The Oscar Week: Greta, Jake, and Timothée

Murtada is back with his weekly Oscars feature for a new season, following Oscar contenders and examining how their many interviews and appearances impact their chances.

Gerwig at the Gotham Awards

Are you ready for another season of Oscar campaign shenanigans? Frankly I wasn’t. In the year in which Hollywood revealed its ugly hidden true self of rampant sexual harassment, maybe they shouldn’t spend so much time patting themselves on the back. Cancel the Oscars, I cried to one in particular.

But then Greta Gerwig took me out of my dark despair...

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All the Plummer in the World

Chris here. While we've been waiting for reactions on the big late year arrivals and potential Oscar players The Post and Phantom Thread, don't forget that we have another film yet to be seen: Ridley Scott's All the Money in the World. Though admittedly what we're anticipating here is if the film will arrive on time at all or not.

The film famously went back into reshoots last month to replace Kevin Spacey after several sexual assault revelations came to light regarding the actor. Scott had originally wanted Christopher Plummer for the role of J. Paul Getty, and now he's getting his wish - and sans the unfortunate looking makeup that shrowded Spacey. But by all reports, Scott will achieve the difficult casting overhaul and the film will open on schedule on December 22.

Which means all eyes will be mostly on Plummer as Getty and the potential for him to be a last-minute player in the Best Supporting Actor race. By the looks of the first footage, Plummer is a more chilling and formiddable presence than the glimpses we saw from Spacey. From the new trailer, what do you think of Plummer's chances?

Sundance Primer: The 2018 Dramatic Competition Lineup

It's a wonderful week for diversity! In the festival world, at least. The American and International Dramatic Competition lineup for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival was announced and it includes narratives representing people of all kinds from all over the world. This year's lineup also features exciting film directorial debuts from familiar (Idris Elba! Paul Dano!) and new visionaries.

In the past, major films like Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and this year's awards darling Call Me By Your Name premiered under this category. Check out this year's contenders to gauge who critics and audiences will still be talking about months after the festival's run.

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Amazon Pilot Season: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

By Spencer Coile 

Each year, Amazon releases a handful of their pilot episodes for Prime members to stream. This is a unique twist on determining the worth of new series -- viewer feedback factors prominently into Amazon's pickup decisions. Recent Amazon hits such as Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, and recently The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel have all weathered Amazon pilot season to become full fledged series. 

Yet while this trend is potentially on its way out the door, we were still offered a fresh batch of pilot episodes to help get us through fall of 2017: The Climb, Love You More, and Sea Oak. But which of these three (if any) have the most potential for receiving a full series pickup?...

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Every Oscar Chart Updated!

Oscar voters don't begin voting for quite some time still but precursors season is off like a shot: we've already had the Gotham Awards, the Spirit nominations, the NBR and NYFCC announcements and the Directors Guild of America got their nomination ballots this week, too. They generally come close to matching Oscar's eventual list and in ye olden times of 5 wide categories they were considered the single best predictor for the eventual Best Picture nominees. We pray they choose wisely this year. It'd be so great to have a female director in the shortlist this year, wouldn't it? (hint hint) 

In case you've missed various posts like Adapted Screenplay confusion, the diverse director field, and the deep best actress & supporting actress bench, please to know that every Oscar prediction chart has been revamped. Some new text, some fresh images, and definite shifts in ranking. Read them and weep or rejoice depending on whether your favorites are predicted or not.

PICTURE | DIRECTOR | ACTRESS | ACTOR | SUPPORTING ACTRESS | SUPPORTING ACTOR | SCREENPLAYS | FOREIGN FILM | VISUAL CATEGORIES | AURAL CATEGORIES | ANIMATED AND DOCUMENTARY CATEGORIES