Thursday, November 12, 2015

The FAC and Other Oscar Categories / Oscar Matters: Pods / Focus On: "Spotlight", "Suffragette" and "Black Mass"

It's Thursday.

THE FAC LOOKS AT SOME OTHER OSCAR CATEGORIES



As we hit the mid-point of November, we're edging ever closer to the releases of a slew of year end critic's Ten Best lists.  December is rife with those and that's just around the corner.  They act as a constant reminder that the race for Oscar is about to get really serious.

Consequently, I thought I'd take the time today to run the numbers on a four Oscar categories that we haven't considered here at the FAC thus far for this season.  So today we look at Film Editing, Cinematography, Foreign Language Film and Documentary Feature.


For the purpose of The FAC I gather data from the publicly posted predictions of the following:

Erik Anderson/Awards Watch
Clayton Davis/Awards Circuit
Scott Feinberg/The Hollywood Reporter
Peter Knegt/Indiewire
Joey Magidson/Hollywood News
Nathaniel Rogers/Film Experience
Sasha Stone/Awards Daily
Kristopher Tapley/Variety-InContention
Anne Thompson/Thompson on Hollywood

TFF #42 films are in Bold.


BEST FILM EDITING

1) The Revenant
2) Spotlight
3) Mad Max: Fury Road
4) Bridge of Spies
5) Steve Jobs

6) The Martian
7) Joy
8) Sicario
9) The Hateful Eight
10) Jurassic Park

Comment: The category that has become semi-mythical in terms of its pairing with the eventual Best Picture winner seems to be among the top six films here.  Though, any of these ten could get in.


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1) The Revenant
2) Sicario
3) Mad Max; Fury Road
4) Carol
5) Bridge of Spies

6) The Hateful Eight
7) The Martian
8) In the Heart of the Sea
9) The Danish Girl
10) Son of Saul

Comment:  The five nominees probably come from the top seven listed here.


BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

1) Son of Saul
2) Labyrinth of Lies
3) Mustang
4) Second Mother
5) The Assassin

6) Rams
7) Viva
8) Goodnight Mommy
9) The Club
10) A Pigeon Sat on a Branch...

Comment:  This category is largely believed to be about narrowing the field down to the four films that eventually lose to "Son of Saul".  In a year where most categories are still fairly unpredictable, "Saul" might be the surest bet for Oscar of any film in any category.


BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

1) Amy
2) The Look of Silence (TFF #41)
3) Going Clear
4) Best of Enemies
5) The Hunting Ground

6) Where Do We Invade Next?
7) He Named Me Malala
8) Listen to Me Marlon
9) Miss Simone
10) Cartel Land


Comment: Reflecting the sense that I got at Telluride this year, there's only one TFF #42 documentary that seems to have a shot this year and "Malala" is playing from behind.  TFF #41's "Look of Silence" looks solid.

If The FAC is 100% on the money, TFF #42 films earn another five nominations from these four categories with another four possibilities.


OSCAR MATTERS: PODS




Continuing our Thursday theme focused on the latest Oscar info, here are links to Oscar Poker with hosts Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere and with special guest Erik Anderson of Awards Watch:

http://www.awardsdaily.com/podcasts/oscarpoker/episode115.mp3

and Awards Chatter featuring The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/awards-chatter-podcast-michael-moore-838623


And here's a handy overview of over thirty films culled by the staff at Variety that they believe have the largest Oscar potential.  The list includes Telluride #42 films: "Anomalisa", "Beasts of No Nation", "Black Mass", "Carol", "45 Years", "Room", "Son of Saul", "Spotlight", "Steve Jobs" and "Suffragette".  Here's the link to the complete list:


http://variety.com/gallery/best-pictures-oscar-contenders-2015/


FOCUS ON: "SPOTLIGHT", "SUFFRAGETTE" AND "BLACK MASS"



This section includes interviews from "Suffragette" director Sarah Gavron, "Black Mass' star Johnny Depp and "Spotlight" director Tom McCarthy.  There's also a link to a dissection of "Spotlight" from Uproxx:


Sarah Gavron:

http://theyoungfolks.com/review/sarah-gavron-interview-suffragette/66460

Johnny Depp:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/afi-fest-johnny-depp-talks-black-mass-auditioning-for-the-coen-brothers-working-with-scott-cooper-more-20151109

Tom McCarthy:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/telluride-director-tom-mccarthy-puts-spotlight-on-sexually-predatory-catholic-priests-20150908

"Spotlight" feature:

http://uproxx.com/movies/2015/11/spotlight-inside-story/


That's the Thursday edition of MTFB/FAC.  Come back on Monday for more and have a great weekend...

Contact me at:

michael_speech@hotmail.com OR

mpgort@gmail.com OR

via Twitter @Gort2 OR to



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