Sam Mendes Wins the DGA

Welp. That’s the Best Picture race, people. I thought there was some chance Bong Joon-ho could win here, but with Sam Mendes taking it, and 1917 winning the PGA last weekend, I can’t predict anything besides 1917 to win both Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars on February 9th. Especially with such a short timeframe for voting this year. This is our most likely winner. Interestingly, this is going to be Mendes’ second Best Picture and Director win since his first and only nominations for his first film American Beauty, exactly twenty years ago.

2020 DGA WINNERS

Directorial Achievement in Feature Film: Sam Mendes, 1917

Directorial Achievement in a First-Time Feature: Alma Har’el, Honey Boy

'1917' and 'Ford v. Ferrari' Win Top Sound Editing Honors at MPSE Golden Reel Awards

The guild for sound editing gave out its top awards tonight, and this is a bit of a technical award, but the top one is the prize for '“effects/foley,” which went to Ford v. Ferrari. 1917 got the ADR award and I would definitely go with 1917 for both sound Oscars (war movies or musicals always win those- this year our big nominee is a war movie, so I’d bet on it for both editing and mixing).

2020 MPSE GOLDEN REEL WINNERS

Feature Animation: Toy Story 4
Feature Documentary: Echo in the Canyon
Foreign Language Feature: Parasite
Music Underscore: Jojo Rabbit
Musical: Rocketman
Dialogue / ADR: 1917
Effects / Foley: Ford v Ferrari

'Parasite' Wins Top SAG Award

Yay, Parasite! My gamble paid off, as Parasite became the first foreign-language film to ever win the ensemble award at the Screen Actors Guild. Awesome. This places it in a possible upset position for Best Picture, since the actors are obviously behind it (the room gave the cast one of the biggest standing ovations I’ve ever seen at SAG just for being there to present the movie), but interestingly enough, both this and 1917 have zero acting nominations at the Oscars, which is unusual for a Best Picture winner. As for the rest, all the individual acting Oscars seem locked at this point- no upsets at all for Phoenix, Zellweger, Pitt and Dern. Bet on each of them in their respective categories on Oscar night.

2020 SAG WINNERS

• Ensemble: Parasite

• Lead Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

• Lead Actress: Renee Zellweger, Judy

• Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story

'1917' Wins the PGA

Well there you go! Just when I was thinking Once Upon a Time in Hollywood could be the frontrunner, Sam Mendes’s 1917 sneaks up behind everybody and takes the frontrunner status to itself. The Producers Guild Award is the most important predictor for Best Picture these days, because it uses the same kind of preferential voting system the Academy does, and it’s the only guild that votes that way (it also has roughly the same size membership). This makes 1917 the heavy favorite to win Best Picture in a few weeks, and Sam Mendes likely to win director for the second time (although I think he still has something of a fight with Bong Joon-ho over that one- we’ll have to see what the DGA does next week). In other news, Toy Story 4 becomes the solid frontrunner in animated, while for the third year in a row, the PGA for documentary goes to a movie that was completely snubbed by the Academy’s documentary branch altogether.

PGA WINNERS 2020

• Feature Film: 1917

• Animated Film: Toy Story 4

• Documentary Film: Apollo 11

'Jojo Rabbit' and 'Parasite' Win ACE Eddie Awards

Big boosts for these two films! The editors guild is one of the most important for Best Picture strength, as is the editing category at the Oscars and both of these films are nominated for that. Parasite is the first foreign-language film to win the ACE, and Jojo Rabbit beat out Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which got snubbed for an editing Oscar nomination altogether.

2020 ACE EDDIE WINNERS

Editing in a Motion Picture (Drama): Parasite

Editing in a Motion Picture (Comedy): Jojo Rabbit

Editing in an Animated Feature: Toy Story 4

SAG Predictions 2020

SAG predictions time! I don’t know if there’s likely to be any surprises tomorrow night. There’s definitely four frontrunners, so the only wild card is the ensemble award. The winner of that doesn’t necessarily win Best Picture at the Oscars, unless the same movie happens to win the PGA as well (which is happening tonight, by the way). So by the end of this weekend, we’ll know for sure if the frontrunners are cemented, because there’s overlap between the screen actors guild and the Academy.

BEST ENSEMBLE

• Bombshell

• The Irishman

• Jojo Rabbit

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Parasite

Since I’m playing it safe in the individual categories, I’m going to go out on a big limb for this one and say Parasite is going to win it. I don’t know why, I just have a feeling it could happen. Once Upon a Time is the likely alternative (and if that were to win here and also at PGA, then that’s the Oscar ballgame). 

Winner: Parasite

Alternate: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Dark Horse: The Irishman

LEAD ACTOR

• Christian Bale, Ford v. Ferrari

• Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Adam Driver, Marriage Story

• Taron Egerton, Rocketman

• Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

I don’t see anyone taking it away from Phoenix at this point. It’s his to lose, especially with how beloved the movie seems to be. And SAG tends to like awarding overdue veterans anyway, so I think he’ll take this.

Winner: Joaquin Phoenix

Alternate: Adam Driver

Dark Horse: Taron Egerton (unlikely, especially now that he didn’t get the Oscar nod, but it’s possible)

LEAD ACTRESS

• Cynthia Erivo, Harriet

• Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story

• Lupita Nygong’o, Us

• Charlize Theron, Bombshell

• Renee Zellweger, Judy

Same situation as Best Actor- I don’t see any real alternative to Renee Zellweger, and she also fits the seasoned veteran SAG likes to award. 

Winner: Renee Zellweger

Alternate: Scarlett Johansson

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Jamie Foxx, Just Mercy

• Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

• Al Pacino, The Irishman

• Joe Pesci, The Irishman

• Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

I feel like Im going to basically say the same thing for every single one of these winners. Brad’s a longtime veteran, he’s never won, he’s overdue. Same old story.

Winner: Brad Pitt

Alternate: Joe Pesci

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Laura Dern, Marriage Story

• Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

• Nicole Kidman, Bombshell

• Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers

• Margot Robbie, Bombshell

This is the only category where I could potentially see a surprise happening. People are mad that Jennifer Lopez was snubbed for the Oscar nom and sometimes SAG has gone out of its way in recent years to award Oscar snubees, like Idris Elba and Emily Blunt. I could actually see JLo winning this. The problem is Laura Dern still fits that SAG sweet spot of longtime veteran who’s never won, so it’s a risk, but…I’m gonna go for it. Might as well take a chance.

Winner: Jennifer Lopez

Alternate: Laura Dern

Dark Horse: Scarlett Johansson (she does have two nominations here, same as for the Oscars- she could win one of them)

Lightning Round Reviews 2019: January, Part 1

Here I am, still making my way through the films of 2019. With luck, there should be just one more batch of reviews left after this one. My recommendation of the week is a tie between Portrait of a Lady on Fire and 1917, which I liked about equally.

THE REPORT * * 1/2 (Dir. Scott Z. Burns)

How many times do we have to relearn the lessons of the past?

In some ways this movie is an excellent companion piece to Official Secrets, the year’s other recent history political drama set in roughly the same time period, taking place on the other side of the pond. Right now, when nothing can seem worse than the current monster in the White House, taken together, these two films are enough to remind us that the evils of the Bush administration were more than monstrous enough to shame whatever pride you may have felt in this country at any point in the recent past. Is there even such a thing as a Republican president who possesses human decency? Not in my lifetime at least. The Report tells the story of Dan Jones, senior staffer to Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening), who spent years of his life assembling an investigative report on the CIA’s torture methods during the Bush-Cheney years. The report was commissioned by the Senate intelligence committee, and a heavily redacted executive summary was not released until 2014, after a long hard struggle to make it see the light of day. Jones went through thousands of records and produced a 7000 page document that painted many in the CIA as war criminals, none of whom ever faced accountability for their crimes against humanity. The movie flashes back and forth between Dan’s research during the Obama administration and the practices as they were put in place in the years after 9/11, and though compelling in fits and starts, it’s weighed down in the second half by too many outraged broadsides yelled almost directly into the camera by Adam Driver, as the script feels the need to explain to us why we should feel angry about this. If you have to preach to your audience about why torture is bad (and also illegal) then something was lost in the translation. It’s unnecessary and it treats the audience like children. They may be children, and torture is endorsed by popular media and has sunken into the public consciousness as acceptable at times, but nothing is more effective in an investigative drama than a simple relaying of the facts as they happened. We don’t need Dan Jones’s anger or the swelling music to convince us what’s right- if you do then you’re already lost.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD * * * (Dir. Marielle Heller)

This movie soars when Tom Hanks is onscreen

Fred Rogers was such an eccentric figure that the only way to approach him in a movie is to explore his effect on the people around him, as a kind of near mystical guru, a spiritual zenmaster of sorts. The same thing was more or less done in the documentary Would You Be My Neighbor, and now director Marielle Heller takes things to a surreal level in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, by focusing on the story of Mr. Rogers’s influence on one man, Lloyd Vogel (Mathew Rhys). Vogel is an investigative journalist for Esquire magazine known for hit pieces on his subjects, and Fred Rogers is the only person willing to talk to him for a “heroes” profile. He’s a man with longstanding anger towards his father (Chris Cooper), who abandoned him in childhood, and just being around Mr. Rogers for the article, being absorbed into his world of total and unique kindness, eventually has an eerily profound effect on him. The movie takes place in 1998 (based on the Esquire cover story by Tom Junod) and is framed as an episode of Mr. Rogers’s iconic children’s program, complete with dream sequences and transition scenes set in the make believe world of the neighborhood. This experiment has a hit and miss effect, but what makes the movie work is Tom Hanks’s performance as Fred, who drops all his own mannerisms to completely embody the living, breathing, gentle nature of Mr. Rogers. When he’s on screen he’s captivating, even though his character remains shrouded behind a cloud of mystery, as no one can really pierce the authenticity of the man himself. But Tom Hanks makes him larger than life, and you believe the oddness of his supremely gentle, yet overwhelming influence on others in his vicinity. It’s a strange movie at times, but a stirring one.

FROZEN II * 1/2 (Dir. Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck)

One of the most unnecessary sequels I’ve ever seen

Frozen II is such a poorly conceived film it’s almost not worth talking about. Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck return to co-direct the sequel to the 2013 phenomenon, but they had no story and no place to take the characters in what was clearly a studio mandated entry as an excuse to print more money. The movie finds Queen Elsa, her sister Ana and Ana’s boyfriend Kristof going off on a journey to find the mysterious voice in the sky that’s calling Elsa to it, and there’s some questions raised about the origins of their parents that don’t get answered, some secrets regarding spirits and mountain people, and none of it makes much sense as one forgettable song after another is plugged in seemingly at random to fill out the blank paragraphs in this meandering and muddled screenplay. There is one hilariously awful song sung by Kristof (Jonathan Groff) about being lost in the woods that appears to not be being performed as a metaphor- a scene so bad it’s already a parody of itself. Nothing of importance or meaning happens in this movie, and when Elsa apparently gives up her crown to her sister by the end, you barely realize it happened and definitely do not understand why. These cardboard characters prove they cannot stand on their own in any serious way, and don’t even get me started on Olaf, the worst sidekick in Disney history. The less said about him the better. Don’t waste your time on this one. I’ve already forgotten it exists.

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE * * * 1/2 (Dir. Celine Sciamma)

Forbidden love in 18th century France

Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire is an elegant, beautifully understated yet passionate romance between a female artist and her model that takes place in 19th century France. The movie is a quiet, moving and gorgeously shot exercise in minimalism, that slowly gets more passionate as it goes along. The artist Marianne, played by Noemie Merlant, is commissioned by a wealthy woman to paint a portrait of her daughter Heloise (Adele Haenel), who is set to marry a man from Milan, where her mother hopes she will escape her life of seclusion and the memories of her late sister, who jumped off a cliff rather than go through with her own engagement. Heloise feels angry and trapped, and Marianne must capture the soul of her subject through study and secret observation, rather than let her know she has been hired to paint the portrait she knows will sell her into servitude. The films slowly and deliberately builds the relationship between the two young women, who have more in common than they realize, along with the friendship and identification of the housemaid who works for Heloise, as the film illustrates the singular realities of women in the 1700’s, exploring and bringing to life the feelings of isolation, entrapment and endless limitations of a world that asks fiery souls to bury their essences in totality. Sciamma is obsessed with physical details, faces, hidden passions and visions of an ominous and pre-written future for her heroines, and mourns their losses while celebrating their inner lives. It’s a beautiful piece of work, a painting come to life as vividly as the one created in the film.

1917 * * * 1/2 (Dir. Sam Mendes)

An intense journey through the weeds of the trenches

There aren’t as many movies about WWI as there are WWII or even other wars of the twentieth century and before. Perhaps because the first war to incorporate modern warfare was too ugly, too brutal and too devastating to look back on. Sam Mendes’s new film takes a different approach, a much hyped “long take” technique that films the entire movie in one seemingly continuous shot with tricks that hide the cuts (and a couple of fade to black moments), that have the cumulative effect of placing you alongside the action, following right there with the soldier in question. He’s played by newcomer George MacKay, a young man given the task of making his way through no man’s land with his friend Tom (Dean-Charles Chapman), to deliver a message to a regiment stationed on the other side of the battlefield, to call off their suicide attack on the Germans planned for the next day. We then follow the two as they fight their way through the fields, trenches and an abandoned village in ruins as they endeavor to fulfill their task. This film could easily be a simple cinematic stunt, but a lot of what makes it work is your emotional involvement with the main character, who is sympathetic and whose young, naive face conveys the terror and determination to make his way through hell. The cinematography is breathtaking, with the legendary Roger Deakins lighting some gorgeous nighttime shots of a countryside on fire as MacKay runs through the decay, and though the subject matter should be tough to take, as the horrors of the Great War were almost unimaginable, this movie is more like a throwback to the kind of old-fashioned wartime/action movie that manages to make the charge through battle more exciting and suspenseful rather than horrifying. This could be another effect of the long take, placing you right in the middle of the action as though you’re in a first person video game. It may not be the filmmaker’s intent to have made an enjoyable action movie over a terrifying war movie, but…what can I say? I genuinely enjoyed it.

LITTLE WOMEN * * 1/2 (Dir. Greta Gerwig)

There is curiously little heat between Jo and Laurie in this version, something that’s necessary for the story’s appeal

As a Little Women aficionado, I have no problem saying that it’s not necessary to remake this movie over and over again. There are only so many things you can do with certain material, and what Greta Gerwig does with it this time is basically take the timeline of the book apart and put it back together in non-linear order, an experiment that adds nothing to the story except confusion, especially if this is your first viewing of Little Women. Gerwig probably assumes that it isn’t, since this is one of the most remade properties in Hollywood, but even so, it’s a needless and unnecessary trick that serves no purpose the way it’s handled. The movie jumps back and forth between “present day,” which is the second half of the book when Jo is in New York and Amy and Laurie in Europe, to childhood family scenes that take place at some point in the recent past, but the problem is that no one looks any older or younger at any time in the film. With no time stamps to indicate where we are, the only signifier is sometimes (but not all the time), the length of Jo’s hair. The scenes themselves are familiar to any Little Women viewer- Jo and Laurie at the Christmas dance, Amy burning Jo’s manuscript, Beth’s scarlet fever, etc. Saoirse Ronan makes a confident and fiery Jo, but the other sisters are unconvincing, especially Florence Pugh as Amy, who has the second biggest role in this version. I said this in my review of last year’s BBC miniseries- Amy must be played by a child actress when she’s twelve year old. Florence Pugh already looks older than her age (she looks older than all the sisters and Laurie), so having her play the youngest as a 12-year-old is ridiculous to the point of distracting. Braids and bangs don’t cut it, especially when she’s in a schoolhouse surrounded by classmates who are actual adolescents. She’s utterly unconvincing in every scene of her as a child, which hurts any ability to buy her as an adult. It just doesn’t work. Other poor casting decisions are Chalamet as Laurie (also unconvincing in his love for either Jo or Amy) and Emma Watson as Meg, who is weakly written and acted. The movie is filled with anti-marriage screeds that were more appropriate for the real Louisa May Alcott and her struggles with the publication of the original story- turning the ending into a kind of meta joke does a disservice to the novel itself. One wonders why Gerwig didn’t make a stylized biopic of Alcott herself with scenes of Little Women being brought to life as she fought her battles with the editor over the ending of the novel. That would have been more original and far more interesting than another remake of the same material. 

Jared Leto is a Vampire in Sony's 'Morbius'

So, if anyone remembers, Sony was trying to create its own Marvel Universe with the properties they still own, and it began with 2018’s Venom, the most inexplicable $850 million hit of all time. Here’s their next one, based on a Marvel character called Morbius the Living Vampire, and it could not look more generic if it tried, so…yep. It’s a Sony Marvel movie alright. It’s coming out July 31st.

'Joker' Leads the 2020 Oscar Nominations

Ugh. I do not like writing that headline. And the director’s branch of the Academy totally let me down this year by nominating Todd Phillips after the DGA chose Taika Waititi instead. Mistake! Aside from that, let’s see here. Parasite got 6 nominations, which is great (but boo that Song Kang-ho didn’t get in), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood surprisingly missed a crucial editing nomination, and I love that Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce got their first Oscar nominations, but sad that Taron Egerton missed (especially after Rami Malek won for that horrible cartoon of a performance in Bohemian Rhapsody last year- Egerton was like, the good version of that). Some other things of note- Honeyland is the first movie to ever be nominated for both Documentary and International Feature (formerly Foreign-Language Film), and it looks like they snubbed J-Lo in supporting actress for Hustlers. Florence Pugh becomes the first person ever nominated for playing Amy March in Little Women (which is probably going to undeservedly win Best Adapted Screenplay now to make up for Greta Gerwig not getting nominated in director). Tom Hanks gets his first Oscar nomination in 20 years, and Frozen II was left out of the animated feature category (which I don’t consider a snub because Frozen II sucked- well done, animators).

2020 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS

Best Picture

• Ford v Ferrari

• The Irishman

• Jojo Rabbit

• Joker

• Little Women

• Marriage Story

• 1917

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Parasite

Best Director

• Bong Joon Ho, Parasite

• Sam Mendes, 1917

• Todd Phillips, Joker

• Martin Scorsese, The Irishman

• Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Actress

• Cynthia Erivo, Harriet

• Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story

• Saoirse Ronan, Little Women

• Charlize Theron, Bombshell

• Renée Zellweger, Judy

Best Actor

• Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory

• Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Adam Driver, Marriage Story

• Joaquin Phoenix., Joker

• Jonathan Pryce, The Two Popes

Thrilled for Antonio Banderas getting his first Oscar nomination for Pain and Glory

Best Supporting Actress

• Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell

• Laura Dern, Marriage Story

• Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit

• Florence Pugh, Little Women

• Margot Robbie, Bombshell

Best Supporting Actor

• Tom Hanks, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

• Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes

• Al Pacino, The Irishman

• Joe Pesci, The Irishman

• Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Irishman

• Jojo Rabbit

• Joker

• Little Women

• The Two Popes

Best Original Screenplay

• Knives Out

• Marriage Story

• 1917

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Parasite

I didn’t much like Little Women and don’t think anyone should ever be nominated for playing Amy March

Best Cinematography

• 1917

• The Irishman

• Joker

• The Lighthouse

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Costume Design

• Jojo Rabbit

• Joker

• Little Women

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• The Irishman

Best Film Editing

• Ford v Ferrari

• The Irishman

• Jojo Rabbit

• Joker

• Parasite

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Bombshell

• Joker

• Judy

• 1917

• Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Best Original Score

• Joker

• Little Women

• Marriage Story

• 1917

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Original Song

• “I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away” from Toy Story 4, Randy Newman

• “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman, Elton John & Bernie Taupin

• “I’m Standing With You” from Breakthrough, Diane Warren

• “Into the Unknown” from Frozen 2, Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez

• “Stand Up” from Harriet, Joshuah Brian Campbell & Cynthia Erivo

Jojo Rabbit got 6 nominations, and Scarlett Johansson lands two acting nods, her first ever from the Academy

Best Production Design

• 1917

• The Irishman

• Jojo Rabbit

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Parasite

Best Sound Editing

• Ford v Ferrari

• Joker

• 1917

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Sound Mixing

• Ad Astra

• Ford v Ferrari

• Joker

• 1917

• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Best Visual Effects

• Avengers: Endgame

• The Irishman

• The Lion King

• 1917

• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Best Animated Feature

• How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

• I Lost My Body

• Klaus

• Missing Link

• Toy Story 4

Best Animated Short

• Dcera (Daughter)

• Hair Love

• Kitbull

• Memorable

• Sister

Parasite’s destined to walk away with International Feature, but can it win more than that?

Best Documentary Feature

• American Factory

• The Cave

• The Edge of Democracy

• For Sama

• Honeyland

Best Documentary Short

• In the Absence

• Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl)

• Life Overtakes Me

• St. Louis Superman

• Walk Run Cha-Cha

Best International Feature

• Corpus Christi (Poland)

• Honeyland (North Macedonia)

• Les Miserables (France)

• Pain and Glory (Spain)

• Parasite (South Korea)

Best Live Action Short

• Brotherhood

• Nefta Football Club

• The Neighbors’ Window

• Sariahs

• A Sister

AMPAS just barely dodges another #Oscarssowhite story by nominating Cynthia Erivo for Harriet, but there are many more actors of color who could have gotten in and didn’t- not a good look

'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' Wins Best Picture at Critics Choice Awards

Look, the press junket people have spoken! Oh sorry, I meant “critics.” I never watch this embarrassing show anymore, and most people don’t bother to show up to it (as they shouldn’t), because the people voting are basically just trying to predict what wins the Oscar (see the bullshit “tie” in Best Director- clearly there’s no consensus on that one yet), and often they just copy the Golden Globe winners. Looks like all four acting winners are locked though- expect them all to win the SAG next week. PGA will tell us if the Best Picture frontrunner really is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (it could be, but it would surprise me that if it’s Tarantino’s year, he wouldn’t also be winning Best Director- then again, maybe it’s just too much to give him Picture, Director and Screenplay. It’s very rare to win all three of those).

2020 CRITICS CHOICE WINNERS

• Best Picture: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Best Director (Tie): Sam Mendes (1917) and Bong Joon-ho (Parasite)

• Best Ensemble: The Irishman

• Best Actress: Renee Zellweger, Judy

• Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker

• Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story

• Best Supporting Actor: Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Best Young Actor or Actress: Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit

• Best Foreign Language Film: Parasite

• Best Comedy: Dolemite Is My Name

• Best Sci-fi or Horror Movie: Us

• Best Action Movie: Avengers: Endgame

• Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 4

• Best Original Screenplay: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Little Women

• Best Score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, Joker

• Best Costume Design: Dolemite Is My Name

• Best Hair and Makeup: Bombshell

• Best Visual Effects: Avengers: Endgame

• Best Cinematography: 1917

• Best Editing: 1917

• Best Production Design: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

• Best Song (Tie): “Glasgow No Place Like Home” (Wild Rose) & “I’m Gonna Love Me Again” (Rocketman)

Joaquin Phoenix is well on his way to winning his first Oscar for Joker

Harley Quinn Rounds Up the Birds of Prey in New Trailer

This looks so bad. And I still don’t know what kind of voice Margot Robbie thinks she’s doing for Harley Quinn. Frankly, I’m betting whatever this is pales in comparison to the Harley Quinn adult cartoon show on DCU, because I just caught up with it and it’s actually pretty funny. This? Not so much.

Visual Effects Society Nominations Are Out

The guild for visual effects has now spoken. They don’t always match perfectly with Oscar, so for a lot of these tech awards I usually watch for who wins the guild and also who wins the BAFTA award, since both share membership with the Academy. I’m guessing right now that probably The Lion King wins visual effects? I don’t know if anything else this year made much of an impact in terms of that (I doubt The Irishman’s de-aging was impressive enough to win).

2019 VES NOMINEES

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
Alita: Battle Angel
Avengers: Endgame
Gemini Man
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
The Lion King

Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature
1917
Ford v Ferrari
Joker
The Aeronauts
The Irishman

Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature
Frozen 2
Klaus
Missing Link
The Lego Movie 2
Toy Story 4