Screen Actors Guild Nominations - The Movies

SAG Award nominations were announced this morning by Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) and Lily Collins (Mank). The late Chadwick Boseman made history with 4 nominations simultaneously (2 Cast, 1 Lead, 1 Supporting) and Minari, one of our three favourite pictures of the year, suprised by nabbing THREE nominations when none were at all certain. Trial of the Chicago 7 and Ma Rainey also snagged 3  nominations.

After the jump brief commentary on the surprises, snubs, and what it might mean (or doesn't mean) for Oscar. It's always worth reeminding that there is next to no overlap from group to group in terms of voting. SAG's nominating committee are a mix of random people from their close to 100,000 wide membership and the acting branch of the Academy is infinitely smaller and though they're also members of SAG, only a tiny percentage might actually end up on the SAG nominating committee in any given year...

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Nathaniel's Top Twenty (Plus) of 2020

by Nathaniel R

Swallow, one of 2020's twenty best

Dementia, toxic masculinity, mental illness, economic inequality, nationalism, and racism were impossible to miss in 2020. And for once I'm not even referring to the soulless depravity of the GOP! Those were also recurring themes in world cinema this past film year. The silver lining is this: difficult topics and trying times can make for great art. This past year's best films were hardly a cheerful lot, but the best filmmakers know how to incorporate tonal variety to keep their movies three-dimensional and lively with ideas, moods, and unforgettable scenes.

The following movies greatly enriched a very tough year. Whether you already love them or are yet to discover them I wish you the best film experiences with these...

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National Board of Review names 'Da 5 Bloods" da best.

by Nathaniel R

Big awards day, huh?!

Spike Lee's latest joint Da 5 Bloods has won both Best Film and Best Director (as well as Best Ensemble) from the National Board of Review. We must quickly point out that this does not mean that Chloe Zhao's remarkable critics-award complete sweep is broken. As I always have to remind everyone each year -- even those who should know better -- the NBR is not a "critics award". The National Board of Review, founded in 1909, is an anonymous collection of film enthusiasts, industry professionals, academics, students, and presumably a few critics though they never release the names of their organization. So they would be more accurately called an "industry honor" or a "juried prize" rather than lumped in with the 'what do film critics like?' discussion.

Minari and Sound of Metal were the only other films with multiple prizes. The NBR wins and top ten lists AND LOADS OF TRIVIA/STATS are after the jump...

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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  _____...

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"Gold List" Outstanding Asian and Pacific Islander (API) achievements

by Nathaniel R

Despite all the amazing advances in diversity in film over the past few years one group that remains extremely underrepresented in American cinema is people of Asian descent. Even when an Asian-centered film breaks through to major success, awards are compartmentalized. You've probably noticed that even if said film wins Best Picture (Parasite, Slumdog Millionaire, The Last Emperor) no actors are nominated in the acting categories. Only three actors of Asian descent have ever won Oscars: Miyoshi Umeki for Sayonara (1957), Ben Kingsley for Gandhi (1982), and Dr Haing S Ngor for The Killing Fields (1984). We hope Parasite's Oscar win at the start of 2020 was a fine omen of changes to come considering that the year that followed was actually a strong one for Asians in movies.

CAPE (Coalitions of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) and Gold House have teamed up for a first, we hope annual, group of awards called the "Gold List" honoring Asian Achievements in (mostly) English language cinema. Please note that is not a critics group, but an industry-group (creatives, executives, and "other entertainment leaders"). Their list of ten categories (with two winners in each) is after the jump... 

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