101 days til Oscar. How will Disney's fare fare?

by Nathaniel R

Glenn Close actually dressed up as Cruella for the movie's premiere!Remember Glenn Close's Globe nomination for 101 Dalmatians (1996)? In retrospect it's kind of fascinating that greedy Disney didn't start fully committing to live-actioning and spinning off all their animated properties until recently because that early example was a huge hit, the sixth most popular film in the US that year. It also grossed $320 million globally well before the days when billion dollar worldwide grosses became common for Disney blockbusters.

Close's broadly comic diva turn didn't cross over to an Oscar nomination but its sequel managed one (for Costume Design). With Disney quadrupling down this year with four options for voters to look at (Dumbo, Maleficent 2, The Lion King, Aladdin) one wonders how the Mouse House will fare come nomination morning. After the jump a list of exactly how previous remakes have fared and how 2019 might shake out...

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Monthly Calendar of the Oscar Fanatic

by Eurocheese

April – The musings that mean absolutely nothing except for those couple of Sundance films that may go the distance.

May – Maybe the Cannes Palme d’Or winner will win BP? Also, let’s talk in depth about the tech nods so we can discuss that one early blockbuster and make wild guesses about what could beat it.

June – Which summer blockbuster could WIN Best Picture? (Spoiler alert: None.)

July – We have early frontunners...

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Honorary Oscars 2019 - The Speeches

by Nathaniel R

Our dream is to one day attend that invite only Honorary Oscars / Governor's Awards. The ceremonies aren't televised but for clips for YouTube and such but everyone who is anyone in Hollywood is there with an emphasis on Hollywood's golden history which we here at The Film Experience have always appreciated. Sites that only cover new releases -- what are you doing with your lives?!?

Here are the speeches and some notes from the special night.  First up Geena Davis, Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner who shares that it was really Thelma & Louise (1991) that changed her life (you and me both, diva!) and set her on the path that she's now being honored for. Her face when Tom Hanks says her name... ❤

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Oscar's International Race Pt 1 - The Female Directors

The Academy has officially announced list of 93 contenders -- an all time record --  for this year's Best International Feature Film Oscar (submission chart here). So let's dive in! 

Last year's sole female nominee for Best International Feature, Nadine Labaki (Capernaum) is in front of the camera this time for Lebanon's new submission "1982"

by Nathaniel R

We've been tracking the just renamed foreign-language film race for so long that we love to dig in to stats a bit. You may recall that last year 20 of the 87 pictures were directed or co-directed by women. This year 28 of the 93 contenders are -- that's 30% of the list which is easily an all-time record! Here's another promising note for the future in regards to gender parity: female directors made only 2 of the nominated foreign-language films in the first quarter century of this category but things opened in the 1980s with four nominees from female directors, there were four again in the 1990s, and then seven in the 2000s. Though the 2010s have only seen five thus far, the trend is still promising; in the past four consecutive years one of the nominees has come from a female auteur:

2015 Mustang (France) by Deniz Gamze Ergüven
2016 Toni Erdmann (Germany) by Maren Ade
2017 On Body and Soul (Hungary) by Idilko Enyedi
2018 Capernaum (Lebanon) by Nadine Labaki

Will the trend continue this year? Here are the 29 women who will be trying to make that happen.

The 29 Women Competing in the Best International Feature Race
* means they co-directed their film

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Oscar History: Dame Maggie Smith

by Cláudio Alves

Younger audiences may know Dame Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall and the sharp-tongued Countess of Grantham, but, before Downton Abbey and Harry Potter, she was already a British national treasure, having won two Oscars by 1979, with four additional nominations. This awards season, with the Dowager Countess promoted to the big screen, she might return to the Academy’s good graces.

Her Downton Abbey role has already proven an awards magnet with three Emmys and a Golden Globe. Maybe its popularity will translate to movie awards? 

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