BAFTA goes its own way and shakes up the race

by Cláudio Alves

After it earned 14 out of 15 possible nominations, we should have known that All Quiet on the Western Front was a major threat as far as the BAFTAs were concerned. And yet, this seemed like The Banshees of Inisherin's time to shine. Well, the British Academy has announced their victors, and though they loved Martin McDonagh's latest, it couldn't defeat Edward Berger's Netflix juggernaut. The German Oscar submission won seven awards, including Best Film and Director. Banshees had to settle for four prizes, the same number of wins Elvis amassed. Beyond those three, no other title managed to take home more than one statuette, not even the the Oscar frontrunner Everything Everywhere All At Once.

But what does it all mean? Let's assess after the jump…

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Costume Designers Guild Nominations: "Top Gun" soars, "The Fabelmans" flounder

by Cláudio Alves

Worry not, "Fabelmans" fans. Mark Bridges may still get an Oscar nomination.

For the past two years, all the Oscar nominees in Best Costume Design were also recognized by the Costume Designers Guild, but that's not always the case. Indeed, in 2019, they didn't nominate three of the eventual Oscar nominees, including the winner – Jacqueline Durran for Little Women. All this to say that you should take this year's nominees with a grain of salt in terms of Oscar, especially regarding two big omissions – Mark Bridges for The Fabelmans and Sandy Powell for Living. Both designers have secured Oscar nominations with no corresponding guild support in the past – he for Joker, she for Gangs of New York, Mrs. Henderson Presents, and The Irishman. In any case, their lack of recognition proves that the industry may not be as into their films as previously anticipated. We shall see.

After the jump, the complete list of nominees and some further comments… 

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Best International Film Reviews: Final Flurry before the Shortlist

by Cláudio Alves

The Oscar shortlists are almost upon us, culling the 90-plus Best International Film submissions to a measly 15-wide field. Unfortunately, that means we're running out of time to consider those unfortunate titles unlikely to catch AMPAS' eye, no matter how deserving they may be. This includes productions perchance a bit too low-profile and others whose style skews too far from the Academy's sweet spot. Sometimes it's a matter of formalistic austerity. Sometimes, unresolved bleakness or genre stylings do the troubling trick. So, from an Iranian movie set to an Alpine tragedy, going through multiple wartime tragedies and the domestic sorrows of an Irish girl, let's indulge in a final flurry of capsule-sized reviews…

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Oscar Volley: A deep dive into Best Actor

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio Alves, Michael Cusumano, and Elisa Giudici to discuss Best Actor.

ELISA GIUDICI: Last year, we thought this Oscar was locked by Chadwick Boseman's intense performance. Yet we were surprised by the outcome, with Anthony Hopkins winning the golden statuette. The Academy was so confident about Boseman’s victory they moved the Best Actor category after Best Picture, the traditional one that closes the ceremony… only to stare at an empty stage, because the winner Anthony Hopkins was at home, sleeping. In 2022, Will Smith is the frontrunner in the Best Actor category. The odds are clearly in his favor…

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Oscar Volley: Who will triumph in Best Documentary?

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Baby Clyde, Glenn Dunks, and Nick Taylor to discuss Best Documentary Feature.

Baby Clyde: Every December (Or more likely January) when I’m putting together my year end ‘Best of’ list, it’s always filled with docs and International Features. In recent years I’ve found them vastly more interesting than the prestige pics that get churned out by Hollywood and inevitably nominated for Best Picture (I’ll be coming to that soon). 2021 was no exception. Half of my Top 10 is made up of documentaries. Three of which have made it into this category.

The big, splashy, hit of the year Summer of Soul, cleared its biggest hurdle by making the list in the first place. (The sometimes snobby Doc branch is notorious for snubbing the crowd pleasers -- Remember the Won’t You Be My Neighbour? debacle).  Whilst I’m mostly delighted by the quality of the nominees it does leave me with a quandary... 

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