Best Supporting Actress - April Foolish Oscar Predix

With so many of our favorite working actresses in key potential Oscar roles this year this season is either going to be tremendously exciting or crushing disappointing. 

Can Woody Harrelson & Naomi Watts get his & hers nominations as the "deeply dysfunctional" parents of THE GLASS CASTLE?

THE SUPPORTING ACTRESS CHART IS UP

Answer me these questions three:

• Who you think we're underestimating?
• Which performance on the chart are you most anxious to see?
• Do you think any of the 4 time nominees (Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, and Michelle Williams) move to 5 nominee status this year? 5 is actually such a major threshold that's really hard for people to break into. Only 29 women, if I'm counting correctly, have done it with Julianne Moore and Amy Adams being the most recent inductees to that exclusive club). With maybe 2 exceptions (Geraldine Page and Thelma Ritter)  everyone who's ever managed 5 has been a rather huge movie star of their day, certainly bigger than Michelle Williams is now for example. Not that she couldn't do it with The Greatest Showman if the part is good enough. Some working giants that are, like Kidman and Roberts, currently at four (acting) nods include: Bening, Lawrence, McDormand, Mirren, and Emma Thompson.

Best Supporting Actor - April Foolish Oscar Predix

By Nathaniel R

It's only 321 days until the next Oscar ceremony. That may seem like a good long time but we rarely go days without thinking about it so it'll  be here before we know it. The latest chart to go up is BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR. The Supporting categories are always tricky to suss out before the films are seen because supporting players generally need some fire from their films to make a dent, no matter how good the actual performance is. What's more we rarely know the full extent of what a supporting role entails this early as only the leads generally factor into early synopses. Nevertheless we forge a chart of possibility...

Click to read more ...

Picture, Director, Screenplays ~ April Foolish Oscar Predix

by Nathaniel R

I've been rubbing my crystal ball vigorously backstage to bring you the new Oscar charts. Everything is up but the acting now Let's discuss our way too early April guesswork in these categories: PICTURE and DIRECTOR and SCREENPLAYS. Thoughts? Objections? Applause?

Which 2017 releases will Oscar voters fall hard for?

Perfect on paper
Looks right on paper for major Oscar love doesn't always translate to the real thing but I've fallen for the chances of this year's World War II dramas from Chris Nolan (Dunkirk) and Joe Wright (Darkest Hour). Curiously, though both men have helmed Best Picture nominees in the past, neither have been nominated for Best Director yet. So strange but I'm predicting both of them to get in. I'm also predicting Get Out to score a Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Film Editing nods. That might sound crazy but I don't think it is. As I've often said genre pictures need time with awards bodies to cement their worth. Jump in your time machine and I'll bet you people are still talking in glowing terms about Get Out in December and everyone starts rooting for its Oscar nomination because they've accepted that it's special...

Click to read more ...

Costume Design ~ April Foolish Oscar Predix

on the set of THE CURRENT WARCutting right to the chase tonight. Here's what I'm predicting for Oscar's Costume Design category in this first round of punditry

• The Current War (Michael Wilkinson)
• The Greatest Showman (Ellen Mirojnick)
• Murder on the Orient Express (Alexandra Byrne)
• Victoria & Abdul (Consolata Boyle)
• Wonderstruck (Sandy Powell)

[Here's the chart]

Sandy Powell is always a good bet of course with 12 past nominations and 3 wins and she'll obviously be having a great time with the dual time frames and actressing of Julianne Moore. The other designers are less regular with the Academy but they've all been nominated with the exception of Ellen Mirojnick. But Mirojnick is no slouch having designed iconic pieces seen in films like Basic Instinct, Showgirls, and recently she won the Emmy for Soderbergh's Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra. She's got one of the year's (presumably) showiest gigs : Hugh Jackman's PT Barnum musical The Greatest Showman.

Ali Fasal stars opposite Dame Judi Dench in VICTORIA AND ABDUL

But that's just scratching the surface of what will surely be lots of fine threads in the movies this year from many talented designers. After the jump, a Beauty Break of Costume Design possibilities this year...

Click to read more ...

Cannes Line Up

by Nathaniel R

The Cannes lineup was announced very early this morning (time differences, don'cha know) and we're here to give you details, not just film titles. While TFE doesn't attend ($) we do follow from afar and hope to make the trek some day. The 70th Annual Cannes Film Festival runs May 17th through May 28th.

OPENING NIGHT

Which is a high profile gig but also risky as the knives are often out for a sacrifice to the festival gods to launch the cinextravaganza. 

Ismael’s Ghosts (Arnaud Desplechin)
French auteur Desplechin's latest will be released in the US by Magnolia. It stars French A-Listers Marion Cotillard, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mathieu Amalric, and Louis Garrel and revolves around a filmmaker (Amalric) working on a new picture when his long dead lover Carlotta (Cotillard) returns to life sending his life into a tailspin. If you've never seen Desplechin classics Kings and Queen (2004) and A Christmas Tale (2008) get right to that!

THE COMPETITION LINEUP...

Click to read more ...