Annie Award nominations: It's "Soul" vs "Wolfwalkers" again

by Nathaniel R

This just in: Soul and Wolfwalkers are tied for most nominations (10) for the 48th annual Annie Awards, honoring the best in animated entertainment. Onward is in a distant third place with 7 nominations. The Annie  ceremony will be virtual event this year, streamed live on April 16th at 7 PM PST. 

The full list of nominations and some commentary after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Animated Feature - what will be nominated?

by Nathaniel R

Studio Ghibli's "Earwig and the Witch"

We really do not approve of the Academy's new shyness in telling the public which films are competing for the specialty categories. They didn't announce the animated feature eligibiility until TODAY. But here are the 27 features competing for Best Animated Feature, though the Academy has not made them official. We've helpfully divided them into categories for you after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Streaming 20:20 (Finale) - Soul, Let Them All Talk, and more...

ICYMI Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Since it's crunch time to complete viewing before all the awards shows hit we've been surveying the films of 2020 that are already streaming for free (provided you have the services of courses), whether they're great, terrible or anywhere inbetween. Maybe you're looking to get caught up? We've been freezing films at the 20th minute and 20th second just for gimmicky time-stamped streaming roulette kicks. How many of these twenty 2020 pictures have you seen? 

Next up one of my favourites, soul number 102,2010,121,415

SOUL (Pete Docter & Kemp Powers, US)
Disney/Pixar. Original release date: December 25th. Streaming on Disney+

Didn't you love the design of the "Jerries" in Pixar's latest? It's so distinct visually. If only they had taken the genderlessness further and applied it to not just the names but the linework.

There's an implant. They put it in your shit. It's like... okay, It'll come back. It's fine, Lou. It's like 40 grand... 80 grand, whatever.

Click to read more ...

First annual (?) "Super" Awards

by Nathaniel R

The Old Guard takes "best superhero film" honors

We're still trying to wrap our heads around the absolutely bizarre decision by the executives of the Critics Choice Association to launch a genre-specific awards show (think the Saturn Awards only from talking heads at various outlets rather than the fans) in the very year where most of those kinds of movies didn't actually open and in which none of the big stars would be able to actually attend. It's a head scratcher in so many ways though happily two good movies (Palm Springs and Soul) led with the most prizes.

Here are the winners (no, we did not vote)...

Click to read more ...

Can Reznor and Ross make Oscar history?

by Cláudio Alves

In 2008, the music branch of the Academy caused a stir when it announced that The Dark Knight was disqualified from the Best Original Score race. The reason for this had nothing to do with the use of non-original compositions as it's often the case. Instead, AMPAS had deemed that the picture had too many composers. In total, there were five credited artists – Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Alex Gibson, Mel Wesson, and Lorne Balfe. Even though the first two did most of the soundtrack and the remaining three signed affidavits relinquishing their chance at a nod, the Academy didn't budge.

Since then, rules have changed and then changed back again. Still, the presence of collaborative teams on the Academy's lists of nominees remains rare. In the past decade, only The Social Network, Lion, and Her have earned nominations for featuring the credited work of multiple composers. The first example even won Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross the Oscar. The erstwhile Nine Inch Nails members are back in contention this year. Thanks to Mank and Soul, they might become the first such team to receive a double nomination, effectively competing against themselves…

Click to read more ...