Toxic Masculinity at the Oscars

by Deborah Lipp

the initial reaction to Rock's joke. Will laughs and Jada clenches her teeth.

The best director Oscar went to a woman for only the third time in history. It went to the only woman who was ever nominated twice. It went to Jane Campion for making a movie about the destructive power of toxic masculinity.

The elephant in the room, given that prize, was Will Smith’s toxic behavior. In case anyone was wondering if the patriarchy is at risk of being overthrown, there’s Smith assaulting someone on stage, in view of millions, and then moments later being applauded for a speech in which he declares he is all about love. He was not stopped, or escorted from the room, and he will face no consequences...

Click to read more ...

Interview: Peter Sciberras on editing four key scenes in 'The Power of the Dog'

by Nathaniel R

Peter Sciberras, the Oscar-nominated editor of The Power of the Dog

Final interview of the season! Editing is often called "the invisible art" but it's very visible. The audience just doesn't always know what they're looking at. Editors make a million choices in how we see, absorb, and feel the movies we love. I was thrilled to sit down with the editor Peter Siberras, who is Oscar nominated for his rich work on Jane Campion's Best Picture nominated future classic The Power of the Dog. As we started talking we shared stories about falling in love with editing.  Peter fell in love young when a housemate was making a music video and was having trouble finding an editor. "So, I gave it a shot one night at the age of 22," he recalls. "I instantly loved it. The second I did it I stopped thinking about any other career."

You can dip into everything you love about movies including cinematography, acting, and directing while you're editing, he explains. "Without doing all the hard work" he jokes. The editor's work is substantial after all. They essentially make the whole film over again after it's shot. Sciberra's big break came with David Michôd's thriller The Rover (2014) so he was already comfortable with dusty slow burn drama and building tension before Jane Campion came calling. For something a little different we focused on four specific beats in the film...

Click to read more ...

Film Bitch Award Medalists (aka If I magically chose all the Oscars)

by Nathaniel R

The Gold Medalists for acting this year: Colman, Cumberbatch, Negga, Domingo

The Film Bitch Awards are now in their 22nd year (gulp). While I don't normally track the stats of my own awards the way we all delight in tracking Oscar stats, I did notice that for the first time in all of those years the Picture/Director fields were an exact match. The nomination portion is more fun than the virtual medal ceremony since I've always believed that nominations are wins and spreading the wealth is more artistically accurate! The Power of the Dog emerged as the big winner (no surprise) with 5 Gold Medals. Dune and Zola were the only other films that picked up multiple gold medals in the Oscar parallel categories. (NOTE: The "extra" categories are not yet complete but we'll try to wrap them up before Oscar night).

See the Oscar parallel winners
Page 1  Picture, Director, Screenplay, Animated Feature
Page 2  Lead and Support Acting.
(Half of the 12 medalists -- gold, silver, and medal -- were not Oscar-nominated which is fairly typical. If I could choose only one "Performance of the Year" across all categories, it would be Ruth Negga for Passing. )
Page 3  Visual Categories
Page 4  Sound Categories

Oscar Volley: Best Picture in the final days...

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Baby Clyde, Elisa Giudici, Abe Friedtanzer and  Eric Blume to discuss Best Picture. We're not saving it for last. This conversation began BEFORE the PGA went to CODA but ends afterwards...

the five films with the most nominations this year.

ABE FRIEDTANZER: I'm thrilled to be talking the top Oscar prize with my esteemed colleagues Eric, Elisa, and Baby Clyde. I do think there's plenty to discuss here, but I believe that one film is very far out in front. That's The Power of the Dog, of course, which some may doubt after it missed out on an ensemble nomination from SAG. There is absolutely momentum for CODA after its win there and its triumph the night after that with the Hollywood Critics Association. But Dog also underperformed with nominations from the latter group, so the comparison isn't all that helpful. There just isn't enough going against Jane Campion's western for it to lose, in my opinion. But there are nine other nominees, and at least a few of those will siphon votes. Aside from CODA, King Richard gets a boost from its ACE Eddie win, and Drive My Car is worth considering since it hasn't been in competition with many other groups. What films do you think are still in the mix?

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Best Cinematography could make History

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio Alves, Nick Davis, Ben Miller, and Eurocheese discussing the Best Cinematography race.

CLÁUDIO ALVES: From an aged future that looks like the ancient past to a black-and-white nightmare of Expressionistic Shakespeare, from digital polish to a rainbow of 35mm lens flares, the Best Cinematography Oscar race presents a cornucopia of varied visual strategies. However, to celebrate this category for variety feels somewhat disingenuous this year. For the first time since the color and black-and-white categories merged in 1967, the Cinematography ballot looks identical to the Production Design one. Even though voted on by separate branches, these lineups' sameness speaks to a broader problem – how the Academy feels increasingly resistant to expand its interest beyond a select group of pictures each season…

Click to read more ...