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...

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Oscar Volley: Which five will be named "Best Director"?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eric Blume and Glenn Dunks...  

THE FABELMANS

ERIC:  Glenn, before we get to this year's nominees, I just want to celebrate the Academy's relative great taste in this category compared to most others.  It's phenomenal that only once in the last 14 years has this award gone to a straight white American man (Damien Chazelle, deservedly in my opinion).  In those years, we've had three women, two Asian men, two Brits, and a French guy who have won, plus three great Latin filmmakers (including double wins for Iñárritu and Cuarón).  It's the category where they now have diversity and true talent.  I might have chosen differently in any given year, but none of the filmmakers are bad or untalented.  Tom Hooper beating David Fincher didn't land back then and certainly hasn't aged well, but regardless it's a great category filled with remarkable work.

This year, it seems our one lock is Steven Spielberg?  He wouldn't be in my top five, but he's received the reviews and the industry is in his back pocket...

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Team Experience Predix - Round 2: Doc, International & Animation

Every other week, we’re polling The Film Experience Writers on where the Oscar race stands. These predictions were done just a day before the Golden Globes announcement. Most of the Best Picture contenders were cited by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (except for Women Talking) but this set of predictions does not account for The Banshees of Inisherin suddenly leading the pack at the Globes.

BEST PICTURE
Yes, The Fabelmans continues to sit on top of most people’s predictions. Still, the only place to go is down...

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Oscar Volley: How do you choose only 15 finalists for "Best International Feature"?

Team Experience will be discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here’s Elisa Giudici and Abe Friedtanzer…

Argentina, 1985

ELISA: Abe, have been handed one of the toughest Oscar volleys of the year. The Best International Film category is maddening: more than 90 possible contenders, the majority of whom are still unavailable. My first impression this year is that no movie has already locked up a nomination. There is no Parasite, no Another Round, no crystal-clear, 100% sure contender who can sleep tight until the nomination morning. Do you have the same impression? 

There are of course some strong contenders in the category, such as Argentina, 1985. I saw this movie in Venice and underestimated its crowdpleasing power...

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Golden Globe Predix. Which movies / celebrities will they love most?

by Nathaniel R

Do people remember that the original AVATAR triumphed at the Globes. Might AVATAR THE WAY OF WATER repeat?

The Golden Globe nominations arrive on Monday morning. The HFPA has been (mostly) dormant since their broadcast banishment but they hope to be back on the mainstream audience's radar this year. They've been doing internal reforms and recruiting new members, so predicting them is theoretically a whole new ballgame.

Both Tom Cruise and Brendan Fraser have both been outspoken anti-Globe celebrities and the Globes have also been taken to task for racial biases. Either of these things might play into voting or they might not. Because you need a guiding principal for wide open contests like this, the one I've chosen is assuming they'll love Elvis (a very Globes-friendly film) and Banshees of The Inisherin the most.  Who knows how they'll vote but let's try to predict anyway.  But let's try anyway... 

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