It’s No Joke – “Joker” nabs 11 Academy Award nominations!

“Joker,” director Todd Phillips’ “origin” tale about Batman’s greatest foe scored a total of 11 Academy Award nominations today, leading all films this year.  The film earned nods in several major categories, including Best Picture, Best Director (for Phillips) and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix.  “1917” and “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” tied for second place with 10 nominations each.

This year saw an amazing batch of first time nominees, many who have done award-worthy work in the past and have never been recognized.  They include Antonio Bandares (“Pain and Glory”) and Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”) for Best Actor and Florence Pugh (“Little Women”) for Best Supporting Actress.  Scarlett Johansson earned her first two nominations this year, scoring nods for Best Actress (“Marriage Story”) and Best Supporting Actress (“Jo Jo Rabbit”).  But no less than eight of the acting nominees have Oscars already on their mantle while others, like Brad Pitt and Phoenix, have been nominated several times in the past.   The South Korean film “Parasite” also did well, earning six nominations, including Best Picture and Best International Feature Film (formerly Best Foreign Film).

Composer John Williams received his 52nd nomination for his score the “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”  Here are the nominees in the major categories:

BEST PICTURE

FORD v FERRARI

THE IRISHMAN

JOJO RABBIT

JOKER

LITTLE WOMEN

MARRIAGE STORY

1917

ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD

PARASITE

BEST DIRECTOR

Martin Scorsese – THE IRISHMAN

Todd Phillips – JOKER

Sam Mendes – 1917

Quentin Tarantino – ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD

Bong Joo Ho – PARASITE

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

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

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Cynthia Erivo – HARRIET

Scarlett Johansson – MARRIAGE STORY

Saoirse Ronan – LITTLE WOMEN

Charlize Theron – BOMBSHELL

Renee’ Zellwegger – JUDY

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 SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kathy Bates – RICHARD JEWELL

Laura Dern – MARRIAGE STORY

Scarlett Johansson – JOJO RABBIT

Florence Pugh – LITTLE WOMEN

Margot Robbie – BOMBSHELL

This year ushers in a few things that you may be able to use when you play Trivia in a few years.  Should Phoenix win, he would become the second actor, following the late Heath Ledger, to win an Oscar by portraying the Joker.  This achievement has only been done once before, when both Marlon Brando (“The Godfather”) and Robert DeNiro (“The Godfather Part II”) each won Academy Awards for portraying Vito Corleone.  Also, this year marks the first time that a husband and wife were both nominated separately in writing categories.  Noah Baumbach is nominated for his original screenplay for “Marriage Story” while his wife, Greta Gerwig, is nominated for her adaptation of “Little Women.”

For a complete list of nominees, click HERE.

The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 9th.

“The Favourite” and “Roma” lead the nominations for 91st Annual Academy Awards

“Roma,” director Alfonso Cuaron’s black and white reminiscence of his childhood, and the period film “The Favourite” led the way when the nominations for the 91st Annual Academy Awards were announced today. Each film earned a total of ten nominations, including Best Picture.  Cuaron himself received five nominations (Picture, Foreign Film, Director, Original /Screenplay and Cinematography}.  The film also received nods for Best Actress (Yalitza Aparicio), Supporting Actress (Marina de Tavira), Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Production Design.

Besides Best Picture, “The Favourite” scored nods for Best Director (Yorgos Lanthimos), Best Actress (Olivia Colman), Supporting Actress (both Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz), Original Screenplay, Film Editing, Costume Design, Production Design and Cinematography.

Another multiple nominee was Bradley Cooper, who was recognized for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture for “A Star Is Born,” which also earned two nods for Lady Gaga (Best Actress and Best Original Song) and netted Sam Elliott his first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor.  In total, the film earned eight nominations.

The other nominees for Best Picture are a worthy and diverse group.  “Black Panther” becomes the first comic book film to earn a Best Picture nod.  Joining it, “A Star is Born,” “The Favourite”and “Roma” are “BlacKkKlansman,” Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Green Book” and “Vice.”  A total of ten films can be nominated in this category, though only eight made it this year.

Other director nominations:  Spike Lee (“BlacKkKlansman), Paweł Pawlikowski (“Cold War”) and Adam McKay (“VICE”)

In the Best Actor race,Cooper is joined by Christian Bale (“VICE”), Willem Dafoe (“At Eternity’s Gates), Rami Malek (“Bohemian Rhapsody”) and Viggo Mortensen (“Green Book”).  Along with Misses Aparicio, Colman and Lady Gaga, the Best Actress race includes Glenn Close (“The Wife”) and Melissa McCarthy (“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”).

Best Animated Feature nominations went to “Incredibles 2,” “Isle of Dogs,” “Mirai,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Spider-man: Into the Spiderverse.”

Below is a complete list of this year’s nominees.  The 91stAnnual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 24th.

BEST PICTURE

Black Panther

BlacKkKlansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

Roma

A Star is Born

VICE

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Christian Bale- VICE

Bradley Cooper – A Star is Born

Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate

Rami Malek – Bohemian RhapsodyBohemian Rhapsody

Viggo Mortensen – Green Book

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Yalitza Aparicio – Roma

Glenn Close – The Wife

Olivia Colman – The Favourite

Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born

Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Mahershala Ali – Green Book

Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman

Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born

Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Sam Rockwell – Vice

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams – Vic

Marina de Tavira – Roma

Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk

Emma Stone- The Favourite

Rachel Weisz – The Favourite

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Incredibles 2

Isle of Dogs

Mirai

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Cold War

The Favourite

Never Look Away

Roma

A Star Is Born

COSTUME DESIGN

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Black Panther

The Favourite

Mary Poppins Returns

Mary Queen of Scots

DIRECTING

Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War

Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman

Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite

Alfonso Cuarón – Roma

Adam McKay – Vice

DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)

Free Solo

Hale County This Morning This Evening

Minding the Gap

Of Fathers and Sons

RBG

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT)

Black Sheep

End Game

Lifeboat

A Night at the Garden

Period. End of Sentence.

FILM EDITING

BlacKkKlansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

Vice

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Capernaum

Cold War

Never Look Away

Roma

Shoplifters

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Border

Mary Queen of Scots

Vice

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

Black Panther

BlacKkKlansman

If Beale Street Could Talk

Isle of Dogs

Mary Poppins Returns

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

“All the Stars” from “Black Panther”

“I’ll Fight” from “RBG”

“The Place Where Lost Things Go” from “Mary Poppins Returns”

“Shallow” from “A Star Is Born”

“When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings” from “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”

PRODUCTION DESIGN

Black Panther

The Favourite

First Man

Mary Poppins Returns

Roma

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

Animal Behaviour

Bao

Late Afternoon

One Small Step

Weekends

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

Detainment

Fauve

Marguerite

Mother

Skin

SOUND EDITING

Black Panther

Bohemian Rhapsody

First Man

A Quiet Place

Roma

SOUND MIXING

Black Panther

Bohemian Rhapsody

First Man

Roma

A Star Is Born

VISUAL EFFECTS

Avengers: Infinity War

Christopher Robin

First Man

Ready Player One

Solo: A Star Wars Story

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

BlacKkKlansman

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Star Is Born

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

The Favourite

First Reformed

Green Book

Roma

Vice

 
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THE SHAPE OF WATER Dominates 90th Annual Academy Award Nominations

 

The Shape of Water, director Guillermo det Toro’s “fish out of water” love story, led all nominees when the nominations for the 90th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, receiving thirteen, including Best Picture and both Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for del Toro.

 

Other films with many nominations include Dunkirk (8),  Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (7), Phantom Thread (6) and Lady Bird (5).  All of those films were nominated in the
Best Picture category.  Other Best Picture nominees:  Call Me by Your Name, Darkest Hour, Get Out and The Post.

 

Director Christopher Nolan finally earned his first nomination in the Best Director category for his work on Dunkirk.  Joining him are del Toro, Jordan Peele (Get Out), Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird)
and Paul Thomas Anderson (Phantom Thread).

 

Best Actor nominees are Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name), Daniel Day-Lewis (Phantom Thread), Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) and Denzel Washington (Roman J. Israel, Esq).  Missing from this list, in my opinion, is James Franco, whose work in The Disaster Artist, was nothing short of brilliant.

 

For Best Supporting Actor, the nominees are Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project), Woody Harrelson (Three Billboards), Richard Jenkins (The Shape of Water), Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World) and Sam
Rockwell (Three Billboards).  This is Rockwell’s first nomination.  All of the other actors in this category have been nominated before, with Plummer winning the award for Beginners.  If he wins, I’m curious if Plummer will thank Kevin Spacey, who he replaced in the film.

 

Best Actress nods went to Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), Frances McDormand (Three Billboards), Margot Robbie (I, Tonya), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) and Meryl Streep (The Post). Amazingly, this is Streep’s 20th Academy Award nomination, giving her eight more than 2nd place legends Katherine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson.

 

Best Supporting Actress nominees are Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread), Laurie Metcalf (Lady Bird) and Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water). Again, in my opinion, this list is missing Holly Hunter, who was so good in The Big Sick.

 

Speaking of multiple nominations, congratulations to composer John Williams, who earned his 51st nomination for his score for Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

 

For a complete list of nominations, click HERE

 

The 90th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 4th

OSCAR images copyright AMPAAS

“The Revenant” Leads the Nominations Released for the 88th Annual Academy Awards

Just one year after taking home the awards for Best Picture and Best Director for his film, “Birdman,” Alejandro G. Inarittu finds himself back in the race as his new film, “The Revenant,” led all films nominated today for the 88th Annual Academy Awards with (12) nods, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film also scored nominations for Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor and Tom Hardy for Best Supporting Actor.

George Miller’s “Mad Max; Fury Road” follows with (9) nominations, also including Best Picture and Best Director. Other Best Picture nominees, with their total nominations, include “The Martian” (7), “Spotlight” (6), “”The Big Short” and “Bridge of Spies” with (5) each, “Room” (4) and “Brooklyn” (3). “The Big Short,” “Room” and “Spotlight” also earned Best Director nominations.

Joining DiCaprio in the Best Actor race are Bryan Cranston (“Trumbo”), Matt Damon (“The Martian”), Michael Fassbender (“Steve Jobs”) and last year’s Best Actor winner, Eddie Redmayne (“The Danish Girl.”

The Best Actress race includes two previous winners of the award and includes Cate Blanchett (“Carol”), Brie Larson (“Room”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Joy”), Charlotte Rampling (“45 Years”) and Saoirse Ronan (“Brooklyn”).

Along with Hardy, nominees for Best Supporting Actor are Christian Bale (“The Big Short”), Mark Ruffalo (“Spotlight), Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies”) and Sylvester Stallone (“Creed”). With this nomination Stallone joins Cate Blanchett, Bing Crosby, Paul Newman, Peter O’Toole and Al Pacino as the only actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. He was previously nominated as Best Actor in 1977 for playing boxer Rocky Balboa in “Rocky.” He also received a nomination that year for writing the script for the Oscar-winning Best Picture.

Best Supporting Actress is a mixture of veteran actresses and newcomers and include Jennifer Jason Leigh (“The Hateful Eight”), Rooney Mara (“Carol”), Rachel McAdams (“Spotlight”), Alicia Vikander (“The Danish Girl”) and Kate Winslet (“Steve Jobs”).

Joining Inarritu and Miller in the Best Director race are Adam McKay (“The Big Short”), Lenny Abrahamson (“Room”) and Tom McCarthy (“Spotlight”)

Nominees for Best Animated Feature are “Anomalisa,” “Boy and the World,’ ‘Inside Out,’ ‘Shaun the Sheep” and “When Marnie Was There.”

“Star Wars – Episode VII: The Force Awakens” earned (5) nominations, primarily in the technical categories.

For a complete list of nominees go to www.oscars.com. The 88th Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday, February 28th.

“Birdman”, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” Lead 87th Academy Award Nominations

“Birdman,” the film that triumphantly put Michael Keaton back on the map and “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson’s fanciful comedy, led all films this morning when the nominations for the 87th Annual Academy Awards were announced, with each film garnering (9) nominations, including Best Picture.  Other films with multiple nominations include “The Imitation Game” (8), “American Sniper” and “Boyhood” (6) each, and “Interstellar,” “The Theory of Everything” and “Whiplash” with (5).  All of these films, with the exception of “Interstellar,” earned Best Picture nods.  The last film in the Best Picture race is “Selma,” which surprised many by only earning (2) nods.  Due to the revised voting system, only (8) films qualified for Best Picture nominations – a maximum of (10) are allowed.

In the race for Best Director, the nominees are Alejandro G. Inarritu (“Birdman”), Richard Linklater (“Boyhood”), Bennet Miller (“Foxcatcher”), Wes Anderson (“The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Morten Tyldum (“The Imitation Game”).

Bradley Cooper earned his third consecutive Oscar nomination, this one for Best Actor, for his role as real life soldier Chris Kyle in “American Sniper.”  Other nominees for Best Actor include Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”), Bennedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”), Michael Keaton (“Birdman”) and Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”).  Best Actress nominees are Marion Cotillard (“Two Days, One Night”), Felicity Jones (“The Theory of Everything”), Julianne Moore (“Still Alice”), Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”) and Reese Witherspoon (“Wild”)

In the Supporting Actor category, the nominees are Robert Duvall (“The Judge”) Ethan Hawke (“Boyhood”), Edward Norton (“Birdman”), Mark Ruffalo (“Foxcatcher”) and J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”).  Supporting Actress nods went to Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”), Laura Dern (“Wild”), Keira Knightley (“The Imitation Game”), Emma Stone (“Birdman”) and Meryl Streep (“Into the Woods”).  This is Meryl Streep’s NINETEENTH acting nomination, an incredible achievement.

Nods for Best Animated Film went to “Big Hero 6,” “The Boxtrolls,” “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” “Song of the Sea” and “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya.”

The winners will be announced on February 22, 2015.  Mark you ballots now!

 

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“American Hustle” and “Gravity” Lead This Yeas Academy Award Nominations

“Gravity,” Alfonso Cuaron’s space masterpiece and “American Hustle,” David O’ Russell’s look back at the ABSCAM scandal of the 1970s, led all films nominated today for the upcoming 86th Annual Academy Awards. Both films received a total of 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.

A total of 9 films were nominated for Best Picture this year, and those films nominated earned the lion’s share of other nominations. Right on the trail of “Gravity” and “American Hustle” comes “12 Years a Slave,” which earned 9 nominations. Three other Best Picture nominees earned 6 nominations each: “Captain Phillips,” “Dallas Buyer’s Club” and “Nebraska.” Two very difrerent films, Martin Scorsese’s tale of excess, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and Spike Jonze’s technical romance “Her” each had 5 nominations. Bringing up the rear is surprise nominee “Philomena,” which takes home 4 nods. Surprisingly missing from the list is the box office and critical favorite from earlier last year, “Lee Daniels The Butler,” which was shut out of every category it was eligible for.

“American Hustle” becomes the 15th film in Oscar history to receive nominations in all four acting categories. Ironically, director Russell’s previous film, “Silver Lining Playbook,” also duplicated that feat. “Silver Lining Playbook” was the first film to achieve this record since Warren Beatty’s “Reds” did it in 1981. Two of the “American Hustle” actors – Best Supporting Actor nominee Bradley Cooper and Best Supporting Actress nominee Jennifer Lawrence – were nominated in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories last year, with Lawrence taking home the Oscar. They are joined this year by Best Actor and Best Actress nominees Christian Bale and Amy Adams.

“Gravity”‘s only other major nomination was for Sandra Bullock as Best Actress. The majority of the film’s nomination are for technical achievements, including film editing and production design.

Bullock is among four previous Oscar winners in the Best Actress category which includes Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”, Judi Dench (“Philomena) and three time winner Meryl Streep (“August: Osage County”). Only Amy Adams of “American Hustle” is currently Oscar-less.

Best Actor is a contest between both Hollywood veterans and newcomers. Former Best Supporting Actor winner Christian Bale is nominated for “American Hustle,” while Bruce Dern earns his first Academy Award nomination since 1979’s “Coming Home” for “Nebraska.” Leonardo DiCaprio earns his fourth nomination for his work in “The Wolf of Wall Street.” These three are joined by Oscar newcomers Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club” and Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”).

Best Supporting Actor nominees include newcomer Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips”), Cooper, Michael Fassbender (“12 Years a Slave’), Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”) and Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”). Best Supporting Actress noms went to Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”), Lawrence, Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”), previous Best Actress winner Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”) and June Squibb (“Nebraska’).

Joining Cuaron and Russell in the Best Director category are Alexander Payne (“Nebraska”), Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”) and previous winner Martin Scorsese (“The Wolf of Wall Street”).

“Frozen” leads the nominees for Best Animated Feature, which also includes “The Croods,” “Despicable Me 2,” “Ernest and Celestine” and “The Wind Rises.”

The 86th Annual Academy Awards will be presented live on March 2, 2014 on ABC Television.

"Lincoln," "Life of Pi" Lead Oscar Nominations

“Lincoln,” Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece about the last months of the 16th President of the United States, led all films this morning when nominations for the 85th Annual Academy Awards were announced. The film received 12 nominations including Best Picture, Best Director (Spielberg) and Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis). Right behind was Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi,” which received 11 nominations, among them one for Best Picture. Also racking up nominations: “Silver Linings Playbook” (8), “Argo” and “Les Miserables” (7 each), “Amour,” “Django Unchained” and “Zero Dark Thirty” (5 each). All of these films received Best Picture nominations. The final Best Picture nominee, the Sundance Festival fave “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” earned 4 nominations, including a nod for Best Actress for 9-year old Quvenzhane’ Wallis. The nomination makes Wallis, who was 6 when the film was made, the youngest nominee ever for an acting Oscar.

In the acting categories, there is a good mix of past winners and newcomers. Best Acting nominees include first time nominees Bradley Cooper for “Silver Linings Playbook” and Hugh Jackman for “Les Miserables.” A pair of two-time Oscar winners, Daniel Day-Lewis for “Lincoln” and Denzel Washington for “Flight,” are also on the list as is two time nominee Joaquin Phoenix for “The Master.” Besides Wallis, nominees for Best Actress include Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty’), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”) and Naomi Watts (“The Impossible.”

In what I’m pretty sure is a first, the Best Supporting Actor category is the first acting category ever in which all five nominees already have at least one acting Oscar on their mantle. The nominees are: Alan Arkin (Best Supporting Actor for “Little Miss Sunshine”) for “Argo,” Robert DeNiro (Best Supporting Actor for “The Godfather Part II” and Best Actor for “Raging Bull”) for “Silver Linings Playbook, Philip Seymour Hoffman (Best Actor for “Capote”) for “The Master,” Tommy Lee Jones (Best Supporting Actor for “The Fugitive”) for “Lincoln” and Christoph Waltz (Best Supporting Actor for “Inglorious Basterds”) for “Django Unchained.” Best Supporting Actress nominees are Amy Adams (“The Master”), Sally Field (“Lincoln”), Anne Hathaway (“Les Miserables”), Helen Hunt (“The Sessions”) and Jacki Weaver (“Silver Linings Playbook”).

Besides Spielberg, the nominees for Best Director are: Michael Haneke for “Amour,” “Benh Zeitlin for “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Ang Lee for “Life of Pi” and David O. Russell for “Silver Linings Playbooks.” A surprise non-nominee ( and I have to be honest I actually started this paragraph by listing him as a nominee) was Ben Affleck, the director of “Argo.” Affleck received a nomination from the Director’s Guild of America last week.

The 85th Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 24th.