Don’t Sleep on These Early 2015 Oscar Contenders
With Venice and Telluride in the books—not to mention TIFF on the horizon—2015 Oscar talk has ratcheted up in a big way. (Incidentally, so has the annual anti-Oscar talk, to which I say “Chill out and be nice.”.) Birdman, The Imitation Game, and Foxcatcher are the contenders du jour, but it’s way too early to […]
2015 Oscar Predictions: First Guesses Before Fall Fests
It’s 2015 Oscar predictions time, so let’s dig the prognosticator’s hat out of the attic, dust it off, and take a look at the landscape of the 2015 Oscar race. If I’m being honest, though, I almost didn’t want to get involved with 2015 Oscar predictions at all. Last year’s Oscar season and the nonsense […]
Final 2014 Oscar Predictions
We’re almost there. And thank God, because I can’t anymore. This will likely be the last year I spend time writing and talking about the Oscars regularly. Too much noise. I’ve been defeated. Anyway, it’s a hell of a good year to go out with some pretty brilliant titles leading the charge for gold. I […]
Final 2014 Oscar Nominations Predictions
No intro; this rundown is long enough. I’m really excited to see how things shake out tomorrow. Here are my best guesses. Best Picture American Hustle Captain Phillips Dallas Buyers Club Gravity Her Nebraska Saving Mr. Banks 12 Years a Slave The Wolf of Wall Street Hustle, Phillips, Gravity, Nebraska, 12 Years are your locks. […]
2014 Oscar Nominations Wish List
I say this every year, but it deserves repeating: quality has got nothing to do with the Oscars. Sure, the Academy is a large voting body, but each member has his or her own biases—just like film critics do—and for every member who thinks The Wolf of Wall Street is the best movie of 2013 […]
Predicting the 2014 Golden Globes Winners
This Sunday, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will carve for itself a unique place in the 2013/2014 awards season. How do I know? Because it must. There still isn’t much consensus among this year’s major categories. The critics groups like 12 Years a Slave and Her. American Hustle and Gravity have loads of support—some from […]
2014 Golden Globes Predictions
I don’t know why I bother every year to dip my ignorant toe into the muddy pool that is the Hollywood Foreign Press Association every year. A clueless (when it comes to these awards) prognosticator plus a traditionally asinine voting body has the potential to make this post look awfully foolish in the not-too-distant future. […]
The 2013 OFCS Nominations
The Online Film Critics Society announced the nominees for its 17th annual year-end awards. I had the privilege of voting as a member of the group for the first time, and I’m quite pleased with our eclectic list of nominees. You’ll see Johnnie To’s Drug War and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises—two films I’ll have […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: Surveying the Foreign Language Field
No Oscar category offers as many surprises as Best Foreign Language Film. From countries’ submission process to the shortlist to upset winners, it’s never an easy place to offer predictions. We’re in the very early stages this year, which means its an especially foolhardy undertaking, but if it means getting good, small films on your […]
2014 Oscars: Don’t Forget About Us
Films released in the first two thirds of a given year are automatically at a disadvantage when it comes to possible Oscar nominations. There are exceptions, of course—Beasts of the Southern Wild, Midnight in Paris, Winter’s Bone, for example—but the nature of campaigning rewards those films that don’t have to remain in voters’ minds very […]
2014 Best Documentary Oscar Predictions: Digging Deep
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. And check out my 2014 Oscar Predictions: Technical Categories page for projections in Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and more. Another year, another problem with the documentary branch of the Academy. The Wrap’s Steve Pond reported a […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: Resetting the Board
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. And check out my 2014 Oscar Predictions: Technical Categories page for projections in Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and more. I’d planned to dive a little deeper into Best Documentary Feature today, but I’ve got quite a […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: The Technical Categories
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. And check out my 2014 Oscar Predictions: Technical Categories page for projections in Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects, and more. Oscar talk always get serious for me when I start pondering the more technical categories. I’ve been […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: Animated and Documentary Features
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. Today, I unveil more new categories to add to my 2014 Oscar predictions list—2014 Best Animated Feature and 2014 Best Documentary Feature. Both categories have had great, great, GREAT years over the last half-decade, and while 2013 […]
How TIFF 2013 Will Shape the Oscar Season
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. The storm that was TIFF 2013 has passed, and the Oscar forecast now looks at least a little clearer. What’s most apparent at this point is that Best Actor is loaded, Best Picture has plenty of legit […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: Screenplays Original and Adapted
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. I’ve focused my 2014 Oscar predictions, until now, on Best Picture, Best Director, and the four acting categories. Today, I begin to unravel some of the secondary categories, starting with 2014 Best Adapted Screenplay and 2014 Best […]
