Congratulations to the SAG Cast Nominees... but please raise a glass to those who were left out!

by Nathaniel R

Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown aren't included in "Ma Rainey's" nomination

Each year when the SAG nominations for Outstanding Cast is named, we bemoan the rules which cause unneccessary exclusions. To be an official nominee you need to have your own title card. Having your own title card generally requires that you either already have a degree of fame, a strong agent if you don't, or a large role... so sometimes it excludes really crucial contributions to a movie. Everyone who doesn't get their own title card gets a certificate but they aren't officially "nominees" based on SAG's rules. This year, only Trial of the Chicago 7 (which has a giant cast) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (which has a very intimate cast) have really unfortunate exclusions...

Click to read more ...

"Jingle Jangle" and "Ma Rainey" lead the NAACP Image Award Nominations

Netflix completely reigned over the 52nd annual NAACP Image Award nominations where Jingle Jangle, Ma Rainey and Da 5 Bloods were the top three most nominated films. As we've seen with most of the awards to date from various organizations -- but maybe not with the upcoming Globes, SAG, and the Oscars -- those films that opted to wait until January or February to start screening like Malcolm & Marie, Judas and the Black Messiah and the United States vs Billie Holliday, which are all fully "2021" films, are missing from a lot of the precursor lists. Sometimes that's due to eligibility rules sticking to the calendar year as we're doing and as we assume the NAACP did. Other times it might just be due to the age-old risk that late-breaking awards campaigns take each and every year. When you wait to the last minute you have the distinct advantage of being fresh in the mind should you be nominated coupled with the disadvantage that you might miss the nominations altogether if not enough people screen your work in time.

Congratulations to all of the nominees in film, television, literature, and music. You can all see the NAACP nominations after the jump... UPDATED WITH WINNERS 03/29...

Click to read more ...

FYC: Best Ensemble

by Nathaniel R

SAG has a lot of choices for "Outstanding Cast" but will they choose well?

SAG and GLOBE and BFCA members are all voting right now or very soon for their nominations for the 2020 film year. This is as good a time as any then, to do FYCs that also serve as my own ballot in the first wave of the annual Film Bitch Awards. SAG and I don't often see eye to eye in terms of "Outstanding Cast". For my own "Ensemble" Award I tend to think of it as interplay and chemistry between actors. A  perfect ensemble has all performers operating on a high level and doing so together, so group scenes are far more important than a series of one-on-one encounters.

For instance, I wouldn't nominate Promising Young Woman for an Ensemble award even though it has a large talented cast because there's almost no group acting. Each scene is essentially Carey Mulligan versus  _____...

Click to read more ...

Best Actor & Best Actress: An Uncommon Pair

by Eurocheese

Chadwick & Viola at odds in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" -- but will they be even at the Oscars?

It’s been over 20 years since we last saw a film take home Best Actor and Best Actress on the same night. While these categories are both very competitive this season, there is a possibility that Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom could combine Boseman’s posthumous career-best performance with Davis’ flashy titular role to make it happen again.

But how often have we seen this combination in the past, and under what circumstances? Let’s take a look…

Click to read more ...

How Do Stage-To-Screen Adaptations Fare At The Oscars?

Will Viola Davis be able to win Best Actress at the Oscars?The first step to Oscar success is appearing like a frontrunner. This is why adaptations always are at the top of people’s year in advance predictions. Yet, sustaining that early buzz (often sight unseen) can be a dicey proposition.

Both Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night in Miami are play adaptations that are towards the top of many Oscar predictions right now. Now that both are available on streaming (Netflix and Prime Video, respectively), audiences are finally seeing and enjoying both films. While critics have been giving out their awards recently, the major precursors for the Oscars (guilds, Golden Globes, Critics Choice) still have not been announced. Can we look to the awards run of their source material as a signal for how they will perform at the Oscars?

Click to read more ...