Best Actress Watch: Raves for Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths
Venice Dispatch – That’s a Wrap
2025 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress is a Barn Burner
Venice Dispatch – Will Win / Should Win
Venice Dispatch – April
Best Actress Watch: Raves for Marianne Jean-Baptiste in Hard Truths
I had a feeling when I read the synopsis of the kind of character Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays in Mike Leigh's Hard Truths. The main reason being the complexity of the role is rare for a Black woman in film. It just is. There seems to always be a need to elevate or produce aspirational or suffering women. Stories about ordinary women struggling with an ordinary...
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Awards News
Venice Dispatch – That’s a Wrap
Well, in defense of Izzy, The Room Next Door IS a very fine film. I fell happily under its spell and loved what it has to say about life, death, self-determination. And who can ever begrudge seeing the one and only Pedro Almodóvar be given golden things? It’s just that… Considering I do have a few things to say about the jury’s decisions at the 81st Venice Film Festival, announced earlier tonight, let’s better get into it. Best Young...
Nicole Kidman wins Best Actress, Room Next Door Best Film at the Venice Film Festival Winners
Pedro Almodovar wins the Golden Lion for The Room Next Door. Brady Corbet wins Best Director for The Brutalist Nicole Kidman wins Best Actress for Babygirl. Vincent Lindon wins Best Actor for The Quiet Son Grand Jury prize goes to Vermiglio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC4sNsAGbSY The rest of the winners can be found at Variety. Nicole Kidman has won the Best Actress award, a bittersweet win as she found out her mother died suddenly at the same time. We wish her all...
2025 Oscar Predictions: Best Actress is a Barn Burner
To my mind, the two strongest performances for the Best Actress win are Mikey Madison in Anora and Angelina Jolie in Maria. But that doesn't mean that will be how it all turns out. It's just that those are the two strongest performances after Telluride and Venice. Madison, I think, has a slight edge over Jolie because the film itself is such a strong contender, having won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. We're overdue for analyzing the Best Actress...
Venice Dispatch – Will Win / Should Win
All 21 films in competition at the 81st Venice Film Festival have screened and, as per tradition, it’s time for guesswork. Now, we know that jury president Isabelle Huppert has taste. Not just because she is ISABELLE HUPPERT, she’s proved herself in this capacity as recently as 2009 in Cannes and delivered a rock-solid slate of winners (including The White Ribbon for the Palme d'Or). So expectations are high and I’m allowing more than a few predicted and personally...
All This and the Oscars Too Podcast
Mark Johnson and I did a quickie podcast to discuss what changed in Telluride. What predictions were moved around, what our general feelings were about the films we saw. Have a listen!
Weekly Predictions by Sasha Stone
Good as Gold by Mark Johnson
The Brutalist
A Real Pain
Anora
Emilia Perez
Saturday Night
Dune 2
The Piano Lesson
Sing Sing
Nickel Boys
Inside Out 2
Best Actor Adrien Brody, The Brutalist
Ralph Fiennes, Conclave
Colman Domingo, Sing Sing
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
John David Washington, The Piano Lesson
Best Actress Mikey Madison, Anora
Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths
Angelina Jolie, Maria
Karla Sofía Gascón, Emilia Perez
Nicole Kidman, Babygirl
Lupita Nyong'o, A Quiet Place Day One
Kate Winslet, Lee
Zendaya, Challengers
Jodie Comer, The Bikeriders
Anya Taylor-Joy, Furiosa
June Squibb, Thelma
Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain
Stanley Tucci, Conclave
Samuel L. Jackson, The Piano Lesson
Guy Pearce, The Brutalist
Clarence Maclin, Sing Sing
Paul Raci, Sing Sing
Best Supporting Actress Danielle Deadwyler, The Piano Lesson
Zoe Saldana, Emilia Perez
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Nickel Boys
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Rachel Sennott, Saturday Night
Best Director Edward Berger, Conclave
Sean Baker, Anora
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Jason Reitman, Saturday Night
Brady Corbet, The Brutalist
Denis Villeneuve, Dune 2
Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing
Luca Guadagnino, Challengers
George Miller, Furiosa
Adapted Screenplay Conclave
The Piano Lesson
Nickel Boys
Dune 2
Inside Out 2
Furiosa Original Screenplay The Brutalist
A Real Pain
Anora
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
The Seed of the Sacred Fig
Emilia Perez
The Substance
Challengers Cinematography The Brutalist
Dune 2
Conclave
Furiosa
Best Editing Conclave
Anora
The Brutalist
Saturday Night
Nickel Boys
Dune 2 Production Design The Brutalist
Dune 2
Saturday Night
Conclave
Furiosa
Sound Mixing + Editing Dune 2
Saturday Night
Twisters
Furiosa
Costumes The Brutalist
Dune 2
Conclave
Furiosa
Visual Effects Twisters
A Quiet Place: Day One
Deadpool & Wolverine
Alien: Romulus
Furiosa
Dune 2
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Original Score Challengers
Conclave
Dune 2
Emilia Perez
The Piano Lesson
Inside Out 2
The Wild Robot
Original Song
Makeup and Hair Furiosa
Maria
The Piano Lesson
Conclave
Dune Part 2
Animated Feature Inside Out 2
Flow
Wild Robot
If
Despicable Me 4
Documentary Feature Will & Harper International Feature
Live Action Short
Documentary Short
Animated Short
Reviews
Podcasts
All This and the Oscars Too Podcast
Mark Johnson and I did a quickie podcast to discuss what changed in Telluride. What predictions were moved around, what...
Interviews
Emmy-Nominated Writers Sam Means and Meredith Scardino on ‘Home Alone’ Doorknobs and the Puppet We Never Met in the ‘Girls5eva’ Episode ‘Orlando’
Awards Daily talks to Girls5eva writer Sam Means and writer/showrunner Meredith Scardino about their Emmy-nominated episode "Orlando." Girls5eva writers Sam...
Double Emmy-Nominee Jonathan Pryce On Embracing Grandfatherly Roles in ‘The Crown,’ ‘Slow Horses’
Actor Jonathan Pryce received two nomination at the 2024 Emmy Awards. His bid for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series...
Laura Dern & Jayme Lemons On the Undeniable Hope Beneath the Comedy of ‘Palm Royale’
Palm Royale has an inescapable charm, but there are so many issues bubbling beneath the surface. Come for the incredible...
Director John McDermott on the Story of How Electric Lady Studios was Created in his Documentary ‘Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision’
Grammy nominated Director John McDermott is a proud Jimi Hendrix completist. When we met on Zoom, John’s background was three...
Costume Designer Carol Case On Adding Dashes of Humor In the Darkness of ‘Fargo’
Noah Hawley's Fargo tore through this year's Primetime Emmy nominations with a snarky vengeance. Racking up an impressive 15 nominations,...
Safowa Bright Bitzelberger On Costuming the Rise of The Cocaine Godmother for Netflix’s ‘Griselda’
When I finally sat down to catch up with Netflix's wildly popular limited series Griselda, I was amped to chart...