply by being too numerous.

However, at least in the case of Dan Lindsay and TJ Miller’s LA 92 and John Ridley’s Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992, that is certainly not what has occurred...

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Los Angeles Film Critics Association Winners 2017

by Nathaniel R

Another day, another set of precursor awards. We heard from the New York Film Critics Circle a few days ago where Lady Bird and The Florida Project were the big winners with two prizes each. Over on the West Coast Call Me By Your Name and The Shape of Water both took three prizes. Commentary, stats, and winners list are all after the jump...

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