More Guild Nominations: Cinematography & Sound

by Nathaniel R

Lukasz Zal's exquisite black and white cinematography for COLD WAR has been somewhat overshadowed by Cuarón's ROMA. Can Zal score his second Oscar nod?

It's that Oscar nomination voting week when the awards just don't stop, everybody getting boosts via the Globe wins, the BAFTA nominations (soon), and multiple guild announcements. Here's two more after the jump with commentary for cinematography and sound categories... 

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Everyone needs to calm down about "A Star is Born" winning all the Oscars

You guys. Everywhere I look there are articles or tweets positing that A Star is Born is going to sweep the Oscars, or win 3/4th of the acting categories or whatnot.  This is unlikely. It's only because it's the biggest contender currently playing that people are losing their minds. Well, that and because the movie is a terrific piece of big studio entertainment aimed at adults that's also a hit at the box office. You know, the exact kind of movie that people pretend doesn't exist (it does almost annually) and also pretend that Oscar doesn't like (they do almost annually) whenever they write those dumb articles proclaiming "the Oscars are irrelevant!" 

A Star is Born is just about at $100 million domestic at this writing but people are acting as if its earned one billion; I definitely wasn't expecting to hear it compared to Titanic today. So, let's all relax for a bit and talk about what is probable/possible since we've just barely finished UPDATING ALL THE OSCAR CHARTS. 

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I think it's too soon to call A Star is Born the frontrunner. It's just the first big Best Picture possibility to open since February (!) so that's a lot of time since Black Panther to bottle up armchair punditry feeling... bring on awards season! I dont currently believe Star will win (the remake stigma will catch up to it eventually) but let's say for the sake of argument that it does. That's one Oscar. Let's look at the other categories...

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Roma Takes New York

by Jason Adams

Set your calendars - the New York Film Festival is a mere seventy-two days away now! Running from September 28 to October 14 the 56th edition of my hometown's biggest fanciest movie celebration has just made its first programming announcement - this year's Centerpiece Film will be Alfonso Cuarón’s black-and-white autobiographical epic Roma! 

The movie charts the course of a family over the course of a year in middle-class Mexico City in the 1970s, and even though that seems straightforward it sounds like Cuarón is still experimenting with movie technology - NYFF promises that the film features "a sound design that represents something new in the medium." Well I'm curious!

Roma is owned by Netflix and got pushed out of consideration by Cannes because of their cantankerous relationship with the streamer - NYFF has no such qualms, having screened both Mudbound and The Meyerowitz Stories just last year, so we'll be some of the lucky movie-goers who see Cuarón's vision on a great big screen, lucky lucky us.

Rosemary's Baby Pt 3: All of Them Witches

50th Anniversary Three-Part Mini-Series
Occasionally we'll take a movie and baton pass it around the team.

In Part One Seán McGovern sang the praises of Oscar winning Ruth Gordon as nosey neighbor Minnie to Mia Farrow's iconic Rosemary. The apartment is a find for Rosemary and her husband Guy (sleazy John Cassavettes) but the Bramford sure has sinister tenants.

In Part Two Jason Adams eyed fascinating visual details as the perversions mount and Rosemary becomes emaciated and pale -- aren't pregnancies supposed to make you fill out and glow? As we pick back up Rosemary has just left the funeral of Hutch. He left her a book and a cryptic message "the name is an anagram." 

Part 3 by Nathaniel R

1:26:00 Rosemary never gets a moment to herself. Home from the funeral she barely has time to hang up her hat and throw off her shoes and the doorbell is wringing. I'll give you one guess as to who it is. 

Minnie, yup. Notice how chalky that drink is *wretches* and how much Ruth Gordon is doing in every scene including this brief one, conveying just how watchful, manipulative, and blasphemous Minnie is  -- "Grace, one of my favorite names" -- underneath all the old-lady eccentricity, flashy clothing, and innocuous chatter. 

1:27:00 Hutch wrapped the book up tightly like a gift, but it's not a pleasant one...

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April Foolish Predictions: What film scores will be loved in 2018?

by Nathaniel R

Mary Poppins (1964) was nominated for 13 Oscars winning 5. Will Mary Poppins Returns (2018) also win Oscar hearts?

Since scores are often one of the very last components to fall into place in post-production, determining which scores might stand out at year's end is like throwing darts blindfolded. Each year some composers are replaced between our first round of predictions and the time their films arrive. Plus some 2018 movies haven't even hired a composer yet. Presumably they're waiting for Alexandre Desplat's schedule to open up. Only half joking! The perpetually in demand French composer and double Oscar winner generally scores anywhere from 5 to 10 (gulp) movies a year and he only has three films currently scheduled for release in 2018 (Isle of Dogs, Operation Finale, and Kursk... though we suspect The Sisters Brothers will hit this year as well, making it 4). Other Oscar favorites who have suspiciously empty schedules this year include Hans Zimmer and Thomas Newman.

From the year's releases that we've already seen we're curious about how A Quiet Place and Black Panther might hold up in the sound categories, too, since both films are blockbusters and A Quiet Place, especially, relies heavily on its aural elements for its success.

In related news: Best Original Song is next to impossible to predict this early as details are always scarce until late in the year but if you have any premonitions do let us know!  Here is our guesswork on the sound categories for the next Oscar race and the April Foolish Predictions thus far.