Almost There: Barry Keoghan in "Saltburn" & Andrew Scott in "All of Us Strangers"

by Cláudio Alves

Earlier this week, the Almost There series returned with a look at Penélope Cruz's failed bid for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Now, it's time to move on to Lead Actor, where the season's most prominent contender without a nomination was Leonardo DiCaprio in Killers of the Flower Moon. But since you're probably tired of reading my defense of Scorsese's latest, I decided to focus on two others instead. The first victim is Barry Keoghan in Saltburn, for which he was nominated at the Golden Globes, BAFTAS, and Critics Choice Awards. Our second sacrifice is Andrew Scott, whose campaign for All of Us Strangers was full of passion but few actual plaudits. There were nominations at the Globes, Spirit and British Independent Film Awards, little else...

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The CDG loves "Barbie" pink but doesn't care for "The Color Purple"

by Cláudio Alves

Don't be sad, Mr. WONKA. Better luck next time.

Once upon a time, the Costume Designers Guild differed from the Academy on the regular. It wasn't even that long ago when three of the Oscar nominees got nothing from their guild, including winner Jacqueline Durran for Little Women. However, since that year, every Academy lineup has been entirely made from CDG-honored titles. It's hard to tell if the trend will continue, but, at the very least, one can surmise that the absence of a film indicates a lack of broad industry support. So, it's bad news for Wonka and The Color Purple. In the former's case, it's especially galling when you notice it was beaten by such critically lambasted projects as Disney's Haunted Mansion and the first Rebel Moon movie.

From Barbie pink to Crown gold, let's explore the complete list of nominations…

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The Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild disagrees with the Academy

by Cláudio Alves

Is GOLDA a bigger contender than predicted?

Not every Hollywood guild is in perpetual agreement with AMPAS. However, for most of them, the disagreement is unnoticeable until Oscar nomination morning. Not so with the Makeup Artists & Hair Stylists Guild, MUAHS for short, whose choices significantly differ from the 15-wide Academy shortlist. Despite having five categories with five nominees each, the guild managed to "snub" over half of AMPAS' selection. The only titles to appear in both lists are Maestro, Poor Things, Oppenheimer, and Golda, while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is one of the MUAHS nomination leaders after getting surprisingly shut out of the Oscar shortlist. 

Discover the full list of film nominations after the jump…

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Oscar Volley: Is There Room for Surprise in Best Original Screenplay?

Team Experience is discussing each Oscar category as we head into the precursors. Here's Eric Blume and Nick Taylor to talk Best Original Screenplay...

Portrait of Nick and Eric discussing the Best Original Screenplay race

ERIC:  Hi Nick, we have some great options in the Original Screenplay category this year.  It feels like there's two guarantees for a nomination:  Greta Gerwig's Barbie (unless it changes categories and is nominated for Adapted instead) and David Hemingson's The Holdovers.  I like both of those pictures enormously, and both films succeed largely on the words and structure of their screenplays.  The Holdovers is essentially out of a Screenwriting 101 class, in the best way possible, in that it has all the classic elements (inciting incident, minute 30 turn, minute 60 turn, etc.) that scripts are built upon, but Hemingson executes everything very artfully so it feels satisfying rather than him hitting points...

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Critics Choice Awards: "Barbie" Scores the Most Nominations EVER!

by Cláudio Alves

The Critics Choice Association, formerly the Broadcast Film Critics Association, has announced its nominees for 2023. As always, rather than reflecting the critical consensus, they're little more than an attempt at predicting the Oscars. One wonders how an organization like this can feel so divorced from what critics are actually celebrating. In any case, it's time to analyze their choices as precursors in the race for gold and point to whatever idiosyncrasy can be found amid the boredom. Barbie is the big champion here, having scored 18 nominations, the most of any film in the organization's history...

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