21 Days Until Oscars: Oscar's Perennial Bridesmaids

Kevin O'Connell, 21 nominations to date21 days until Oscar! Since 21 is the magic number of the day we must note that two contenders this year, Andy Nelson and Kevin O'Connell, competing against each other in Sound Mixing, are both on their 21st nomination. (Take that Meryl with your 20!) Nelson, who seems likely to win for La La Land has already won two Oscars for Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Les Misérables (2012). O'Connell is still waiting for that elusive win. He must be frustrated and his tux must be well worn by now.

So for today's trivia after the jump... 

The Living People With The Most Oscar Nominations Who Have Never Won  (if I've missed anyone you'll let me know in the comments) 

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Personal Ballot: Best Scores, Sounds, Songs...

Though my ears aren't as fine tuned as my eyes when it comes to the cinema, I take pleasure freely from every craft. The best films are the ones that try to engage all senses. (Well, not smell. They tried that with Smell-O-Vision and it didn't work out so well.) 

So here are my choices for Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing and Editing, Best Original Song and a fifth category that's kind of "off-Oscar." The Film Bitch Awards have always had a Best Adapted / Combination / Song Score category for films where the original score is only part of the defining musical sensation and the rest comes from pre-existing material or songs that are woven into the sound mix. Films honored include in these various aural categories include The Handmaiden, Arrival, Moonlight, Lion, Jackie, La La Land, Sully, The Witch, Doctor Strange, Sing Street and more. Which movies did you love listening to this year? 

Final Predictions: Animation, Documentary, and Sound Categories

Another day another dizzying array of last minute nerves over this confusing Oscar race. We've already talked Picture, Director, Actor, and the Screenplay categories right here. Now several more categories...

Animated Feature
A couple of months ago The Red Turtle looked like the sure thing "art" entry in the this category but it doesn't appear to have gathered much momentum and I worry it may be omitted. Working the opposite trajectory is Kubo and the Two Strings (more and more popular... could it even give Zootopia a run for the win?) and My Life as a Courgette which could pick up nominations in both animated feature and foreign language feature, something that has never happened before.  

Documentary Feature
The only question that seems relevant at this point is "can anything beat O.J.: Made in America?"...

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Cinema Audio Society Nominees

The Cinema Audio Society have announced their nominations for their 53rd annual awards. Though they can help us see what's on the mind an in the ears of sound professionals, they don't necessarily tell us what's coming down the Oscar pike in Oscar's two Sound categories...

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Oscar Horrors: Flatliners (1990) Sound Editing

Boo! It's "Oscar Horrors". Each evening we'll look back on a horror-connected nomination until Halloween. Here's Sean Donovan on an atypical player...

I miss Joel Schumacher. Aside from two episodes of House of Cards in 2013, the man who brought bat-nipples, bat-codpiece, and lots of bat-ass to the original Batman film franchise has been largely distant from our screens today. Say what you will about Schumacher’s ability to craft fine cinematic art; his movies are fun. And for me, Batman & Robin and the gorgeously camp vampiric coming-of-age tale The Lost Boys more than earn him a spot in Hollywood’s gay hall of fame (do we have one of those?). Is there a more gloriously queer gesture than taking the Batman franchise, one of the sacred cows of straight male comic book fandom, and lathering it in trashy homoerotic leather daddy gear? 

Flatliners, Schumacher’s 1990 near-horror falls inbetween The Lost Boys and his Batman era...

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