FYC: The Furniture's 2017 Oscar Ballot

"The Furniture," by Daniel Walber, is our weekly series on Production Design. You can click on the images to see them in magnified detail.

Production design can be a tricky thing to award. Like so many other categories, there’s a tendency to simply recognize “most,” rather than “best.” Moreover, great design can hide in plain sight. Brilliantly-conceived sets can seem like ready-made locations, particularly in contemporary films. Transportive design elements sit in the background, working their magic under the radar. It can take both a close eye and a little extra research to identify the year’s best work.

Still, here we are. Oscar voting is open and it’s time to make a last pitch. Below are my ideal nominees for Best Production Design, five films that often press up against detailed realism, while never letting go of their own movie magic...

Click to read more ...

Golden Globe Winners. What does it mean for Oscar?

by Nathaniel R

Sally, Frances, and Martin on Globes nightWe'll dig into the ceremony and key details soon but for now a complete winners list with Oscar aftermath thoughts...

Motion Picture Drama
Call Me By Your Name
Dunkirk
The Post
Shape of Water
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri ★

I predicted The Post. As did Seth Myers in a way with a rather hilarious opening monologue joke about bringing all the trophies out as soon as he said the title -- a joke that Spielberg & company had a big laugh about. Whooops. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri was already looking strong going into the Oscar nominations but basically owned Globes night so it might be the film to beat.

Best Picture (in terms of a win) still feels up in the air though, doesn't it?

Click to read more ...

Box Office: Jumanji, Tonya, and the Oscar waiting game

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Jan 5th-7th)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  $36 (cum. $244.3)	1.🔺 I Tonya $2.4 on 242 screens (cum. $5.2)  REVIEW | GLOBE SURPRISE?
2. 🔺  Insidious The Last Key $29.2 (cum. $212.1)	2.🔺 The Post $1.7 on 36 screens (cum. $3.8) REVIEW | OSCAR KICK-OFF PODCAST
3. The Last Jedi $23.5 (cum. $572.5) LYNN'S REVIEW | NATHANIEL'S TAKE	3. Call Me By... $758k on 117 screens (cum. $6) REVIEWISH | SCREENPLAY | SEX
4. The Greatest Showman $13.8 (cum. $75.9) REVIEW | ZAC ATTACK | ZENDAYA	4.🔺 Hostiles $310k on 46 screens (cum. $435k)
5. Pitch Perfect 3 $10.2 (cum. $85.9) REVIEW	5.🔺 Along with the Gods $280k on 35 screens ($1.1)

One thing that we're always forcefully reminded of each holiday season -- since we tend to forget -- is that the whole world is not, in point of fact, thinking about Oscar buzz. Each year countless films casually ring up rather large box office returns without generating any "heat" in award season and some not even being part of that game. Insidious for example had the weekend to itself in terms of new wide releases and was rewarded for it. The Greatest Showman, is another one that isn't really banking on Oscar love. The musical's global gross has already doubled its budget (though given the P&A expenditures it's probably got some ways to go before a profit still)...

Click to read more ...

Globe Predictions Anyone?

by Nathaniel R

A few days back David Poland asked the Gurus of Gold to predict the Globes and I became obsessed with the notion that I, Tonya would be the surprise heavyweight. I was pretty much alone in that with nearly the entire group thinking Lady Bird's got this in the bag (a couple of people think Get Out). I think my I Tonya prediction was more a product of my fear since the wildly positive response to the movie surprised me and sent me back for a second viewing which only strengthened my resolve that it's a) not good and b) highly problematic...

Click to read more ...

Producer's Guild Nominations: Wonder Woman is this year's Deadpool

by Nathaniel R

The Producer's Guild, by "virtue" of the fact that they have more nominees than Oscar each year, often get fairly close to "predicting" the Best Picture list. This year they've chosen 11 titles. Recency bias surely helped give Molly's Game a winning hand and the PGA's love of the blockbuster delivered for Wonder Woman which is a good call here since it did help define the year and superhero movies are very much producer events. Last year Deadpool was nominated at the PGA and was the only film to drop off on Oscar nominaiton morning. The other 9 pictures selected are all then looking strong as Best Picture possibilities for the Oscar nominations on January 23rd. Nominations and more commentary after the jump...

Click to read more ...