YNMS Double: "Dune Part Two" and "Strange Way of Life"

by Nathaniel R

In case you missed 'em, feast your eyes on newish trailers for two of the most anticipated films of the year. Denis Villeneuve and company return to Arrakis for Dune Part Two and Pedro Almodóvar making his second English-language short film (after the Tilda show The Human Voice), a gay western called Strange Way of Life. Please note that the poster for the latter is basically doing Johnny Guitar cosplay, even if we hadn't already been sold by Almodóvar + Gay Western...

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Oscar Predictions, 1st Round: Best Animated Feature

by Nathaniel R

It's time to begin the annual April Foolish Predictions debacle. We say debacle and we call them "Foolish" not just as a pun on April Fools (even though yes, the bulk of these will be in May - shut up!) but because we know so little about the year's contenders this early in the year. After the jump the list of animated pictures that might be in play and the possibility that the two female breakouts from 2021's West Side Story may go head-to-head in this category as musical protagonists... 

THE CHART IF YOU WANNA SEE IT. BUT HERE IS MORE INFO...

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The Academy sticks with March for Oscar night

Contrary to the Academy's pre-pandemic intention with Parasite's big night being the earliest Oscars of all time* (February 9th, 2020), Hollywood's High Holy Night has settled back into March as its sweet spot, when the bulk of ceremonies have been held throughout history. Forty-nine of the ninety-five ceremonies to date, or roughly 52% of them, have been held in March. In short, AMPAS is no longer trying to progressively shorten the season as had been their pre-COVID plan.

The 96th Oscars will be held on March 10th, 2024 to be exact. The press release and a bit more Oscar history are after the jump... 

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Review: “Air” Taps into Nostalgic 80s Charm

by Eurocheese

'Air Jordan'
I dunno... Maybe it'll grow on me?

Throwbacks in film can be difficult to manage, especially to time periods we remember well. Air, which recounts the story of Nike's pursuit to sign future global superstar Michael Jordan, kicks off with a montage of 1984 pop culture references,  depicting the positive and sometimes corny images that we associate with life at the time. One of this movie’s greatest accomplishments is finding the heightened, breezy sheen that pervaded movies in that era and allowing itself to rest there. We all understand where this film is going, so we can relax and enjoy the ride along the way, soaking in all the fun details (remember green screen computers?). We can also watch the negotiations and lean in with the knowledge that Michael Jordan did, in fact, become the superstar marketing executive Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) believed he would...

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Which one of this season's Oscar nominees will return soonest?

by Nathaniel R

We just recorded the Oscar post-mortem podcast and we ended by asking the participants which of the 20 acting nominees from the 95th Academy Awards would be back shortly. Everyone picked someone different. This Oscar season was record-breaking in terms of first-time nominees for acting -- 16 of 20 is insane (and wonderful)! We can't expect it will happen again at the 96th Oscars since it's so unusual. So which one of the nominees Hollywood just celebrated will be back next season... or the season after that if none of them repeat in a year's time. Who comes back first? Would love to hear your theories on this in the comments!

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