The Awards Daily team has formed slowly, over two decades. I started my site with a 28-baud modem and an iMac while living in a guest house in the back of my sister’s house in Van Nuys, with a three-month-old baby on my hip and a great idea. What if we could follow the Oscar race from start to finish and see if we could crack the code for why some films make it in, why some films win, and why some films fall by the wayside. It was to be called OscarWatch and it remained such for six years. Then the Academy sued me so the site’s name was changed to AwardsDaily. That newborn baby? In what seems a blink of my eye, she became a phenomenal young woman who’s now a student a NYU.
It’s now been nearly twenty years of coverage, twenty years of the Oscar race, twenty years of watching loyal regulars mentor new readers, raucous guests come and go, a forum that came and went, writers who went on to found their own sites after getting their start right here. And then the predictions. So many predictions about so many award shows. Over two decades, the abundance of established film critics has grown from less than 100 across the country to now, on Rotten Tomatoes, around 300. The number of critics groups handing out awards has tripled. The voices that shape which films are destined to be rewarded have grown and the criteria for appraising those films have shifted.
AwardsDaily’s staff, however, is the thing about the site that has changed the most. This Oscar year has run more smoothly than ever because of them. Starting with the inexhaustible TV crew, led by the brilliant Clarence Moye, and his staff of whiz kids, Megan McLachlan, Jalal Haddad, Joey Moser, and David Phillips, who not only cover TV and the Emmys but also contribute their smarts to the Oscar Squad. Each of them occasionally writes bright incisive features for the film pages, as well as keeping a very popular podcast running year round.
Our meticulous Dr. Rob spends countless hours every year building the Awards Daily Oscar ballot and then laying out the results in lucid spreadsheets so we can see real-life illustrations of how the preferential ballot math works. Paddy Mulholland studies journalism at same time he reinvents it, covering the London Film Festival with his fluid phrasing, inimitable wit, and deep-dive insights about movies he knows we need to know more about. Zhuo-Ning (Tony) Su brings us his own pitch-perfect analyses of the European festival circuit, bopping from his hometown Berlinale, to Cannes, to Venice, delivering elegant dispatches about cinema gems that may not always be on a path to Oscars, and perhaps all the more fascinating because they’re not.
Jazz Tangcay somehow floated down from the clouds like Mary Poppins and has been putting the site in posh tippity-top shape ever since. Dragging us kicking and screaming into the modern tech era, Jazz, like Mary Poppins, can seem to be everywhere at once. She’s at a party one night, running a Q&A another night, conducting interviews, writing reviews, working the press room at the Oscars or the Spirits and all the while keeping the Awards Daily Instagram a thousand times more exciting than it ever otherwise would be — yes, AwardsDaily has an instagram because of Jazz. When Ryan got sick recently, Jazz sent him North Yorkshire tea and Scottie-dog shortbread biscuits. I’m not kidding. She has motivated our own Marshall Flores to someday work the red carpet at the Oscars. And has helped me sort out a million things I was not able to deal with. We love Jazz like family, and I thank her from the bottom of my miserable, cold heart for being such a superstar.
Marshall Flores and I have been friends a long time. Being my friend isn’t easy, especially since I’m much like my own little dog Luna who seems driven to start fights with every other little dog she sees. Why so aggressive, Lunagirl? Indeed, a good question. I tend to start too many fights and Marshall, for some reason, is always ready to be wingman, swooping in and backing me up. We’re kind of like a dog pack. We got each other’s backs. He’s an invaluable friend, one of the truest and kindest people I’ve ever known. And I thank him from the bottom of my heart for being such a good friend and such a brilliant stats guy. Ask him anything about the Oscars. Bet you can’t stump him.
And finally, saying thank you to the scarecrow is hardest of all. I don’t ever really know how to thank Ryan Adams for being really and truly Awards Daily’s beating heart. You guys have no idea how many terrible things I write that he smooths over, or awful things I say that he gently suggests I take out. Ryan, like Jazz and Marshall, is a kind person with a big heart who seeks nothing more than mentoring and motivating others to do their best. He helps everyone with their pieces that get posted here. All three editors need to pitch in and proof my long, lumbering essays because every writer knows that just when you think you’ve found the last missing word or elusive typo, another one miraculously appears. Ryan gives so much of himself here, in the comments, and on Twitter, I can’t imagine what a frigid planet this would be without him. So thank you dear Ryan.
Finally, thanks to all our veteran readers who have come to the site faithfully all this time, and thanks to our new readers, young and old. It’s always a pleasure to see your longtime friendships form, thrashing out your alliances and differences with sharp intelligence and mutual respect. I know that oftentimes you feel I’ve let you down whenever we don’t love the same movies, or see eye to eye on issues , or lately when I’ve tried to resist the forces in the film community that threaten to make our feelings about movies as partisan as our opinions about politics. We’ve always been proud of the AwardsDaily community and we know without a doubt we have the most passionate, interesting, and kick-ass comment section in the industry. So THANK YOU for your thoughtful observationss from all around the world that add such value to our content throughout the season.
I can’t pretend I’ve enjoyed this Oscar year much. I don’t like what I saw go down and I don’t like where I fear it’s going. It feels like we’re headed for some kind of war, ideological or cultural, I just don’t know what kind. As a nation we turn to movies for a relief from strife. As individuals, we turn to movies to escape the mundane, the dreary, the painful, and the unpredictable twists and turns of life itself. For 2 hours at a time, movies can take us somewhere else, someplace better. We count on them for that. We need them for that. For an art form that involves so many moving parts, so many people who devote their lives to get them made, it’s a miracle that magic can happen so often, if at all. My fondest hope is that we never forget that most all filmmakers have the best of intentions at heart, as they seek to move us, to entertain us, to teach us, to enlighten us. If they sometimes don’t succeed, it isn’t for lack of trying.
As we close out another year, one of the most torturous in living memory, let’s try to remember why we’re all here. We’re here because we love to be enthralled by flickering images on the big screen. That will always be an experience worth respecting, worth protecting. Thank you everyone hanging with us for another wild year. In the upcoming year we celebrate the Big 2-0. We’re expecting a lot of pomp. And god only knows how much circumstance.
Thanks to all the AD team for your great content!
Congrats to Sasha and the AwardsDaily team. Love the site – for many years – everything about it. Not that I always agree with what’s written and posted. But then, hey, life would be boring and it’s always something that I find well informed can move on from. Unlike Agent Orange! Cheers and best wishes from Melbourne, Australia.
Thank you, Sasha and team! Every year, I say to myself, I will NOT follow any Oscar blogs during awards season and just allow myself to be surprised at the Oscars, but your site’s coverage is truly top-notch. Until next year!
And to the fellas who I’ve made some interesting conversations over the last few months (yes, even the trolls), thank you as well for keeping this corner of the internet fun and unpredictable.
I’ll see you all again next fall!
LOTS OF LOVE AND THANKS!! for all the wonderful coverage! .2018 was quite a crazy ride for sure!!!!..My love for movies wouldnt be the same without you guys!!.SASHA! YOU ARE THE BEST!! and Ryan! and everybody @awardsdaily..PD im quite sure lots of “Ampasinos”,keep an eye on this website!,some just wouldnt admit it! ABRAZOS!!!
Sasha, I congratulate you and your team for keep this site alive and kicking all these years. I believe I followed you since the first or second year and haven’t stop since. A lot of other sites have come and gone but yours is still the best. I might not comment as much as before but I’m always present. I hope you keep doing this for years and years to come. The Oscars are not what they used to be and they may have lost prestige and importance, but this site still keeps the race interesting and fun and that is what I believe you wanted to do in the beginning. Congratulations on your success.
Thank you and your team!!
Words cannot speak enough of my gratitude to the entire team of awards daily..but all compliments i given to both you Sasha and Ryan must be extended to the additional members of the awards daily ‘family’ to Marshal, Jazz, Dr. Rob, Paddy Mulholland i simply say first to follow up in your very limited time assuming history of past conversations remain as far back as i started sending shitloads of justified praise and compliments (about 6 years ago i started this most holy of behavior to all of you the miracle workers of awards daily.com) but just in case i praise your kindness generosity, openness, humility, democratic tolerance, and real sense of united community and purpose that reflects the way a TRUE democratic forum online SHOULD work..this site thanx to all of you is a a working model of as close to perfection as one could get and i mean that with all my heart and convictions.
On a lighter but also in large part sincere note i give extra special thankyou to Jazz Tangcay for delivering a remedy to help Ryan get better- Ryan i hope the tea tasted good (though sometimes it not bout taste it about the function). And it goes without saying if your sick Ryan mate..it just not same without you..if you ever get sick again let us share in your sickness..we all get a bit sick in part when your absent i know i do..well…then again Ryan, would we wanted to share in your sickness befoer you got the remedy?:P:P:P
Keep up the great work on awards daily.com keep the dry humour, the tongue in cheek refrences the charm and charisma, for another 20 years or longer. Your landmark game changing (compared to other online trash) insights, precise reporting, global pinpoint coverage and the wisdom you bless all of us with. but today we bless you thankyou from the bottom of our sole and hearts,
Oh and kudos to the last point championing the cause of academy protecting big screen film industry too.
Roll on 20th anniversary next year can’t wait..i was just thinking.., if Jazz such a lovely lady it seems can send you a remedy Ryan, where the mailout to send all of you indivdually some alchohol some champagne or if you dont drink a mocktail (err..no mockery intended there).
Oh and if ever you leave before minimum timeframe of 20 yrs , can you send us all a fuk load of boxes of tissues for the web will be soulless careless place without this site and all your wonderful people’s presence and yes all my blessings i pass on to all bloggers on this site all of me all of you.
Beautifully written and passionately rendered. Congratulations on the Big 2-0. What a ride!!!! This past year was surely one for the records books.
Sasha you are EVERYTHING. I’m not sure how long I’ve been following you but it was before the name change so it’s been awhile. I’m so grateful for all that you and your staff do. I don’t visit the site a ton from March until TIFF/Venice/Telluride but I’m on here pretty much daily for six months and this seasonal hobby of mine wouldn’t even be a hobby if I hadn’t discovered Oscarwatch way back when… THANK YOU!
Thank you Sasha. Awards Daily continues to brighten, entertain and inform my day…year after year. You guys are simply the best!
20 years!
i’ve been visiting pretty much every single day, at least twice a day since that very first season — it’s always been my one & only bookmark — and i, too, have grown astonished at how things have evolved… OscarWatch/AwardsDaily is part of my identity. thank you for keeping it up & leading the charge! i’ve gone from wandering college student to professional artist, with this community as one of the few formative constants…
here’s to the next 20!
Thanks for a great site and can’t wait for the madness to start all over again in December.
Beautifully eloquent and gracious thread from you Sasha. Thank you for hosting another season and for your wondrous team for supporting not only you but us commenters and visitors. I’ve been with you for half of the journey (maybe a little longer) and you’re always my first port of call. Best wishes to you all and with warm thanks. The discourse is transformative. You have built that.
It has been a tumultous awards season for all of us. My proudest moment was when we were able to convince the the Academy to present all 24 awards live. The outcry and unity to not let any category be sidelined is one of the triumphs this season. No one should mess with what’s not broken. Not even ABC. Also the pressure to let last year’s past acting winners to present this year even if Janney and Rockwell didn’t present their supporting counterparts. But still better than not having them back at all, right? Finally, Olivia Colman winning Lead Actress in a stunning upset will probably be one of the best moment ever since I started my Oscar-watching. She deserves every but of that Oscar. My heart goes to Glenn Close but I’m very sure her time will come soon and couldn’t be more excited to see her finally get her well deserved Oscar that she should have gotten for Dangerous Liaisons.
Congratulations to all of us! Always a pleasure to come here at Awards Daily for better or for worse. Hats off to Sasha, Ryan, Jazz and company! Please have a well-deserve break. For me, it has been a great yeat for cinema. Still need to see some more 2018 films and waiting to discover them one day. Looking forward to the traditional Most Awaited Films of 2019 poll and as we approach 2019 with losts of excitement, I hope most of us are already preparing our “Best of the decade” lists. Till then, see you all around here and looking forward to seeing Dumbo next month.
Thank you so much Sasha, Ryan, Marshall, Jazz, and everyone else that makes this site my go-to over the last 20 years of Oscars. I don’t always agree with you Sasha but I regret biting back this year as I do think your opinions always come from a place of passion and insight. I look forward to a year ahead where we see a new First Man get the appreciation it deserves. Enjoy a mini-break before we start all over again.
Sasha, et al–thank YOU so much for the heart and soul you pour into this site. I remember “OscarWatch” well, because I started following the Oscar race the same year you did, as a freshman in high school in 1998. You have been my go-to site ever since, and I’ve not only learned more about the Oscar race, but how to view a film, to love or loathe it and back it up with solid reasoning, and how to let it all go when the Academy inevitably disappoints me with some of their choices. The last 20 years wouldn’t be the same for me without your site!
Thankyou everyone for another great year! I was sick for most of it but I still managed to watch all the nominees and I enjoyed all the award shows. Especially the spirits and oscars I really thought they were both better than they had been in years.
I’m sad the season is over but I know next year is coming and I’m so excited for the wonderful movies I’ll get to see then.
This site has meant so much to me for all these years, it’s the only place I get to see other people are as crazy as I am about movies!
I discovered AwardsDaily in 2010, when I was still in high school. I absolutely loved The Social Network, and probably only went to see it because of Sasha championing it. My knowledge and opinions of films have developed so much over the last 9-10 years, thanks in huge part to all the contributors of this site. This season has unfortunately been incredibly tiring, yet I’m still looking forward to next year. Thanks for making this community something I can’t give up!
Beautifully written, Sasha. It’s been a wild, crazy, maddening, rich, amazing, rewarding and frustrating season for several reasons. But this site is just such a great place to come to DAILY for all reasons Oscars, Awards and Film. I love it. I love reading the articles, reading the comments, and making my own. Keep up the amazing work and, I think next year will be a good one! It’s odd to talk about ‘next year’ when I’ll be on here every day anyway, haha. But I’m sure you and your whole incredible team know what I mean. Bravo to all things Awards Daily! 🙂
[I’m re-posting only this, about what changes to my Best Picture predicting system WOULD HAVE made Green Book the stats favorite, in its understanding, while keeping all other 29 PGA era Best Picture winners also as the system’s retrospective favorites – for anybody who might have missed it and has any interest in such things:]
It’s actually proved shockingly easy, in the end, to make Green Book the stats favorite (well, perhaps not really shockingly, given how much weakness the other movies, too, not just Green Book, literally bent over backwards to show this Oscar season), while maintaining the system’s 100% “prediction” accuracy for all other 29 PGA era winners. I think these mostly minor changes improve my system quite a bit (which was to be expected, like I’ve already said on several occasions this year, given how many stats were butting heads all over the place in the race – no matter what was going to win, with the possible exception of The Favourite, there were always going to be a lot of valuable lessons to be drawn from it, with regard to the stats and tie-breaks and all that), while retaining and perhaps even enhancing its inner logic. So, without further ado, here is the breakdown of this year’s stats situation according to my system, and the minor updates which help it predict this year’s winner (and/or improve the logic behind its predictions for previous winners) – first, the elimination rules:
1. PGA snub (not an issue for any of the Best Picture nominees this year) – 100% over 30 years.
2. Two snub rule (eliminates every Best Picture nominee except for Vice and BlacKkKlansman) – 97% over, now, 71 years.
3. WGA loss plus a major guild/Oscar snub for picture, director, editing or acting (takes care of Vice and also affects all but the WGA-ineligible The Favourite) – 97% over 71 years.
4. Not being at least tied for 5th in nominations (eliminates BlacKkKlansman and also affects Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody) – 97% over, now, 91 years.
Observations:
– The numbers are all updated to include this year’s result.
– As can be seen, a number of movies fall under two or more of these elimination rules. This was a confusing element for me and my system this year, as there is nowhere near enough precedent for this kind of situation: I couldn’t really be sure whether a movie eliminated by a single rule was likely to be stronger in the race than a movie eliminated by multiple rules. Green Book’s win answers that question. There is clearly no difference. (As Green Book was eliminated via three rules, whereas Vice was only eliminated due to the WGA+1 rule, and BlacKkKlansman only due to the nominations ranking rule, if there was a difference, then one of those two would have won.)
– The only modification I’ve had to operate to the elimination rules portion of my system is, again, a highly logical one, in my opinion: whenever a movie is ineligible for the WGA, it cannot be the system’s pick over a movie with a better “weakness count” (explained below) that was eliminated exclusively on account of the WGA+1 rule. Because that would obviously be unfair and illogical. This first came into play last year, with The Shape of Water vs. Three Billboards. At the time, I tried to resolve this by attempting to predict the WGA. This is clearly a much more appropriate solution.
– Since all eight movies get eliminated in one way or another, none gets eliminated (since one has to win), and the weakness count alone decides the winner:
Green Book -3 (DGA loss/directing snub, SAG snub, WGA loss)
The Favourite -3.5 (PGA loss, DGA snub, SAG snub, -0.5 for the WGA ineligibility)
Black Panther -4 (PGA loss, DGA/directing snub, screenplay snub, ACE/editing snub)
BlacKkKlansman -4 (PGA loss, DGA loss, SAG loss, WGA loss)
Bohemian Rhapsody -4 (PGA loss, DGA/directing snub, SAG loss, WGA/screenplay snub)
Roma -4 (PGA loss, SAG snub, WGA loss, editing snub)
Vice -4 (PGA loss, DGA loss, SAG snub, WGA loss)
A Star is Born -5 (PGA loss, DGA loss/directing snub, SAG loss, WGA loss, editing snub)
Observations:
– The 3rd-7th movies above are, of course, listed alphabetically, since they’re tied for number of weaknesses.
– I’ve already explained many times why I only count, for instance, WGA and Oscar screenplay snubs as one weakness (same category is the very basic answer – there’s a longer one with examples and precedents, obviously).
– As I said when posting my final official prediction, I’ve settled on deducting 0.5 points for a WGA ineligibility, to eliminate the need to try and predict that award in order to get Best Picture right. Since not competing for the WGA means a movie has neither won, nor lost the WGA, but something in-between. (As the chances of winning an award are always, in a vacuum, different from both 0% and 100%, as long as there is democratic voting between at least two movies going on.)
– The other modification I operated here was to remove the deduction of one extra point for not being in the top 4 in the nominations ranking, which I like, since that’s basically the same as the elimination rule above. I don’t even remember why I thought I needed to do this in the first place. I can’t spot the race where I thought this was crucial for predicting the right winner… (I mean, I have an idea, but that race is now resolved by the elimination rule, so there’s no longer a need for this deduction.) And, had I removed this earlier, I would have actually predicted Green Book this year (officially – unofficially I probably would have still predicted Roma, thinking the nominations ranking stat might prove too difficult to overcome). With that in mind, the decision is beyond clear.
– Since there is now, after these modifications, no tie for this year, I don’t even need to make any changes to the tie-breaks. However, I do want to make an improvement, anyway, so these are my new tie-breaks:
1. Having more SAG acting wins.
2. Having fewer relevant snubs in the categories listed above.
3. Major guild win rankings. (WGA>PGA>DGA>SAG.)
This is my final modification to the system made this year, and its purpose is to eliminate the need to have different guild rankings for the pre-preferential and preferential eras. Ties broken by the first rule are: Moonlight vs. Arrival (one SAG acting win to zero), Million Dollar Baby vs. The Aviator vs. Sideways (two SAG acting wins to one and zero, respectively) and Shakespeare in Love vs. Saving Private Ryan (one SAG acting win to zero). Ties broken by the second rule (necessary either due to the number of acting wins by the movies tied being equal, or due to there being no SAG Awards that year) are: Crash vs. Brokeback Mountain (editing snub for the latter) and Unforgiven vs. The Crying Game (ACE snub for the latter).
What’s interesting is that, even had Roma won the WGA instead of Eighth Grade, it would still not have been the stats favorite of my system, after these updates, because it would have lost to Green Book on the first tie-break…
Finally, some extra thoughts on stats that held or broke, and so on:
– Again I got Best Picture wrong due to (among other things) not correctly predicting screenplay at the Oscars. Or the virtual, all-eligible WGA. About that: The Favourite now looks like it might have actually lost to Eighth Grade as well, since 4/5 BAFTA-only screenplay winners that didn’t win the Oscar and went up against the Oscar winner at the WGA didn’t win there, and the fifth one is Up in the Air, and everybody knows why that lost. However, Eighth Grade IS still the only WGA winner in ages to have no Oscar nomination for screenplay, and of course the movies those other four lost to all did, so one just can’t be sure…
– The PGA is currently crushing the DGA in the preferential era. It’s now 2-0 to the former when they’ve split (I’m including the tie year, since a PGA winner beating a DGA AND PGA winner is even stronger evidence of how much more relevant the PGA is), and of course the one year when both got it wrong. This doesn’t surprise me one bit, but there might be some out there that could use the reminder. 🙂
– The late October stat (which says the Best Picture winner is always among the top 3 predicted at that time) has prevailed yet again. Will this one ever break in our lifetimes?! 🙂
– The NBR-GG-DGA-WGA stat also held (the BP winner has won at least one of the top awards at these for the last 70 years, now).
– As did the stat about the BP winner having at least one BAFTA acting nomination. (With this year, I think it’s now the last 21 or 22 years in a row this has been true, or something like that – with the obvious and irrelevant exception of Million Dollar Baby, which wasn’t seen by voters.)
– A movie getting extra acting nominations it wasn’t expected to get is YET AGAIN proven to be a bit of a red herring, not the major “Eureka” moment some people assume it is every year.
– Since Roma lost, the stat about the Best Picture winner never finishing exactly second, or tied for second, in any of my preferential ballot simulations, has also been confirmed. Which is SO COOL!…
– Like I said yesterday, this result also basically vindicates my theory that there’s no significant difference in strength between the editing stat and the directing stat. I’m sure this has already been pointed out, but there are now THREE exceptions to the directing stat since the early 1980’s, and only one for the editing stat (and an extremely easy one to explain away, to boot). But I’m sure people will again be indignant next year when I dare to suggest editing might be as relevant as directing, stats-wise…
– The Phoenix Film Critics Society is getting more and more impressive… 8 of the last 10 Best Picture winners won there first, with this year. Do we need to stop following the Best Picture race in December, from now on? 🙂
There are clearly many other stats that held, and some that broke, as there are every year. These are just the most important ones I could think of today…
In the end, this year was so weird that people forget that the award many discredit all the time had, If I’m not mistaken, for just the fourth time in 30 years matched all the Oscars results but one. This time the odd one was Original Score. All the major categories, including Foreign Language Film and Animated Feature, which have an exclusion nature in the Globes (since films there can’t compete for Drama or Comedy) have matched. A first in at least 30 years I guess.
Yeah, that was pretty weird. Anyway, even a broken clock… 🙂
Plus, of course, they’re very good at matching everything but BP.
Foreign Language Film and Song is pretty much 50/50. This year the two juggernauts helped the Globes. Their correlation would be perfect if not for this heresious omission of by far the best score of the year the Oscars.
The most senseless snub of the whole year, anywhere. You can sooort of explain Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, just about (it’s thin, but you can build an argument based on a few things they might have not liked/appreciated about it), but First Man’s score not getting in just makes zero sense. They all lost their minds as they were voting. 🙂 That sounds about as plausible to me as any other theory…
That ranks along with Inception’s editing as the worst and most inexcusable tech snub of the century. No film in modern history relies so much on editing as Inception. It’s almost a movie about editing.
Even Return of the King’s Cinematography and Sound Editing snubs are explainable although ridiculous since previous movies in the trilogy have won there. But those two snubs…
Inception was snubbed for editing?! 😮 I’d forgotten. Oh, these people…
Thanks so much Sasha, Ryan, Marshall, Jazz, Joey, Megan, Clarence, and Jalal. You guys rock and I’ve enjoyed knowing you guys these last few years. It’s been fun, even when the race hasn’t.
Gosh… I remember being in high-school and checking your site, looking forward to watch The aviator after all the Critics / GG buzz. Things didn’t turn out as I wanted, but since then, no friend, family or non-significant person-at-all dares to disagree with my (your? our?) predictions. Thank you all for this amazing work.
So excited to know the Cannes line-up next april!
Almodovar? Tarantino? James Gray? Reichardt? Safdie brothers? Ira Sachs? Koreeda? Malick? Jarmusch? Dolan?
Yeah, yeah, I get it. Oscar hangover. Sorry.
It was my pleasure to contribute my small part of your wonderful site. You, Ryan, and Marshall have been an inspiration on many fronts. Thank you for that.
To Sasha, Ryan, Jazz and Marshall:
Paraphrasing one of the greatest acceptance speeches of all time. “It’s my privilege, thank you!”
“and I don’t like where I fear it’s going.”
—————————————————–
I say similar things to people and they don’t get it. While the “Golden Globes” lack prestige they seem to have a blithe spirit which the AA’s lack.
I found AwardsDaily in what must have been 2006, when I was a freshman at Varsity and had access to a school computer with internet between classes (how times have changed).
In my naivety, I’d always been confused as to why some performance, in particular, get overlooked by the Oscars when they seemed so clearly deserving to me – and was interested in hearing about the performances just on the periphery – the ones that just missed it, almost made it & were just as worthy. Those were the performances I wanted to see and celebrate.
And so, I found Awardsdaily, right at the start of the season when first reviews for Little Children & Running with Scissors were coming out and Winslet & Bening were chalked down as contenders. For better or worse, I’ve only become more obsessed since. Like most of us, I’m sure, I definitely spend an absurd amount of time thinking about movies, awards, and the Oscars in general. I think my brain needs data to obsess over, and there are certainly worse things to run through my head when I’m struggling to sleep…
All that to say – thanks Sasha and Ryan, and the rest of the team who’s come along since, for being my (pretty much) daily awards fix. There’s really no one in my circle of friends who has anything close to the level of tolerance for obsessive awards analysis that this site grants me, and I thank you all for it. (Also – I’ve tried other oscar sites, they’re just not the same. There’s a reason that the comments section here is so great – Sasha’s honest, thoughtful, passionate writing invites it & Ryan’s moderation encourages it).
It truly is special to know that there are so many people across the globe with the same random itch to scratch.
Thanks again for being so awesome! I’ve only been coming here for the last few years, but I love it… I basically live on here and Gold Derby from Sept – Oscars… It’s what keeps me alive during these horrendous MN winters.
I live in MN as well. Nice to know there is a fellow Minnesotan here.
I can’t wait for February to be finally over, and we can forget about breaking that stupid record for most snow ever in the month of February. Not a record I wanted to be a part of. LOL
I thought it was a good award season. There’s was no clear front runner which made the season interesting however I do have a complaint. There are too many Oscar pundits. There are film blogger/writers claiming to be a “Oscar Pundit” but don’t know how the The Academy works (or even the Golden Globes). These people need to either to educated themself on the Awards seasons or stick with writing about superhero movies.
The road to hell is paved with great intentions. I am just happy that white liberals are proving that they are the real racists. Can you imagine if a conservative stated that John Lewis and Kareem Abdul Jabbar liking Green Book equates to all black people liking Green Book? Heads would rightfully being rolling. It is acceptable when “Liberal” Sasha Stone does that, though. Anyway, at least all of this has continued to disillusion black people from the Democratic party. I mean with the white liberal condescension, the governor of Virginia posing as a klansman and a councilwoman from Maryland referring to black people as the n-word, Democrats cannot say anything about Republicans being racist. I read somewhere that black people are beginning to turn away from the Democratic party, and based upon real life, that is believable. Great luck at at Democrats winning with black voters staying home. Trump is going to win again by no achievements of his own, and honestly, that is what America deserves because he is better than the Democratic party as it is.
“My fondest hope is that we never forget that most all filmmakers have the best of intentions at heart, as they seek to move us, to entertain us, to teach us, to enlighten us. If they sometimes don’t succeed, it isn’t for lack of trying.”
Thank YOU and your staff, Sasha, for sticking around this long and bringing us readers a home to share our love for the awards season. I hope you will continue for many years to come. I was here at the beginning and I ain’t leaving, because somehow you feel like a sister. So on with Seasoon 20! I’ll drink to that!
Watching the race is so much fun with you guys and I have learned a lot. Thanks for everything.
If Steven Spielberg managed to beat Netflix, he can do it again…
Sasha, I think this is the most exciting race we’ve ever gone through, together. I joined your adventure in the turn of the century, and while I could I helped in the construction of the wonderful site this has become to be. We laughed, discussed and cried together, this is a big, BIG thank you to you and the team, which I never felt I was aside from, as a senior of this site. I got something pending for Ryan, something he asked me for (an Avengers: Infinity War analysis – one of the HUGE Best Picture snubbies of 2018, for a big number of reasons) and that I have kept aside till Oscars were done. @Ryan I don’t know if you’re still interested or already saw the film and what you thought of it. I think it’s better to approach my review after actually watching it, and then re-watch it.
Looking forward to next year’s race… with two big strong horses with really Oscar-candy projects like Scorsese and Almodovar, just for starters. Amazing year, we have in front of us. I promise to deliver a review of the new Almodovar as soon as it comes out and I see it (remember, I don’t do this professionally and I owe to my work and to my dog, need to do it on a free day)
Tarantino is the other big horse, not Almodovar…
Let me see… a film about the Sharon Tate assasination and the Manson family by violently brutal and controversial Tarantino vs. an autobiographical film by one of the world’s masters of cinema. Mmmm… I wonder what would the “Green Book” and “Moonlight” best picture winners AMPAS would probably enjoy more. Thank you for trying. Tarantino films are always impossible to track on Awards appeal… see Kill Bill 1&2 for example.
I’m truly interested to see if the Academy goes for Almodóvar. (If the film delivers, of course.) It’s hard to see exactly what path will follow for the Oscars after this year.
at this point, as usual, first suspects are previous winners and nominees who have been doing strong work of late. Surprising nominees will come out blockbusters, sleepers, film festivasl… as usual. Also, never forget to add to the contenders list, those director and performers who have been in discussion for previous films in the last years… for example, John Travolta is a really unlikely nominee after his latest bombs streak but Nicholas Cage, thanks to the cult success of “Mandy” would be in discussion if he delivers another powerful performance in a critically well received film. I think, if “Mandy” had money for Awards campaigning, Cage could have given Malek a run for the money, and would probably have been nominated for Lead Actor… but instead of who?
Mandy, I was told, was not eligible for the Oscars because it didn’t have a sufficiently long theatrical exclusivity. A shame, it should have been there in many categories.
Also, if Cage got in from an indie film, Dafoe would’ve probably missed.
I am uncertain Dafoe would have missed. I think Viggo or even Cooper would have been left out. Malek was a lock and Dafoe was kind of undeniable, he’s Hollywood royalty by now, and in a Julian Schnabel film, playing an historical figure as iconic as Van Gogh. Yeah, most likely Cooper, who was playing ANOTHER version of a fictional character would have been the one who did not make the cut. The rest were all playing Mercury, Chenney, Vallelonga (key to the GB story) and van Gogh, all real people
Hopefully SAG keeps the comic book inclusion and wisely nominates the incomparable ensemble of AVENGERS: ENDGAME this year… Arguably one of the best ever… assembled…
“AwardsDaily has an instagram because of Jazz”
Really, I didn´t know – have to check it! (Insta is my only social account)
https://www.instagram.com/awardsdaily – that’s us
Your poetic grasp on demoralization makes my positively nihilistic heart beat loud. Thank you Sasha, I don’t know how you managed to make sense of this year but you did!