Oscar Volleys: How Many Pop Hits in Best Original Song?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eurocheese and Baby Clyde...  

"Ciao Papa" in GUILLERMO DEL TORO'S PINOCCHIO

EUROCHEESE: Well Baby, It's Cold Outside and you know what that means - we're Falling Slowly into awards season, and it's time to name the songs seeking Glory in the City of Stars. There are a few big hits that Take My Breath Away: Rihanna's "Lift Me Up," which seems to be everywhere at the moment; Lady Gaga's "Hold My Hand" in the year's biggest hit that just won't slow down; and the standout song from Del Toro's Pinocchio, "Ciao Papa," which I expect will make the cut. Do you agree these three are solid initial nominees, or do you have High Hopes that rest elsewhere? Any Secret Love that you see near the top of your list?

BABY CLYDE: Hey Mr Cheese, I Just Called To Say I Love You. The Academy must be salivating at the prospect of this year’s nominees. Am I correct in thinking that Rihanna, Gaga, Taylor and Billie Eilish are all legit contenders in this category...

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Oscar Volleys: The Worldbuilding of Production Design

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eurocheese and Nick Taylor... 

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

EUROCHEESE: Hi Nick! We have an exciting group of larger-than-life worlds to conquer for Production Design, but maybe it would be best to start with the elephant in the room: Despite some mixed reviews on Babylon, I have to imagine if nothing else it will make its coked-up presence known here, as homage to Hollywood's glory days. Then we have two blockbuster sequels to previous Best Production Design winners, with Black Panther Wakanda Forever and Avatar The Way of Water both asking similar questions: will the branch be excited enough for an encore nomination? I'm actually leaning towards no, now that we've seen the CGI-heavy worlds. Both might make more sense in other craft categories.  I'm curious to hear your thoughts though...

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“Causeway” focuses on a (muted) road to recovery

by Eurocheese

Jennifer Lawrence has returned to the screen in Causeway, now streaming on Apple TV+. Lawrence plays a veteran recovering from an attack overseas. The film opens as she's working with a specialist (Tony winner Jayne Houdyshell, doing great work in a small role) to recover basic capabilities so she can return to “regular life.”  Once Lynsey (Lawrence) returns to her New Orleans home she has one clear goal in mind – return to active duty. Her mother (Tony nominee Linda Emond) spends her nights out drinking and forgets to pick Lynsey up when she arrives. There’s clearly a troubled history between them, but most of it is left unsaid – an ongoing tactic of the movie. Not wanting to be stuck at home, she gets a job cleaning pools. 

When Lynsey's truck has problems we meet the film's most interesting character, a shop owner named James (Brian Tyree Henry)...

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AFI Fest: Guillermo Del Toro dazzles with his take on “Pinocchio”

by Eurocheese

One of the most exciting debuts of the festival was Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio. The first thing that stands out about his adaptation, unsurprisingly, is the stunning visuals. Imagine a puppet show with a lush background where frames are so beautiful, singled out shots could easily serve as postcards. Well known characters such as the cricket (given the name Sebastian here) and the Blue Fairy mix deep blues with the monsters that always seem to lurk in Del Toro’s imagination. Think of it this way: If you crossed the animals from Isle of Dogs with the radiance of a stained-glass window, you’d get images like this. 

Del Toro came to present the film and spoke to having total control over the project, not allowing studio notes to mess with his vision (he used stronger language than "mess with")...

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AFI Fest: Jafar Panahi’s stark portrait of Iran in “No Bears”

by Eurocheese

Director/Writer Jafar Panahi is currently sitting in an Iranian prison cell. By way of introduction at the AFI Fest, currently taking place in Los Angeles, our audience was reminded of this. That's not all. We were also informed that he has told his wife that this prison stay has been his most difficult – a shocking statement considering his arrest in 2010 led to him to a hunger strike. This set the backdrop perfectly, as the film portrays Panahi’s take on the current state of affairs in his country. 

Within the first few minutes, the fourth wall is broken as we learn Panahi (playing himself) is using a stand-in director to film his new feature, presumably because he is not allowed to direct himself. Meanwhile, he is staying close to his cast and crew in a small town close to Iran's border for a few days...

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