The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just finished handing out their awards for 2018, with Green Book unexpectedly taking the top prize away from frontrunner "Roma." The film also received Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali). I wish I could say that it had been a really good evening, but it's more than fair to say that a multitude of categories went in a most bizarre and inexplicable direction. For example, Best Production Design and Best Costume Design, two awards that should have been easy wins for "The Favourite," randomly ended up going to "Black Panther." This is a perplexing case where, if your eyeballs are functioning properly, the winner
Now we've reached the eight major categories (Best Adapted Screenplay through Best Picture), where we'll explore how the big night will likely come to an end. However, as always, there's room for a surprise or two (or possibly several), so let's get right back to it: Best Adapted Screenplay Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, Blackkklansman Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Barry Jenkins, If Beale Street Could Talk Eric Roth and Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters, A Star is Born Throughout this entire awards season, there has perhaps been no category that’s been as topsy-turvy as Adapted Scr
At long last we are nearing the homestretch. The 91st Annual Academy Awards are in just a few days, so it's time to lay down my predictions and analysis as to who I think has the best chance of winning each of the 24 categories. It's been a rather crazy season as usual, but let's dive right in and take a look, starting with the smaller categories (The Shorts through Film Editing): Best Live Action Short Detainment Fauve Marguerite Mother Skin Best Documentary Short Black Sheep End Game Lifeboat A Night at the Garden Period. End of Sentence. Best Animated Short Animal Behaviour Bao Late Afternoon One Small Step Weekends As usual, there’s absolutely nothing to base a prediction on for these sh
The Writers Guild of America has just finished handing out their annual awards for 2018 with a big surprise in both of the two top categories. Bo Burnham won the award for Original Screenplay for "Eighth Grade" over assumed category favorite "Green Book," which is all the more surprising for the fact that Burnham's film is not nominated at the upcoming Oscars. With "Green Book" failing to win here, it would seem to confirm that the Oscar will likely go to "The Favourite," which recently won the category at the BAFTA Awards, while sadly being disqualified from the WGA Awards due to their nonsensical and embarrassing rules. Over in Adapted Screenplay, Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty pulled o
The Film: In the realm of musical biopics, one of the most obvious ideas that has been kicked around for years is a movie about legendary rock band Queen and their infamous frontman Freddie Mercury. With a list of hits a few miles long, including “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Killer Queen,” “We Will Rock You,” and “We Are the Champions,” a film that delves into the group’s rise to stardom and all of the problems they faced during this time could make for a hell of a project. Music lovers finally got their wish this past year with the release of Bryan Singer’s simply-titled “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but could it possibly live up to the expectations of those who’ve been waiting for ages to see thi
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has just finished handing out their awards for 2018, with a rather exciting, nail-biting finish. However, in the end, it was Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma" that took the top prize of Best Film (as expected), along with Best Director (Cuaron), Best Cinematography (Cuaron), and Best Film Not in the English Language. However, in terms of wins, it was Yorgos Lanthimos' "The Favourite" that dominated with the most awards, with seven total that included Outstanding British Film, Best Actress (Olivia Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Rachel Weisz), and Best Original Screnplay (Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara). For a while there, it seemed like it was
The Film: In the last decade, we’ve seen several cinematic adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s novels about notorious hacker Lisbeth Salander, including the magnificent “Millennium Trilogy” starring Noomi Rapace, and David Fincher’s American remake of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” starring Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig. While many believed that the next logical step was to follow up the remake with the second book in the trilogy, unfortunately it never came together. Instead, it was decided to adapt David Lagercrantz’s “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” and recast the main characters, turning it into a kind of reboot. After the incredible success of Fincher’s film, which earned five Oscar nominati
The 71st Annual Directors Guild of America Awards have just concluded with the entirely-expected result of Alfonso Cuaron winning the group's top award for his outstanding work on "Roma." He has been winning director awards everywhere, including the Critics' Choice and Golden Globe, practically making tonight's finale a foregone conclusion. As you probably already know, this basically cements Cuaron as the winner of the Best Director Oscar as the two awards match over 90% of the time. There have been a few times in the past where the DGA and AMPAS have disagreed, but given Cuaron's utter domination of the category throughout awards season, it would be quite the shock to see anyone defeat him