Who's the Diane Warren of Every Category?

by Cláudio Alves

Another year, another Diane Warren campaign to finally get herself that Oscar. She's already got an Honorary Award, but the competitive prize eludes her. This year, the songwriter's best bets are Flamin' Hot and 80 for Brady, though Warren also penned an original tune for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3. After she got a in for the virtually unreleased Tell It Like a Woman, anything's possible.

This got me thinking about the other people the Academy nominated constantly without ever giving them the win. Who's the Diane Warren in the categories beyond Best Original Song? Trying to answer that question, I dove deep into Oscar history, counting who's the most honored person who never won their respective race for gold. I focused on feature films and living artists, those who still have a chance to win or increase their record. Like Warren, some names are back in contention this season. From Picture to Documentary, here they are...

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Thoughts I Had... while staring at the first images from "Babylon"

by Nathaniel R

Damien Chazelle photographed by Scott Garfield on the set

Damien Chazelle's Hollywood opus (of some sort or another), Babylon, wasn't ready for the fall festivals so we had no clue when we'd get our first taste. Thankfully today Vanity Fair ended our long drought of information, visual and otherwise, with several lux images from the film. Naturally then it's time to discuss our thoughts, yours and mine (as they come to me). Yours go in the comments. Please don't be shy. The team misses socializing with you in this way. Okay, lots of images to get through so here we go as fast as can, thoughts in the order they came to us...

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The best-looking Coen flicks

by Cláudio Alves

The Coen brothers are some of the most acclaimed American directors of our days. While many celebrate their ability with witty dialogues and violent storylines, a worldview rich in irony and nihilism, parts of their cinematic genius remain a bit underrated. For instance, their works are always beautiful, carefully composed and shot, full of inspired design choices and homages to the classicism of Old Hollywood filmmaking. Few would put them in the same ballpark as contemporary directors like Luhrmann or del Toro when it comes to the consistent creation of lush visual feasts, but maybe we should reconsider that…

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Beauty Break: April Foolish Costume Design Predictions

by Nathaniel R

Fantastic Beasts won Colleen Atwood her 4th Oscar. Will its sequel give her her 13th nomination?

The original Mary Poppins lost the Costume Design competition. Could Sandy Powell win it for the sequel?

Even if the year's Costume Design prospects weren't so tantalizing we'd be salivating because we love the artform. After a relatively weak previous season, this category has the opportunity to come roaring back for 2018 in a big way. Consider that all four of the Academy's favorite working costume designers (with 43 nominations and 13 wins between them) might be back this year...

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Podcast: The Oscars are coming! How many will 'La La' win?

Nathaniel, Joe, and Nick discuss the Oscar nominations with just two weeks to go until the High Holy Night.

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 Nomination morning formats
05:45 How much did Amy Adams miss by?
07:35 Cinematography & Score
10:30 Deepwater Horizon
13:00 Which categories will La La Land lose and to which: Lion? Jackie? Hacksaw?
23:00 Denzel vs Casey / Emma vs Isabelle / Salesman vs Toni Erdmann?
30:25 Picture & Director splits. Spreading the wealth. (Remember The Revenant? No?)
39:00 Ryan Gosling & Visual Effects. 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? 

Pre Oscar Show Part 1