Film Bitch Awards: Yellow Coats, Breathy Vocals, and Facial Reconstruction, Oh My!

by Nathaniel R

In an alternate reality somewhere I am a punctual cinephile, delivering his own personal awards with metronomic precision, one category per day for a month before the Oscar nominations or at least between the nominations and the big night. But we are in this reality and there are never enough hours in the day and always last minute screenings to shove in to try to see everything that people are talking about. While you'll have to wait to see my personal acting ballots until after the Oscar aftermath fades (as I'm still writing up star turns and need to have a clear head) but the rest of the 'traditional' i.e. Oscar parallel categories of my own awards are now up for your viewing / thinking / comparing-to-your-own-faves pleasure. I know it's Oscar day but I thought I'd throw this up if you're tired of talking predictions but are still hopped up with movie fever...

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Oscar Volleys: Let’s wrap this up!

The Oscars are TONIGHT. To end the volleys, Cláudio Alves and Nathaniel Rogers are here to cover all the categories the team hadn't yet discussed…

THE BRUTALIST | © A24

CLÁUDIO: As much as we try to cover every Oscar race at The Film Experience, it isn't always easy to get conversations going for all of them. So, here we are, Nathaniel, dealing with the last slew of races before the big night. Since last time, we focused so much on the eye candy trifecta, we could give the place of privilege to the aural achievements now. Or Best Editing since that's so strongly correlated to Best Picture. And let me tell you, I am quite lost when it comes to that particular lineup. I could see all five of the nominees winning. Though I presume The Brutalist has the least chance since it is my favorite, and I've learned, over the years, to predict pessimistically to avoid disappointments. It's a good method - everyone should try it.

NATHANIEL: Predicting pessimistically has cost me at times for overall punditry scores (not that I care to much about those stats) but the amount of emotional armor it provides is helpful…

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The Oscar Shortlists for the 97th Academy Awards

by Nathaniel R

EMILIA PÉREZ © Shanna Besson

Today the Academy released the shortlists for the 10 categories that use this system, wherein a large number of eligible movies or narrowed down to a more manageable size for the voters in those categories. You can be sure we will be updating the Oscar charts as a result (and you'll find we already have for the other categories!) The lists are usually revealing, fun, disappointing, surprising, and energizing in roughly equal measure. This year though they skipped the "surprising" factor altogether, unless you count the variety in Best Original Score. Emilia Perez led the pack with six citations, but that wasn't surprising since the Spanish language trans cartel drama musical was eligible in most of the categories whereas most of its best picture competitors were not.  

Okay let's look at what they selected in each of those categories...

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Ranking Alan Menken's Oscar Nominations

by Cláudio Alves

Alan Menken accepts the Best Original Song Oscar for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Earlier this week, Alan Menken celebrated his 75th birthday. As a stage composer turned motion picture maestro, he's authored a number of original musicals, enchanting generations across the decades. Indeed, many could probably credit Disney's favorite composer with the soundtrack of their childhood – I know I can. For his efforts, Menken amassed 19 Oscar nominations and eight victories, many of which he shared with the writers who put words to his music. To celebrate the man's legacy, I shall give him the same treatment bestowed on John Williams a few months ago and rank all his nods, both in the score and song categories…

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April Foolish Predictions: Eye Candy and Music

by Nathaniel R

The Dietzes are back in "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" and so is costume design goddess Collen Atwood. Photo © Parisa Taghizadeh for Warner Bros

Our April Foolish tradition continues with the visual and sound categories. For this installment we're just picking highlights from our crystal ball. Read on...

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