For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
As of this writing SAG/AFTRA and AMPTP are heading into a fifth day of negotiations in their current session. I’m more than a bit disappointed and flabbergasted the studios seem to still be playing hardball considering the season of scripted network television hangs in the balance. There was some news after day one of the clichéd “cautious optimism” after day one, but not much since. However, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been labor news.
Just recently Disney VFX workers joined Marvel (who were first) in voting unanimously for unionization through IATSE. It’s incredible to believe that these positions remained non-union for so long, but the fact that they were not led to hard deadlines and excessive hours leading to less-than-desirable work in both trailers and finished films. This move is a long time coming and could lead to more and hopefully better conditions and work product for an increasingly necessary tool in the gamut of filmmaking.
After yesterday’s ratification of the deal, the WGA strike is officially over as of 12:01 a.m. this morning. The wins the writers secured are spectacular! You can read more about it here.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
For Short Film Saturday for most of the coming year I will revisit the animated shorts that were presented in snippets by the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. And here you’ll get to see the whole thing.
This is a post I’ve been meaning to get up for a while. As I write this strikes are on their 95th and 22nd days respectively. I’ve created count-ups at the bottom of the page. I steadfastly support the writers and actors. If you think 10,000 writers and 171,000 actors are all millionaires you’re wrong, so please keep corporate bootlicking to yourself.
UPDATE: 10/12/23
Aftert yesterday talks have been suspended between SAG/AFTRA and the AMPTP. The studios came out on the offensive with their version of the most recent breakdown:
Negotiations between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA have been suspended after SAG-AFTRA presented its most recent proposal on October 11. After meaningful conversations, it is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA is too great, and conversations are no longer moving us in a productive direction.
SAG-AFTRA’s current offer included what it characterized as a viewership bonus that, by itself, would cost more than $800 million per year – which would create an untenable economic burden. SAG-AFTRA presented few, if any, moves on the numerous remaining open items.
Member company executives and AMPTP representatives met with SAG-AFTRA for five days over the past eight workdays. During that time period, AMPTP extended offers including:
- A first-of-its-kind success-based residual for High-Budget SVOD productions.
- The highest percentage increase in minimums in 35 years, which would generate an additional $717 million in wages and $177 million in contributions to the Pension and Health Plans during the contract term.
- A 58% increase in salaries for major role (guest star) performers wages on High Budget SVOD Programs.
- A 76% increase in High Budget SVOD foreign residuals for the four largest streaming services.
- Substantial increases in pension and health contribution caps, ranging from 22-33%, which will make it easier for performers to qualify for additional periods of health coverage and earn years of service toward a pension.
- Meeting nearly all of the Union’s demands on casting, including guardrails around self-tapes, options for virtual and in-person auditions, and accommodations to performers with disabilities.
- Compensation adjustments of 25% for singers who dance and dancers who sing on camera in the same session, whether in rehearsal or photography, representing a 30% increase over current wages.
- Wage increases for stunt coordinators of 10% in the first year and outsized increases in years two and three, and giving television stunt coordinators fixed residuals for the first time ever.
- Substantial improvements in relocation allowance – a 200% increase if the performer is on an overnight location for 6 months. The relocation allowance would now be payable for every season in which the performer is on an overnight location (versus a current limit of two to four seasons).
- Substantial increases in Schedule F money breaks of between 11% and 41%. The 41% increase applies to one-hour television programs, which covers the largest number of productions done under the Agreement.
- A 25% increase in span money breaks.
- Covering performance capture work under the Agreement, which the Union has sought for 20 years.
- On AI protections:
- Advance consent from the performer and background actor to create and use Digital Replicas;
- No Digital Replica of the performer can be used without the performer’s written consent and description of the intended use in the film;
- Prohibition of later use of that Replica, unless performer specifically consents to that new use and is paid for it; and,
- A “Digital Alteration” that would change the nature of an actor’s performance in a role is not permitted without informing the performer of the intended alteration and securing the performer’s consent.
On common issues, such as general wage increases, High-Budget SVOD residuals, and viewership bonuses, the AMPTP offered the same terms that were ratified by the DGA and WGA. Yet SAG-AFTRA rejected these.
We hope that SAG-AFTRA will reconsider and return to productive negotiations soon.
To which SAG-AFTRA resonded:
UPDATE: 10/9/23
The first substantive update since negotiations reopened seems to confirm nothing much has happened and both sides are regrouping.
UPDATE: 10/6/23
As of this writing SAG/AFTRA and AMPTP are heading into a fifth day of negotiations in their current session. I’m more than a bit disappointed and flabbergasted the studios seem to still be playing hardball considering the season of scripted network television hangs in the balance. There was some news after day one of the clichéd “cautious optimism” after day one, but not much since. However, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been labor news.
UPDATE: 9/28/23
Negotiation restart set.
Update: 9/27/23
With the WGA strike thankfully resolved this post now has a singular focus. There’s been a lot of rumors going around about SAG/AFTRA negotiations reusming but nothing official. So much so that SAG/AFTRA posted this today:
NEWSFLASH: 9/24/23
THERE IS A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE AMPTP AND THE WGA.
The writer’s strike is not quite over yet, there are some votes and final approvals to go through but it’s finally winding down. I was hopeful when more studios joined this most recent round of negotiations, but wasn’t holding my breath. You can read more here.
Random Most Important Thoughts 8/31/2023
Taylor Swift’s concert film will serve as a way to bolster exhibitors’ profits while not aiding the studios it seems. So that’s good stuff.
With the Venice Film Festival kicking off it’s the first major event where I’ve heard of actors speaking out abroad, like Adam Driver. International pressure against multinationals is not just fair, it’s necessary.
Solidarity appears strong when donations like this from the DGA are made.
With many majors scrubbing their Q4 release calendars some indies might grab more screens and attention. Case in point would be, What Happens Later. This is by no means Meg Ryan’s first indie, but it’s garnering pre-release attention unlike any she’s ever done, not only because she’s also the director. I actually found out this movie’s on the horizon thanks to a post by Regal Cinema’s Facebook.
Random, Most Important Thoughts 8/23/2023
A court ruled this week about whether or not works wholly created by AI could be copyrighted. That’s not as comforting as ruling it infringement of existing copyright though. Also the AI conversation is far more layered than just this decision. A great resource to follow on social media platforms about this topic is Justine Bateman, a member of both unions.
Studios are still looking at this through their own lens and are apparently not even worried about damage control. If they were they wouldn’t let stories about how much money the strike will save them get out.
Of course now that they saved it they don’t want to part with it though. Examples of that are that the AMPTP believes that lecturing the writers on how good their counteroffer was constitutes re-entering negotiations.
One of the most notable TV impact of the strikes so far is on Jeopardy. They’ll recycle old clues to skirt hiring scabs and will only have one host as opposed to two. Another impact is networks have ported streaming shows ported over to network TV. I think refusing to watch those on TV is the only acceptable boycott. It’s a cheap way for the studios to fill shedules and stick to their unfair streaming residuals. Canceling streaming services only helps the studios.
Random, Most Important Thoughts 8/5/2023
Even if the studios were all cash-strapped, it still hasn’t stopped them spending excessively on Oscar campaigns. Harvey Weinstein is in jail, but his corrosive influence remains.
The studios did not counter the Writer’s proposal and still haven’t agreed to resume negotiating.
Dwayne Johnson set the pace, but other actors have donated funds to support artists who need it as evidenced here and here.
Netflix has gained subscribers thanks to the password sharing crackdown, so they’re not hurting but somehow they want us to believe it’s the actors and writers who are greedy.
The Teamsters got a deal done about a week before they were set to strike because the studios need them for replacement programming, the solution for the networks this fall will be reality shows and importing scripted content from streaming services.
Lastly, for now, consider the contrasting stories of residuals. Payments for streaming performance over time have become heinously low for actors, once it was possible to make a living from them..
The closet is an impossible topic to avoid when it comes to LGBT films. This one handles it better than most and in almost no time at all.
Might not catch any of the “Champagne” carpet or the pre-show, but I will be watching the show.
If you want to demystify the Oscars, and hate life a little more, read a some anonymous voter articles like this or this. These are helpful to me to keep the awards in perspective.
Vanity Fair has written some great retrospectives on some previous shows that have only gotten worse with age like 2003. Or the you can look for what was written about beginning of the new nadir we’re in 1998 when Harvey Weinstein broke the Oscars even more than it was and the Academy hasn’t really taken any strides to curb campaign spending, but god forbid Academy members go on social media to talk up a performance.
The show’s starting in a minute so a thought on the no-win host situation. I think Jimmy Kimmel’s return is handled as well and as funnily as it can be in this video.
I know much of America will be watching the season finale of The Last of Us tonight. As will I. Unlike most, I will pause the Oscars watch the show then go back to the Oscars.
The decline in popularity of the Oscars is not a simple riddle to solve. The factors are varied.
The divergence between what is popular and what is nominated was foreseeable since the end of the studio system. However, that didn’t really pan out on Oscar night until the late 90s. The revolution of American independents had less to do with it than it did first with Weinstein’s new campaigning tactics and then with further fragmentation of the audience with streaming and now with dwindling theatrical attendance post-pandemic. All these factors and more have driven down viewership over the years.
In short the magic and glamour people associate with old-school Oscars are tinged by many things: it was the studio super-production of the year, the system manicured personae far more back then and embellished legends, such that award shows and the like where they appeared were further hyped. Being a film history buff or a child of a bygone era adds nostalgia to the belief that the Oscar are no longer what they were.
And they’re not because these things always change. But one thing that is undeniable when there are fewer universally viewed nominees than in previous eras means there is less excitement—or even basic interest—among the average movie fan. That has been the case in the past few years, however, I don’t anticipate this years high-grossing class will bring in that much interest.
Putting this here to commemorate the first and perhaps only Oscars reference of Encino Man.
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are the first presenters. More Jungle Cruise?
Best Animated Film
Best Animated Film has been around for a little over 20 years. It still feels like a novelty in large part because of how the Academy treats it.
This article were many animators are spoken to shines quite a bit of light onto the problem. One issue that’s obvious to everyone is a little similar to how Best Animated Short Film began.
The first 13 prizes went to either a Walt Disney or Fred Quimby production. Disney’s wins were for shorts that were Silly Symphonies or starred their core characters. Quimby’s MGM shorts were all Tom and Jerry shorts. In 1947 Warner Brothers finally won with a Silvester and Tweety short.
Better intro to the category this year.
I didn’t do great catching up on the Oscar nominees before the ceremony. I hope to afterward. Glad to see it’s not a Disney film for a change.
It’s been quite an emotional start to the night.
I mentioned it in my BAM Awards that actors from the same movie nominated against each other don’t normally trade-off wins but they usually get canceled out. When Jamie Lee Curtis won the SAG Awards that was when I had a feeling that she was going to get the Oscar because of how big a voting block actors are.
When Navalny wins Best Documentary…
I’m trying to remember if two actors from an upcoming film have come to show a clip of an upcoming film before. Of course, the Oscars are on ABC so it’s not like anyone can stop it.
All Quiet on the Western Front is near the top of my must-see list.
And we’re back…
Fitting for the Discovery acquistion of Warner Bros. the Oscars are looking back on their 100 years rather than plugging an upcming release like Disney go to.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus dropping the National Lampoons Chirstmas Vacation reference.
A song from an Indian film being up for an Oscar is overdue.
Is it me or are Antonio and Salma always introducing International Feature now?
I’m all for international films being nominated, but when only one in the Feature is also up for Bes Picture it’s a dead giveaway.
So far as Best Animated Short is concerned please do search out all the nominees. I did see this program this year and they’re all quite good. My favorite was An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe Him.
“Basically a scrotum…” – Hugh Grant. Line of the night.
Yay, Cocaine Bear!
Resonable minds can differ on whether Jimmy Kimmel’s Robert Blake/In Memoriam joke was tasteful, but the seed of it is truthful: the Oscars In Memoriam is imperfect, political, and pales in comparison to what TCM does annually.
Having said that John Travolta’s introduction was truly moving and for once the musical acompaniment didn’t feel like a distraction. The link to the Academy’s page for a fuller appreciation is also a good touch.
Good on “Naatu Naatu” winning Best Original Song.
The live blog is not ideal for a night like this because this has been one of the best shows in a while.
A24 has deserves its followers because they dare to be different when most do not want to.
Closing thought for the night: predictability does not necessarily mean a bad show.
Armageddon Time
Avatar: The Way of Water
Crimes of the Future
The Cursed
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Prey
Smile
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
The Woman King
This year felt like a split. Telling you precisely why I picked Crimes of the Future is tough in part because as it unfolded there was a tremendous interplay of ideas about creation, art, viewership, life, and death. Specific notes might be taken upon my next viewing. For now, suffice it to say that there was a repulsion/attraction to this film, identification with and fear of the themes, yet also its playful with filmic tropes. It’s a layered film worth revisiting that I think might garner more of an audience in years to come.
James Cameron Avatar: The Way of Water
David Cronenberg Crimes of the Future
Jame Gray Armageddon Time
Steven Spielberg The Fabelmans
Dan Trachtenberg Prey
This was a year that felt like a split. Spielberg’s work in The Fabelmans is so assured it seems effortless, and we all know it’s not. He can still tug on heartstrings as well as anyone, but here also it occurs with ease and without coercion. Emotions are felt acutely like in any great film and the accomplishment is so superlative. It his testament to his lifelong love that gifts us another wonderful film.
Armageddon Time
Brian and Charles
The Cursed
Lyle, Lyle Crocodile
Mad God
Animation is a medium, not a genre. It doesn’t inherently mean the work is made for children. Mad God is virtually without dialogue and is a mind-blowing affair that as it goes on creates its own rhythm and meaning. If you want to challenge your preconceived notions about the medium and other things, check this out.
David Brenner, James Cameron, John Refoua, Stephen E. Rivkin Avatar: The Way of Water
Sarah Broshar, Michael Kahn The Fabelmans
Christopher Donaldson Crimes of the Future
Elliot Greenberg Smile
Yorgos Mavropsaridis The Cursed
Aside from the sequence above, The Cursed also crosscuts through time. There are transformations, varied locations and the edits always work to heighten tension, add layers and create meaning.
Jamie Lee Curtis Halloween Ends
Viola Davis The Woman King
Amber Midthunder Prey
Michelle Williams The Fabelmans
Michelle Yeoh Everything Everywhere All At Once
The leading ladies in this category for the most part kicked butt in the physical sense, but all of them of course had battles to wage. The battles Michelle Yeoh wages in Everything Everywhere All At Once are intergenerational, timeless, intense and put all her range on display.
Kevin Bacon They/Them
Austin Butler Elvis
Nicolas Cage The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Daniel Craig Glass Onion
Viggo Mortensen Crimes of the Future
I knew Tom Hanks would win his second consecutive Oscar. People who weren’t sure he would were thinking about history and how back-to-back hadn’t occurred since Spencer Tracy in 1937 and 1938. The reason I “knew” was naivety really. I thought Hanks deserved to win regardless. The Oscars don’t often care about who deserves it, but since in my awards “deserves” is all that matters I asked myself would I only not pick Cage because he won last year? When I realized that was true I also realized what my favorite performance of the year was.
Asia Argento Dark Glasses
Angela Bassett Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Jamie Lee Curtis Everything Everywhere All At Once
Stephanie Hsu Everything Everywhere All At Once
Thuso Mbedu The Woman King
Whether here or in other award shows, typically two nominees from the same movie in the same category that doesn’t bode well for either of those nominees winning. That’s not been the case this year with Best Supporting Actor and my awards are no different. It was hard to decide between Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu, but the emotional charge in Hsu’s scenes were undeniable.
Anthony Hopkins Armageddon Time
Judd Hirsch The Fabelmans
Pedro Pascal The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Ke Huy Quan Eveything Everywhere All At Once
Donald Sutherland Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Ke Huy Quan had a small role in a Netflix film called Finding Ohana. When I saw that I thought it was nice to see him working again but that was all. It wasn’t a role that challenged him. I certainly didn’t expect the powerhouse turn he gave in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Leading Role
Madalen Mills Tiger Rising
Ryan Kiera Armstrong Firestarter
Rakel Lenora Fløttum The Innocents
Violet McGraw A Christmas Mystery
Momona Tamada Secret Headquarters
Gabriella Uhl 13: The Musical
The Innocents is a movie that doesn’t jolt, instead it gets under your skin. To accomplish that a lot hinges on performance. Rakel Lenora Fløttum can unnerve with a smile and through stoic delivery rather than modulation.
Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Leading Role
Winslow Fegley Lyle, Lyle Crocodile
Eli Golden 13: The Musical
Brooks Repeta Armageddon Time
Walker Scobell The Adam Project
Mason Thames The Black Phone
Rueby Wood Better Nate Than Ever
To be a lead in a film and have an emotional arc and carry the dramatic moments is hard enough, to play a lead and to be a comedic foil against one of the current masters of the one-liner with impeccable timing is even harder, to do both is so near impossible that when it’s accomplished, you’re now a bona fide star. And that’s exactly what Walker Scobell did in The Adam Project.
Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Supporting Role
Aria Brooks Better Nate Than Ever
Alma Brynsmo Ramstad The Innocents
Julia Butters The Fabelmans
Mykal-Michelle Harris Cheaper by the Dozen
Millie Kiss The Cursed
Madeleine McGraw The Black Phone
In The Black Phone Madeleine McGraw runs the full gamut: in moments of doubt she prays to a God she fears might not be there, she says what she’s thinking to the cops when she’s angry with them and talks to them calmly when they want her help, she fights for her brother, cowers from her father, and plays action hero when she has visions.
Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Supporting Role
Jack Champion Avatar: The Way of Water
Max Mackintosh The Cursed
Daniel Ranieri The Tender Bar
Javon ‘Wanna’ Walker Samaritan
Jaylin Webb Armageddon Time
Xinyu Zhang Dark Glasses
Due to the fact that Max Mackintosh’s character doesn’t just disappear like many young victim’s in horror films, The Cursed begins to set itself apart. What happens when he returns is what makes is special. Max Mackintosh’s ability to convey fear, to be the audience’s conduit into the story, and to later convey true terror and fear are what makes him stand out in this talented field.
Trinity Jo-Li Bliss, Jack Champion, Britain Dalton, Bailey Bass, Duane Evns, Jr. Avatar: The Way of Water
Kylie Rodgers, Andre Robinson, Kaylee Blosenski, Aryan Simhadri, Leo Abelo Perry, Mykal-Michelle Harris, Christian Cote, Sebastian Cote, Alijah Francis Cheaper by the Dozen
Max Mackintosh, Tommy Rodger, Millie Kiss, Tom Sweet, Áine Rose Daley The Cursed
Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Keeley Karsten, Alina Bruce, Julia Butters, Birdie Borria, Sophia Kopera, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Isabelle Kusman, Chandler Lovelle The Fabelmans
Walker Scobell, Keith L. Williams, Momona Tamada, Abby Jane Witherspoon, Kezii Curtis Secret Headquarters
Mason Thames, Madeline McGraw, Miguel Cazarez Mora, Rebecca Clarke, J. Gaven Wilde, Spencer Fitzgerald, Jordan Isaiah White, Brady Ryan, Tristan Pravong, Jacob Moran, Brandy Hepner, Banks Repeta The Black Phone
The kids in The Black Phone have to play, in some cases, both dead and alive. Whether they cross that divide or not in many cases they aren’t interacting with the adults in the story, they are alone or playing off each other. When they are faced off with adults its combative. Without them this film would’ve had no chance of working.
Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly, Alistair Petrie, Roxane Duran, Nigel Betts, Stuart Bowman, Simon Kunz, Amelia Crouch, Max Mackintosh, Tommy Rodger, Áine Rose Daly, Millie Kiss, Tom Sweet, et al. The Cursed
Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tallie Medel, Jenny Slate, Biff Wiff, et al. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Gabriel Labelle, Mateo Zoryon Francis-DeFord, Keeley Karsten, Alina Bruce, Julia Butters, Birdie Borria, Judd Hirsch, Sophia Kopera, Jeannie Berlin, Robin Bartlett, Sam Rechner, Oakes Fegley, Isabelle Kusman, Chandler Lovelle, et al. The Fabelmans
Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr.,Kate Hudosn, Dave Bautista, Jessica Henwick, Madeline Cline, Noah Segan, Jackie Hoffman, Dallas Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Hugh Grant et al. Glass Onion
Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, John Boyega, Jordan Bolger, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Jimmy Odukoya, Masali Baduza, Jayme Lawson, Adrienne Warren, Chioma Umeala, et al. The Woman King
The work of all these casts is of course exceptional, what separates the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once is that they have to play a consistent storyline in varying modalities and genres. Previous moment meets present genre to make a cohesive whole (not unlike the everything bagel) and it does so in large part due to the commitment of all of its players.
Sean Ellis The Cursed
Tom Gormican, Kevin Etten The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
Daniel Kwan, Dan Scheiner Everything Everywhere All at Once
Jordan Peele Nope
Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner The Fabelmans
What you get in these Best Original Screenplay nominees is reinventions: reinvention of werewolf lore, reinvention of first-generation American family dramas, alien invasions, artists as young men, and Nicolas Cage. What makes the Unbearable Weight so exceptional is that it plays on persona, genre tropes, and film as metaphor for life in ways both humorous and profound.
Patrick Aison, Dan Trachtenberg, Jim Thomas Prey
David Cronenberg Crimes of the Future
Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill and Joe Hill The Black Phone
James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick, Kevin Williamson Scream
Rian Johnson Glass Onion
The common thread of these adapted screenplay nominations is the unexpected twist on the expected story. In Prey to have the Predator encounter a Comanche tribe centuries ago makes the series feel refreshed and more vital than ever. The changes to Joe Hill’s short story “The Black Phone” are cinematic and perfect. The Glass Onion takes a well-known trope of a man and makes his disassembly as surprisingly exacting as it is hilarious. When Scream returns you expect precise dissection of horror tropes, but feeling as if the series had never left and didn’t miss a beat and could swing as big at the current state of play was a pleasant surprise. However, while it might seem as if adapting one’s own earlier feature into a new version might seem simple but Cronenberg made this version of Crimes of the Future as apropos to 2022 as the original was to 1970, perhaps more so.
Bruno Delbonnel The Tragedy of MacBeth
Janusz Kaminski The Fabelmans
Charlie Sarroff Smile
Larkin Seiple Everything Everywhere All At Once
Mandy Walker Elvis
In this category I have one hold-over from last year’s awards season. Delbonnel’s black and white work is so stunning that deserves the recognition though it was a January wide release. It can be easy to be numbed to Kaminski’s brilliance, but he brings brilliance and luminescence to Spielberg’s images like no one else has. Seiple films many worlds and conveys them as one because they are. Mandy Walker makes Elvis’s life a show and shows us his life. However, what Sarroff does in Smile is to move the camera so smoothly and persistently, twisting big and small as the world around the characters turns upside down.
Avatar: The Way of Water
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Everything Everywhere All At Once
Nope
Prey
Awarding Avatar Best Visual Effects might seem like a no-brainer, but for the edition to top what it did visually the first time around was expected, to exceed that to reach the cutting edge again and to also be the most successful high frame-rate I’ve seen so far is not to be overlooked.
Terence Blanchard The Woman King
Cody Carpenter, John Carpenter, Daniel A. Davies Firestarter
Howard Shore Crimes of the Future
Cristobal Tapia de Veer Smile
John Williams The Fabelmans
John Williams’ music is almost indistinguishable from the classical pieces that Mitzi plays; Terence Blanchard’s score, like The Woman King, deserved more recognition this awards season; Tapia de Veer’s music is a huge part of why Smile is so unnerving; The Carpenters and Daniel A. Davies outdid their Halloween work in the Firestarter remake; however, Howard Shore’s work on Crimes of the Future is not only his best in some time but sets the surreal and unsettling tone from the beginning. Listen to it here.
The Adam Project
Elvis
Metal Lords
Minions: The Rise of Gru Spirited
Spirited
The performances by Austin Butler and the select few non-Elvis singers in this film are a large part of what had me almost create two best song categories. Ultimately, I had to decide how to handle these two categories because the real possibility existed of having songs from Elvis be multiple if not all Best Song nominations and Best Soundtrack. Elvis’s work is a shortcut to Best Soundtrack but the performances in this film make it a worthy victory.
“The Bloodmaster” Eli Golden, Frankie McNellis, JD McCrary, Lindsey Blackwell, Shechinah Mpulwana, Nolen Debuc, & Ensemble 13: The Musical
“On Broadway (Busking Version)” Rueby Wood, Lucky Chops Better Nate Than Ever
“Machinery of Torment” Skullflower Metal Lords
“One Way or Another” Bette Middler, Sarah Jessica Parker & Kathy Najimy Hocus Pocus 2
“Good Afternoon” Spirited Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, The Spirited Ensemble Spirited
This year I came close to creating two best song categories to recognize both covers and originals. Combining the performance of the number with how intrinsic the song was to the film is what placed “On Broadway (Busking Version)” over the other deserving nominees.
Andrew Babbitt Glass Onion
Rossitsa Bakeva Barbarian
Mark Beneceraff Armageddon Time
Dylan Cole, Ben Procter Avatar: The Way of Water
Paulo Gonçalves, Patrick Schmitt The Cursed
With these art direction nominees, there are other worlds rendered on screen, other eras, what puts Barbarian above the fray is that there are figurative worlds created, even for fleeting moments, that are vivid: the apartment of a Hollywood player (not pictured), juxtaposes against a suburban house turned AirBnB, the long corridor and underworld it hides, and also the past of the same neighborhood and house. The art direction is as much a part of making the mundane horrific as the characters are.
Ruth E. Carter Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Madeline Fontaine The Cursed
Catherine Martin Elvis
Gersha Phillips The Woman King
Stephanie Porter Prey
With costume design I tend to gravitate toward projects that are not just period pieces. This can mean multiple periods if they’re period at all or more toward the fantastical realm. Catherine Martin’s work in Elvis covers the 20+ year trajectory of Elvis’s career and his stage-wear was always a bit more fantastic, a bit more extra than anything else anyone was wearing. This representation of Elvis’s bigger-than-life attire puts the film over the top.
Johnny Burn, Keith Kohn Nope
Dave Chrastka Avatar: The Way of Water
Dave Grimaldi, Angelo Palazzo The Adam Project
Dan Kenyon Smile
Gary Rydstrom, James Mather, Al Nelson Top Gun: Maverick
The soudtrack of a film is perhaps the most visceral way to drive home intended emotion. All these films do an exceptional job of that, but in a movie that derives many of its scares from creepy smiles and what follows immediately thereafter, Smile does a brilliant job of infusing it soundteack with inherently unnerving and discordant sounds in both the effects work and music as can be seen in the above video.
Alexandra Anger Crimes of the Future
Mark Coulier and Shane Thomas Elvis
Clarisse Domine The Cursed
Camille Friend, Joel Harlow Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
John Russell, Natasa Krstic Hellraiser
Hair and makeup are also world-building. For the nominated titles they were no small art of selling the story: whether it be the tale of death and rebirth in Wakanda, the outfits and personae of Elvis Presley, the clashing cultures and tumultuous times in Cursed, the novel organs in Crimes of the Future or Hell being raised, hair and makeup is a a crucial storytelling tool in visual media.
It’s a telling indicator about the state of an art form when filmmakers bend over backwards to announce how much practical makeup they used, but those who worked on Hellraiser (2022) did, the use of practicals here was something I expected and thought was necessary but it doesn’t make their work any less impressive.
Robert Downey Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year
See this year’s honoree here.
Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award
See this year’s honorees here.
See this year’s honorees here.
See this year’s honoree here.
The Movie Rat 