The film that Scott Feinberg has been bearish on this season is September 5. It's the same story covered in Steven Spielberg's film Munich only covered from the point of view of the journalists covering the story. People who write in magazines tend to like stories about journalists. Oscar voters can sometimes like them too. Given that this year's Oscar slate is as weak as it was in 2020, there is a good chance that a solid thriller like...

Coralie Fargeat has made one of the best-directed films of the year with The Substance. She's easily one of the best female directors working today, but even without the gender stipulation. There are others that I would put in this category" Greta Gerwig, Emerald Fennell, Jennifer Kent, Ava DuVernay, Jane Campion, Chloe Zhao, and Sofia Coppola are among the best women behind the camera. I'm sure there are others not on the tip of my tongue but those are...

It's a publicity nightmare for Universal that there was a petty dust-up on social media revolving around a harmless fan edit for the Wicked poster. Here is a Tik Tok user describing the story: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/m2L3Ur1__0I Erivo is now being raked over the coals on YouTube. I'm not saying they're wrong. It seems silly to have taken a fan edit so seriously when you have a movie coming out that's expected to make lots of money. It also seems like...

Brady Corbet's The Brutalist has been like a secret you pass around, or a ghost in the machine. We heard a lot about it but there were no images, no trailer. Finally, a trailer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Wek49_n-8 Well, it's more like a teaser. It is still an enigma wrapped in a mystery. But I am rooting for the movie and for Brady Corbet who has taken a big bite. My hope is that he isn't sucked into the Hollywood machine and...

Though not nearly as debated as the acting or best picture race, the screenplay categories are undoubtedly important above-the-line categories to be aware of for the entirety of the season. Not only have these two offered up “consolation prizes” for the writers/directors of films that might not win Best Picture, but as some people say, Screenplay is King, and whatever prevails here has a decent shot of going a long way in other important races. Original Screenplay Though it...

The big names were in attendance last night at the Special Screening for Gladiator II. They were so confident in the movie they allowed for instant reactions on Twitter. That's always a good sign. The reactions were, more or less, what I thought they'd be - they loved it, but they were hesitant to start proclaiming it an "Oscar movie." GOOD. No one said Top Gun Maverick was an Oscar movie, either. WE MADE IT INTO ONE by changing...

This is not exactly the most exciting Oscar year on record. I think it might be maybe the most "thin" since 2020. We still have a ways to go, but with major wipe-outs like Horizon, Furiosa, Joker Folie a Deux, our slate will look more like the Spirit Awards. Then again, there are some "big" Oscar movies, like Gladiator II, which has a tastemaker screening in Los Angeles tonight with the cast, along with Ridley Scott. They usually do...