"Banshees" and "Everything Everywhere" lead the SAG Nominations

by Nathaniel R

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE scores 5 SAG nominations. One for each hot dog finger on a hand

It’s a rapidly changing world. This year’s 29th annual SAG Awards are leaving their usual home on cable for a live stream on Netflix’s YouTube channel. The 30th edition a full year from now will set the new norm (?) as SAG will begin streaming live globally on Netflix. That potentially means more viewers given Netflix’s popularity and reach, and it potentially means less as awards shows continue their trending to more niche entertainment that's exclusively for us obsessive awards nerds despite its annual attempts to appeal to everyone.

But we’re here to discuss the nominations which are upon us...

Click to read more ...

ADG Nominees

by Nathaniel R

The Art Directors Guild have named their film nominees in four categories (Period, Fantasy, Contemporay, and Animated). While the nominations are of note themselves, of course, they are also key tells in the tale of the year's Oscar race as the Best Production Design ogenerally come from a combo of three of those four categories; Sadly Oscar's branch members have never honored an animated film in the category, even a stop motion film which of course built actual sets with set decoration, just like live-action movies do...

Click to read more ...

Chaotic SAG Predictions. You ready?

by Nathaniel R

BABYLON

Beyond the Golden Globes, the most unpredictable of the major awards historically, in terms of nominations, has been the Screen Actors Guild. Their nominations will be announced on January 11th which is just a few days away. The nominating committee rotates each year so it's never the same group of people doing the judging. Sometimes they'll spring for a performance no one (at all) saw coming ("Naomi Watts in St Vincent" / "Sarah Silverman in I Smile Back") and sometimes they'll stump for a major star and give us false hopes that their delicious work won't be too outré for Oscar voters (hello, "Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy"). Sometimes they seem a month or two behind the general Oscar buzz or contrarian and other times they fall right in line like they've been studying prediction charts from pundits. In short, which kind of year will it be for them?

You won't want to hear this but our crystal ball keeps saying "Babylon" despite its harsh reviews and tepid box office. Is this thing broken? Anyway, ON TO THE PREDICTIONS...

Click to read more ...

Chicago, Phoenix, and Boston online critics agree...

by Nathaniel R

We've reached the portion of film critics awards season where the groupthink is really kicking in despite a plethora of options avaiable to voters. I don't blame the critics groups so much as the process. Critics groups tend to be a lot more interesting if they all vote in a room together on winners (where they can discuss) than they do when they name nominations and do simple vote counts... you're bound to end up less adventurous with the second system. There is shockingly little variation in the winners from Chicago, Boston (Online) and Phoenix. The three latest groups to announce have the exact same winners for Picture (Banshees) Director (EEAAO), Actress (Blanchett), Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Screenplay (Banshees), Score (Babylon), and Animated Feature (Pinocchio). There is no single category in which all three groups have a different winner....

Click to read more ...

Critics Choice. Nominations for Everything Everywhere and for Everyone!

by Nathaniel R

The Critics Choice Award Nominations have been announced for the 2022 film and television year with Everything Everywhere All At Once (14 nods), The Fabelmans (11 nods), and Babylon (10 nods) leading the pack. (They said "long movies only!"). I have yet to meet any critics who were totally wild for Babylon though I do know one industry person that is. The CCA have not heard our moans and groans that if you nominate everything, nominations aren't that special or exciting. They've taken their mode of choosing one more than the Oscars or SAG or Guilds do in their categories (to help them with their predictions... sigh) and applied it even to the now ten wide field of Oscar's Best Picture race by choosing 11 titles. (double sigh).

Here are the nominations...

Click to read more ...