"All the Beauty...", "Banshees of Inisherin" and "Bones and All" win big at Venice

by Nathaniel R

Cate Blanchett, Director Laura Poitras, and Colin Farrell all took home prizes

While The Whale and Don't Worry Darling hogged a lot of the press here in America, they weren't favourites of this year's Venice jury, both going home empty-handed. Julianne Moore presided over this year's jury which included Mariano Cohn, Leonardo Di Costanzo, Audrey Diwan (the Golden Lion winner last year -- our interview!), Leila Hatami, Kazuo Ishiguro and Rodrigo Sorogoyen. They gave the top prize to a buzzy documentary about Nan Goldin, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. Though they didn't win the top prize both Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin and Luca Guadagnino's Bones and All took home two prizes each...

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Venice Gowns (and Pants) '22, Round 2

by Nathaniel R

online polls

Tessa Thompson and Jodie Turner-Smith continued to bring the DRAMA (all caps intended) and rising star Taylor Russell (Waves, Bones and All)  joined them in boldness. Meanwhile Maude Apatow went classic, Chloe Sevigny went short, Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education) was doing a polka dot theme all day including this gown. And last but not least, Timothée Chalamet and Cate Blanchett knew exactly what to wear to keep people talking. So which was your favourite?

Which of these '94 born actors will follow Saoirse Ronan to an Oscar nomination?

by Nathaniel R

Saoirse Ronan for Vogue magazine

It's 27 days until Oscar so we thought we'd have a little speculative discussion prompt with the magic number of 27. Saoirse Ronan, who turns 27 next month, is the only actor born in 1994 to have been Oscar nominated so far. What's more she's already done it an incredible four times. Still Saoirse won't be the only Oscar-nominated member of the '94 vintage for much longer. The late twentysomething years is when female actors start getting Oscar-nominated and it's when the male actors start buiding the kind of fame that eventually earns them nominations (we don't make these double standard arbitrary age rules but it's how Hollywood operates, statistically and generally speaking).

So who do you think will be the first to join Saoirse from this crop of actors turning 27 in 2021? We've selected six that we're most impressed by (currently) after the jump as well as a few handfuls of alternates. Which of these actors are you rooting for and who has the brightest future?

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Major shakeups in the Best Supporting Actress race

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There's a ton of movement on the new Best Supporting Actress Oscar prediction chart. Laura Dern and Jennifer Lopez might be all locked up but that's for nominations, the win is still very much anyone's game. Florence Pugh has been gaining momentum with Little Women more heavily screening now and the fact that she takes a well worn familiar character and suddenly makes her freshly fascinating. The Academy would never touch MidSommar but enthusiasm for her leading performance there in critical quarters doesn't exactly hurt her prestige factor since she's still a relative lesser known in Hollywood. Meanwhile in the Oscar darling realms of voting, early screenings of Richard Jewell in Los Angeles have prompted suspicion that Kathy Bates might finally be back in an Oscar lineup (it's been 17 years since her comic turn in About Schmidt brought her her third and to date final nod). Perhaps we shouldn't have plopped her right into the lineup so soon but if we have misjudged we'll adjust next week after screening the picture. 

Also rising in the charts this time: 75 year-old newbie Zhao Shuzhen (The Farewell), Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (Luce), and fresh revelation Taylor Russell (Waves) who all netted important Spirit nominations this week. 

Honorary Oscars 2019 - Red Carpet!

by Nathaniel R

Once you start seeing who shows up at ceremonies that they don't even technically have to be at, you know who is serious about their own awards prospects. Or maybe who just wants to be there to support their film in the event that constant reminders help a film get nominated (that's a yes, they do). At the Honorary Oscar ceremony last night in Los Angeles the stars were out in force and it's easy to see the films that are already serious about pushing their awards prospects hard: the cast and/or directors of Booksmart, Hustlers, Little Women, Waves, Atlantics, Pain and Glory, Bombshell, Marriage Story, 1917, Harriet were out in force. 

Let's look at the lovely gowns and tuxes shall we? 

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