Makeup and Hairstylists Guild Nominees

by Nathaniel R

Somehow in this very very very very overcrowded precursor award week, we missed the announcement of the Makeup and Hairstylists Guild nominations. The most curious thing to ponder is the differential between Oscar's makeup branch and this much-larger guild. While for the most part their lists are similar, Being the Ricardos scored two nominations here but did not make the 10-wide Oscar finalist list. The reverse was true of Nightmare Alley which was nowhere to be seen on this guild nomination list yet Oscar gave it the thumbs up in their first round of voting. West Side Story received only 1 nod here but made Oscar's list. (The complete shunning of both The French Dispatch and The Green Knight from this guild and Oscar's parallel branch feels absurd but awards season gonna awards season, you know?)

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Oscar Finalist List Predictions!

by Nathaniel R

On Monday (December 21st) we'll be hearing the Oscar finalists list in the 10 categories that use that process to winnow down the vast array of possibilities before nomination balloting. There were 9 previously but Oscar has added Sound into the mix this year. That category has had quite a rollercoaster of late, given that it was two categories just two years ago, it was conjoined for 2020, and now it joins the "bakeoff" groups; in short it's getting smaller and smaller each year! After Monday's massive reveal we can really dig in to each Oscar race (and closely revamp each Oscar chart) individually. Isn't it strange that the finalist lists in these 10 categories are coming so much earlier than the actual nomination ballots (which don't go out for another 5 and a 1/2 weeks.

Anyway, let's quickly predict the finalist lists, shall we? You can use this cheat sheet to laugh at me or praise me later, depending on my success rate. If there's a link we've previously written about the picture...

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Which Oscar contenders are streaming *right now*

Need something to watch this weekend at home? There are so many options. And consider this...

The Academy is voting right now (through December 15th) on the nine categories that have "finalist" lists before the actual nomination round. That's all three SHORTS categories, plus MAKEUP, VISUAL EFFECTS, SCORE, SONG, DOCUMENTARY, and INTERNATIONAL FEATURE. So dozens to hundreds of films will be eliminated on December 21st when those finalists lists are announced. But here are some key films that could theoretically make the finals in one or more of those categories that are free to stream right now -- free if you have that subscription of course. So these are some options if you're looking to catch up with buzzy or not-buzzy-but-of-interest possibilities...

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What films are we underestimating for tech nominations?

By Ben Miller

With the film year winding down, the higher-profile films are packing the predictions of Oscar pundits everywhere.  As easy as it is to predict Dune and Nightmare Alley to have plenty of technical nominations, what films are we underestimating?

For the last 18 years, at least one film has received a single Oscar nomination in a below-the-line category.  While it is not unusual for a film to receive a single nomination in Best Original Song, Original Score or Cinematography but these are the categories awards pundits and the Oscars themselves don't tend to pay as much attention to...

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Almost There: Jeff Goldblum in "The Fly"

by Cláudio Alves        

Last week, you were asked to choose a horror movie performance to be analyzed in the Almost There series. From the ten possibilities, the pick was Jeff Goldblum in David Cronenberg's The Fly. Telling the story of a scientist who accidentally gene-splices himself with a housefly, the movie is the platonic ideal of body horror and probably the title most readily associated with the subgenre. Chris Walas and Stephan Dupuis' makeup is justly legendary and won the pair an Oscar. One would think horror would be a mainstay in that particular category, but AMPAS rarely embraces it, even there. Hence why The Fly's awards success feels so thrilling. Unfortunately, it's also why Goldblum's transformative work was ignored...

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