Oscar Volleys: Best Picture could be more multicultural than ever before!

The Oscar Volleys are back! Tonight, it's time for Eric Blume, Eurocheese and Nick Taylor to discuss the Best Picture race...

HAMNET, Chloé Zhao | © Focus Features

ERIC: Hi gentlemen, I'm looking forward to our three-way... to talk about the ten possible Best Picture nominees. We're just starting to get some clarity on early predictions, so we might as well add our own two cents regarding the big race. Do you both agree that the two absolute lockshere are One Battle After Another and Hamnet? It's fun that they are two very different films that generate very different feelings, OBAA being sort of the "head" movie and Hamnet being the "heart" movie? That's an oversimplification, of course, but I don't think it's untrue…

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Gotham Awards Revue: The Breakthrough Performer Category

by Nick Taylor

Sebiye Behtiyar in Bing Liu's PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEXT LIFE | © Amazon MGM Studios

First, I’m bummed I wasn’t able to see Preparation for the Next Life before this article was published. Hopefully the film and Sebiye Behtiyar’s performance will raise my baseline appreciation of the Gotham Awards’ choices even further. I also have no idea if anyone notably missed out, what with the Gotham’s broad eligibility requirements and my lack of awareness about this year’s major debuts. Miles Caton in Sinners, Cary Christopher in Weapons, and... I don’t know! With these caveats in mind, I still say they’ve kicked off the year with a solid Breakthrough Actor category.

All four of these performers help to serve and strengthen their films, and I look forward to seeing them again on the silver screen...

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2025 Gotham Award Nominees

by Nick Taylor

With yesterday's announcement from the Gotham Awards, our very first nominees of the 2025 awards season have arrived. Setting aside my inherent disdain for the big-budget American films now allowed to compete alongside genuine independent cinema across the world, this looks like a pretty neat set of films! Let's dive into the nominees, and as always, share somoe verbose opinions despite not seeing all these features . . . .

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Screening Season in Los Angeles - 10 Capsules

by Eurocheese

It’s that time of year! Los Angeles screening season is in full gear, with Oscar hopefuls sending out invites right and left. Here are my comments and rankings (by preference order)on the last batch of 10 films (!) with more to come soon.

One Battle After Another – A+. Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliance can be hit and miss, but this is among his very best works. DiCaprio capitalizes on the comedic energy he’s brought to Tarantino films, bringing frenetic energy to this sprawling, action-packed epic. Teyana Taylor’s popping introduction, newcomer Chase Infiniti’s grounding steady hand and an insanely madcap villain from Sean Penn are all nomination-worthy, with even the smaller parts for Benicio del Toro and Regina Hall packing a punch. The must-see of the season...

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Review: P.T. Anderson's Glorious "One Battle After Another"

by Eric Blume

If you’re a regular site reader, you’ve probably been following all the film blogs discussing the new Paul Thomas Anderson epic, One Battle After Another.  So we don’t need to discuss plot or beat around the bush…the question is:  Does it really deliver like everyone has been saying? I remember being so excited before seeing Licorice Pizza -- it too was heralded by early viewers -- only to find it contrived and uninvolving in the cinema. My vote, this time, is an unqualified yes!  PTA is a great filmmaker:  ideologically ambitious, profoundly humanistic, and daringly assured technically.  Anderson delivers with depth and panache here in this new contemporary, highly political film... 

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