Podcast Retro: Oscar Nomination Morning

I did a bad thing readers. I lost the audio file after meeting with the always opinonated and game Eric Blume and Chris James, who I am lucky to count as friends. We spoke on the evening of the Oscar nominations in late January. I figured better late than never since we had a good time chatting and I realized I sincerely missed podcasting. But I found it this morning buried deep in a unexpected place on my hard drive. How did it get there? Who knows! If you'd like a throwback to a more innocent time before we all knew who would win everything Sunday night listen in on iTunes or Spotify or download the attachment below. 

And given my scatterbrained challenges and the odd timing of the post, do tell in the comments:

What are you feeling / thinking NOW that you wouldn't have expected back in late January when these nominations were first announced? 

Oscar Nom Throwback Jan 24

Don't go anywhere...

We've got a few more Oscar wrap-up pieces coming but please stick around even if you're sick of Oscar talk ("Never!," some of you shout while others roll their eyes). We want to have a beautiful 2024 against the odds. We can't promise 5 articles a day as in the salad years or to keep up with the news like the trades do with their big budgets / full time staffs (though we foolishly tried for years)  but hopefully what we lack in quantity we can make up for in quality. Here's a small sampling of things we're working on behind the scenes...

• SXSW reviews
• A Fatal Attraction appreciation (Reader Request)
• 50th anniversary look back at the 45th Academy Awards (Godfather vs Cabaret)
• Coverage of the upcoming Tony / Emmy seasons
• New Reviews Soon... and Cannes too (Elisa will cover again) to start the new film year
• April Foolish Oscar Predictions

And we're hoping to do more reader requests, too, as we miss the sense of community that brings when we're all watching the same things. Also plz follow on Facebook, Substack, Letterboxd, Instagram, and Twitter. (I am also on TikTok but still terrified to use it. Will follow back for moral support if you feel similarly)

xo, Nathaniel

Year in Review: Nathaniel's 'Multiversal' Top Ten List & Personal Prizes

by Nathaniel R

Multiverses were the hot trend in mainstream cinema this year with the MCU banking its whole future on the appeal of mirror dimensions and alternate timelines. If you take the trend less franchise-literal, it was even more omnipresent. Multiple films asked us to consider alternate realities, ahistorical timelines, and the multiplicity of identity through the power of both storytelling and our own imagination. It's through this broad prism that I present my take on the year's best films.

I hope you enjoy though it always bears repeating that "Best" is necessarily subjective; We each occupy our own universes when it comes to these matters. Before the top ten, a bakers dozen of honorable mentions...

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11th Annual Team Experience Award - WINNERS

From the team…

The team is just as obsessed with Lydia Tár as she is of herself.
Preferential balloting can do crazy things. It was neck and neck over the course of five rounds, with different films taking the lead at different moments. In the end, TÁR prevailed in the Best Picture race. Overall, the team of Film Experience writers decided to spread the wealth, rather than give Lydia Tár all the awards under the sun. In fact, this year’s Best Picture winner only won two other categories - Best Actress (tied) and Best Original Screenplay. Everything Everywhere All At Once also won three awards - Director, Supporting Actor and Film Editing.

Check out the rest of the winners after the jump...

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ICYMI - Best Picture "Split Decisions"

The "Split Decision" series was created by the Team here because we realized nobody ever fully agrees on any movie; That's part of their fascination and the fun of awards season (if you keep it civil of course... which the internet tends to struggle with). The series will return soon with the final episodes on Top Gun Maverick and Women Talking but if you're just rejoining us we've already covered the other eight Best Picture nominees so we'd love for you to join the conversations on All Quiet on the Western Front (on Netflix), Avatar (in theaters), Banshees of Inisherin (in theaters and on HBOMax) Elvis (on HBOMax)  Everything Everywhere All At Once (on Showtime and rentable), The Fabelmans (in theaters & rentable), TÁR (rentable) and Triangle of Sadness (rentable).

When we started the series we didn't know what would be Best Picture nominated so we also discussed Babylon and The Whale. How far do you suppose they were from the Academy's top 10 vote getters? Or was something else vying for 11th?  Should we do the Split Decisions series again in the future? We'd love to hear your input.