Once Upon a Time ... in more critics prizes!

by Nathaniel R

Pint sized big talent Julia Butters and Quentin Tarantino both won prizes recently for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

In the latest round up of critics prizes we have critics from the SouthEastern US, Las Vegas, Boston (online) and one of the two (or is it three now?) female critics organizations called "Women's Film Critic's Circle". Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Parasite pick up several more prizes as do Portrait of a Lady on Fire and... Harriet? 

Tomorrow one of the historically coolest and most discerning critics groups is naming their winners (Boston Society of Film Critics -- don't fail us!) but until that potentially exciting announcement here are the latest four associations to announce. The winners and a few comments are after the jump...

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The Margot Robbie conundrum

by Cláudio Alves

This year's SAG Awards feature an assortment of multiple nominees across categories. Nicole Kidman, Al Pacino, and Scarlett Johansson scored a rare triple nod and they weren't the only ones. Margot Robbie also did it thanks to her participation in two of this season's juiciest awards magnets. In Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood, she's Sharon Tate, while, in Bombshell, Robbie gives life to Kayla Pospisil, a fictional character that stands in for many of the women victimized by Fox News' toxic work environment.

Since Cannes, Tarantino's take on Hollywood's most tragic ingenue has been put through heavy scrutiny. Robbie's role has been accused of being a misogynistic and limited take on Sharon Tate, terminally underwritten and underutilized to boot. Even so, Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood is a critics' darling while Bombshell has been promptly lambasted as soon as the review embargo ended. Controversies notwithstanding, I confess myself dismayed at the way Margot Robbie's Oscar hopes seem to have concentrated solely on the Jay Roach flick…

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"Everyone was nominated... except you!" Our annual SAG outrage!

by Nathaniel R

Alanna Ubach does a lot with very little screen time in "Bombshell" but she isn't part of the cast nomination

We'll keep doing these posts each year until the Screen Actors Guild does something about their most unfortunate awards rule. For those who are new to the awards game, please note: If you are a working actor lucky enough to wind up in a film nominated for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture," that doesn't mean you are included in the nomination; you have to have your own title card for that! What this means each year is that actors who aren't really famous yet, or don't have an aggressive agent, wind up left out of the official nomination even if they contributed immeasurably to the success of the film or were highly memorable in some small but defining way.

So who got the stealth snub in 2019, who otherwise had every reason to celebrate the nomination? Read on for the specific exclusions this year and the history of most embarrassing omissions from the past due this ruling...

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The AFI Lists

The AFI are now in their 20th year so they're as old as our own Film Bitch Awards ;) Each year they choose 10 American movies to honor and 10 American television programs and then usually make one nod to non American things as they did this year with shoutouts to South Korea (Parasite) and the UK (Fleabag). Their nominating jury is made up of critics, movie people, and other luminaries and changes each year. But regardless of the individual voters you usually end up with something like the Oscar list. This year leans VERY December as if no other months held movies so the jury had extremely short attention spans. That said at least The Farewell and Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood are surviving those very very very short attention spans that always plague voters.

Here is the full list of this year’s honorees who will be honored at a luncheon in January...

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The Best Production Design Oscar Race

By Cláudio Alves

Will a Tarantino movie finally be nominated for Best Production Design?

Let's take a look at the Best Production Design Oscar race. While period pieces and fantasy extravaganzas dominate the costuming category, production designers are more open to other styles, too, like sci-fi, contemporary excellence, and even superhero movies. That said, at least in regards to the films that have already opened, the major contenders are roughly the same as with the Best Costume Design Oscar race. 

THOSE WE'VE ALREADY SEEN

Rick Heinrichs designed Dumbo's spectacular sets.

Rick Heinrichs won an Oscar for a previous collaboration with Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow) and his designs for Dumbo are quite good, like nightmare visions of an Art Deco Disneyland. I’m less enchanted with Gemma Jackson’s pseudo-Arabian designs, but it would be foolish to count Aladdin out of the race...

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