Mladen

The 2024 Australian Academy Of Cinema & Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards Winners

They are very similar, just the people who are receiving the award are different. Best ensemble is given to the actors, and the focus is on the acting chops of particular actors that make ensemble. With casting directors, I suppose they will pay attention as to how and why the actors are chosen for specific roles. They have their own branch now, so it may be very interesting to see their choices of who chose the best ensemble. I have seen Clayton Davis, Matt Neglia and some others are preparing articles and opinion pieces on this. I would like to hear what Casting Directors think. I mean... One of the unsung heroes of Game of Thrones was Nina Gold. Although her work on The Crown, and picking Claire Foy and Matt Smith for first QEII and Prince Phillip was absolutely amazing.

Ensemble awards award actors, this one is for casting directors. Therefore it cannot be considered an ensemble award. SAG or CCA give ensemble awards and it is given to actors. This one is different and will be decided by Casting Directors branch.

Oscars Add New Category for Best Casting, Beginning for 2025 Films

I think you can't win both like with many Critics Circles. It may be nonsensical but I think most of them do it that way.

The 2024 Grammy Winners (VISUAL MEDIA CATEGORIES)

The 2023 London Film Critics Circle (LFCC) Winners

Well, we all have our things... And satire of award shows and Hollywood seems to be mine Ironically, as I adore award season. If I have said this once, I have said a hundred times: As a person who grew up watching James Spader as Alan Shore in BOSTON LEGAL giving incredible monologues on daily basis, not mentioning my love for Aaron Sorkin's work, Ferrera's work is simple mediocre. After having watched FERRARI and ALL OF US STRANGERS, I can't understand who in their right mind would place Ferrera first over the likes of Cruz and Foy (someone please nominate Claire for something... She has been snubbed far too many times)... Not mentioning Randolph, Foster, Brooks, Moore, Pike, Blunt, McAdams, Henson etc. But apparently enough people in acting branch did it. Acting categories have become quite problematic in the past years. Best Lead Actor winners in the past 10 years is probably the worst line of winners in history of Academy, with only Hopkins and Affleck standing the test of time. Best Supporting Actress has also become a field where you can easily name 5 other performers and you get equally brilliant lineup. Not mentioning that this category has also had its issues like Laura Dern and Jamie Lee Curtis winning. Best Lead Actress has also been in a slump for couple of years with Zellweger, McDormand and Chastain victories. Yeoh made history but the ugliness of last yea's campaign in this category has not been forgotten. Somehow the least problematic seems Supporting Actor category, although I would argue that youngsters such as Melton, Sessa, Mescal and Whishaw deserved recognition. Margot isn't complaining. She has been very clear about that. Not to mention that she understands how these things work and that she has been nominated for BARBIE - as a producer. The Internet outrage is coming from fans, misinformed individuals and lastly, co-stars that are nominated who could use rallying up some votes. America Ferrera didn't accidently received SEEHER award at CCA right in the middle of the Oscar voting period. It's all about timing and speeches

Of course not. Margot was great, but it is not Oscar-worrthy performance. My belief she would get nominated was due to the strength of the movie to carry her alongside. After all, America Ferrera got nominated and I would argue, despite her having the big moment, she was worse than Margot. Especially having in mind the Oscar buzz performances... From those five nominated to those who weren't: Fantasia in THE COLOR PURPLE, Natalie Portman in MAY DECEMBER, Teyana Taylor in A THOUSAND AND ONE etc.

Liar, liar... Pants on fire Paloma Diamond is a legend of Hollywood. She has been nominated for Oscar 18 times, never winning. Her nomination for BREATHE is her 19th nomination. My favorite is THE HUMPS OF MY HEART by the revolutionary director Mishita Fukaksa who told Paloma not to shower or bathe for 6 weeks. Paloma is so dedicated to her craft... There is a story about her having to eat 5 ghost peppers with 3 shots of absinth when she was doing the monologue of Lady Macbeth. For THE EYES OF EVEREST, she had to have her kidney removed and got frostbites... The woman is unbelievable professional. Sadly Academy doesn't recognize her talent. She has been dealing with a lot of personal s*it. Being cheated by her husband with her make-up artist and having to endure Oscar losses so many times. She has been through a lot but hopefully she is fine now. Fun fact: her dining table is made of wood from the floating door that Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio were during filming of "Titanic". We can only hope she wins for BREATHE. The rumor is that she spent 6 years learning how to breathe for that 6-minutes breathing scene.

This had to be shared... The link to VULTURE article is in the tweet.

Margot Robbie literally slayed with her answer on her not getting the Oscar nomination in Best Lead Actress:

What really sets Lily apart in this field of 5 women is how quiet and subdued her performance is. It is so non-verbal and yet, you understand the entire tragedy of Osage. I am not American and my experience with Native Americans are limited but I feel she managed so beautifully to tell the story of her people in such unique, and I would even dare say, culturally appropriate way. Absolutely brilliant performance in its quietness. And yeah... I also hope she wins. We rarely see what she did in KOTFM. First, thanks for the article. It was very well written and it really shows how insipid the criticism has been. I have watched enough movies and performances that were "under consideration" for awards this season to point blank state that Margot didn't deserve the acting nomination. I liked her as Barbie, I think she did phenomenal job. I think that her fight as a producer to make this movie is what people should applaud her for. I think she deserves all the respect for doing that and fighting for this idea. But I honestly cannot say she was snubbed or that she deserved a place in that field of five. Not mentioning women who were not nominated. The problem Hollywood has the past, probably 10 years is looking at Oscars as if they are going to change the country. The worst part is that the principles, whether it is feminism or diversity issue, only works for people if it is about their favorite actor/director/movie. This year people are ready to ignore so many snubs across the board in acting categories, but BARBIE didn't get one - let's cry sexism. No one cares about Celine Song and Greta Lee - Asian representation is so last year thing! People are so ready to ignore Lily Gladstone's history making nomination because, believe it or not, Leonardo is not nominated (there is a Variety piece that starts with Leo's snub and mentions Lily's historic nomination third). Simply, that social justice warrior of film awards ecosystem works only if it is about popular actors, directors, movies. But, that's just La La Land!

The 2023 American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards Nominations

The 2024 American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards Nominations

I need more explanation here... First, people need to understand that Robbie got a nomination as producer in Best Picture, Gerwig got the nomination in Best Adapted Screenplay. So, both women were actually nominated for the work on BARBIE. And if you ask anyone, point blank, which of those two deserved more... Gerwig deserved more recognition as the writer than the director and Margot deserved more recognition as producer than actress. Now, let's dissect both of those categories. To be nominated, Margot would need to push one woman out .Which one? All four were superior than Margot in every conceivable way. Then, we can also mention Greta Lee, Teyana Taylor, Natalie Portman, Fantasia Barrino... It would be even difficult to argue that Margot was better than them. As for Gerwig... Again, Justin Triet did spectacular job with ANATOMY OF A FALL (in case people forget, the first French female director nominated for Oscar, not mentioning that she was snubbed by her own country's Oscar committee). Lanthimos and Glazer did incredible work with their movies and Nolan and Scorsese are simply undeniable. Academy didn't nominate Cooper or Alexander Payne or someone else whose work may be seen as inferior. They nominated five absolutely brilliant directors, one of which is a woman. A woman who, in all honesty, should be celebrated. You see, these champions of women don't speak about Celine Song and Greta Lee. They don't care about first Native American being nominated in Best Actress. Or French female director who was snubbed by her own country making history. The argumentation of BARBIE being snubbed is ignoring the entire ecosystem of movies it exists in and solely focus on how two women didn't get extra nominations for which, in all honesty, they are barely deserving.

Yeah, I really struggled with THE IRISHMAN. I consider it Scorsese's worst movie. I liked KILLERS enough but I prefer Scorsese's work 2010-2016, with SILENCE being my absolute favorite. I don't mind long movies but it has to be (I am trying to find the appropriate word so I hope I did it right), fluent.

I admit that BARBIE fans really took hard the fact that the movie didn't get the Best Director and Best Lead Actress nominations, but I could have never imagined that some cultural, political and literary people will be so uninformed about what happened with BARBIE. I also can't believe that the public can't celebrate some important milestones made by these nominations, from Justine Triet being the first French female director to get nominated to outstandingly diverse sets of nominees across acting nominations, with Lily Gladstone being the first Native American actress to be nominated in Best Lead Actress. We also have three movies directed by women in Best Picture, seven of them having women as (one of) producers. While there are a lot to be desired in terms of diversity, one must be weirded out by some truly idiotic posts online, including the insipid Hillary Clinton. I think the achievement in editing Scorsese's movies is making those 3/4-hour-long motion pictures so flawlessly cohesive and watchable. Editing is not only trimming the extra, it is making the set of moving pictures into a one wholesome story. And that, I feel was done truly beautifully with KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. Blunt's nomination was the usual "welcome to the club" type of nomination. She did enough for Supporting nomination, despite how by-the-book her nom is. She had that interrogation scene which she nailed. I prefer the work of some other actresses, but her nomination was more of giving her finally what many believed she deserved long time ago. Downey winning is such a snoozefest. And another bland, by-the-book nomination and probable win. The youngsters really did amazing work - Charles Melton, Dominic Sessa, Paul Mescal and Ben Winshaw. And I would have nominated each and every one of them before Downey, Gosling, probably even Ruffalo and De Niro. Can't talk about Sterling K. Brown as I haven't watched AMERICAN FICTION Margot never had the chance of winning. That said, I thought she would get the nomination. Not big fan of Annette Bening's NYAD and I feel it is such a wasted nomination which could have been given to Greta Lee. As for winners, it is between Gladstone and Stone. Gladstone has the narrative, people love her. Stone has one Oscar but her performance in POOR THINGS is simply brilliant. Sandra Huller would be the choice in fairer world, but Academy and foreign performances are not exactly compatible. That said, ANATOMY OF A FALL did great at BAFTA and Oscars, so if Huller gets BAFTA, she could get the chance to fight for Oscars. SAG will probably tell us the winner. And I wouldn't blame Margot for this chaos. By her own admission, she is more interested in being a producer and doing some behind-the-scenes movies. She is nominated as producer for BARBIE. Not mentioning she also produced SALTBURN... Both movies did really well with public, so she has a lot to be happy about. This whining is coming from other people, including her costars, who would happily use the controversy to propel their chances at the Oscars. The stupidest one being Simu Liu who had a post describing her work as producer for which she got a nomination. But the guy is as stupid as one can be. *** Speaking of uninformed opinions... It should be noted that the two out of three top grossing movies of the last year got 21 nominations combined. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, the 10th on top grossing list, got 2 Oscar nominations Spider-man: Across the Spiderverse, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 got one nomination, each. So basically, 5 out of Top 10 grossing movies of the 2023 are present at the Oscars, two in Best Picture.

Yeah... I think he broke a record for nominations. I mean, yeah but undeniability is proven only after award season when we look back and see how were things happening. It could mean KOTF is weaker than we suggested. Poor Things, Emma's movies, haven't shown any weaknesses, which is also to be considered. Lily is a newcomer and Emma already an Oscar winner. Not to mention Lily's movie is not centered around her, while Emma's is. True, Leo didn't do much campaigning this year save to help Lily. She missed BAFTA, she lost CCA. If she loses SAG to Emma, that is game over.

Some thoughts: OPPENHEIMER had a great day. It is becoming undeniable as it is the only movie/director/screenplay not missing anywhere. BARBIE missed the director and actress, THE HOLDOVERS director, so I have a hard time seeing anything else winning Best Picture. Same for Nolan. Nominating Ferrera and then snub Robbie and Gerwig is a choice. I have nothing against America, she is a brilliant activist, great speaker, truly amazing person but that performance - a big no! Especially having in mind that this is a category where we could have Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike, Taraji P. Henson, Claire Foy, Rachel McAdams, Sandra Huller (THE ZONE OF INTEREST). It is just pity. Luckily, she can't win, so we won't repeat that cringe of JLC winning. Then we have Charles Melton missing. Not at all surprising but still sad. I think he gave Top 3 performance in his category. Let's hope he will get the chance to be nominated at some point in the future. When it comes to actress, I am sad Greta Lee missed. But count on actors to pick biopic roles and push out original ones. Can't say I am bothered by Mulligan, but Bening... That was just one boring, uninspiring choice. As for winning, Lily is in danger, because KOTF showed serious weaknesses missing Screenplay and Lead Actor. That said, Huller may be on the rise and if she wins BAFTA, given 5 nominations for ANATOMY OF A FALL, this could be three-women-race. Overall, solid lineup. We had history in making, as for the first time, three movies in Best Picture were nominated by female directors.

The 2024 Academy Awards (AMPAS) Nominations The Oscar nomination count: Oppenheimer: 13 Poor Things: 11 Killers of the Flower Moon: 10 Barbie: 8 Maestro: 7 The Holdovers: 5 American Fiction: 5 The Zone of Interest: 5 Anatomy of a Fall: 5 Napoleon: 3 Nyad: 2 Past Lives: 2

Yeah, with 4 major precursors and countless critics circle's awards, things are rather clear. That said, AMPAS can always surprise, especially given that no one has the same voting system. So, while the general sense and direction are known, there are always few surprises on Oscar nomination morning. One aspect that I really like of this year's race for Best Actor is how public immediately reacted against Bradley Cooper who tried to do the usual "selling" to the Academy. I don't blame him for wanting an Oscar but coming a year after Tár and Blanchett's monumental performance plus trying too hard to convince everyone that has done something no one else did, really hurt his chances. There was a sense "we will award one of our own" with Bradley that really rubbed the people the wrong way. Especially after same happened with Jamie Lee Curtis last year, a victory that aged like milk. At Gold Derby, Ferrera is known as Woman Monologue I know many pundits really tried to make her happen, and her campaign did that thing at CCA, but it is such a mediocre performance. It is not even about writing, but her performance is simply lacking. Her delivery of that monologue was just fine. I mean, I grew up watching James Spader in "Boston Legal" with Alan Shore giving the best closing arguments and Ferrera doesn't even come close to that. In comparison to Ferrera and BARBIE monologue, I always remember how Florence Pugh did Amy's speech about marriage in "Little Women", how natural and perfectly delivered it was. I love how Gloria's monologue is written, but delivery and yes, you are right, placement of it was off.

Oscar nominations are scheduled for tomorrow and I thought I could write about how main categories will go, possible snubs and surprises... I will focus on above-the-line categories: Picture, Directing 4 acting categories, 2 screenplay categories. So, here we go (doing them alphabetically, the predicted winner bolded and underlined) PICTURE DIRECTOR LEAD ACTRESS LEAD ACTOR SUPPORTING ACTRESS SUPPORTING ACTOR ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY So... Those were my predictions... Hope to see yours, too!

The 2024 EE British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) Nominations