Yes, the entire world knows “Moonlight” was the huge upset shocker of last night’s 89th Annual Academy Awards ceremony. Though there’s obviously a huge argument to be made that the biggest surprise of the night was the painful mix up itself. Still, as we continue our comprehensive post-mortem on the Oscars, we analyze the winners and losers, what films were snubbed and what surprises the evening had in store.

Continue reading Oscars 2017: The Biggest Snubs & Surprises, Minus ‘Moonlight’ Of Course at The Playlist.

Well, that was something. As per usual, the Oscars were a marathon, and it was the very last category that provided the biggest spark the show has seen in decades, and maybe the most embarrassing moment in Warren Beatty‘s life.

The show trudged along into Best Picture to cap off the night, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of “Bonnie & Clyde,” coming out to present the winner.

Continue reading Oscars 2017: ‘Moonlight’ Surprise Best Picture Winner, ‘La La Land’ Wins 6 at The Playlist.

It’s Oscar week, and all week long we’ll be running features to amp you up before Sunday’s ceremony brings awards season to a close and we learn whether “La La Land” sweeps or if “Moonlight” can be a spoiler to the party. And having ranked all the Best Picture winners a few years back, we thought, how else to kick off Oscar week but to rank all the Best Picture nominees?

Continue reading Ranking Every Best Picture Oscar Nominee Of The 21st Century at The Playlist.

Hollywood’s annual celebration of themselves arrives on Sunday with the Oscars, which will undoubtedly be a star-studded, glitzy, evening of hardware being handed out, braced by an array of political speeches. You might want to get the laughs in now, and luckily Screen Junkies takes an amusing overview of the Best Picture field in their latest Honest Trailers.

READ MORE: How The Oscars Fail Movies

From suggesting that Mel Gibson will inevitably torpedo his return to the spotlight to calling out “Arrival” for that scene with the Chinese general, this is a light-hearted look at the contenders.

Continue reading Honest Trailers Takes On The 2017 Best Picture Oscar Nominees at The Playlist.

We’re less than a week away from the big show. On February 26, first-time host Jimmy Kimmel will lead us into another night of surprises, upsets, disappointment, elation, fancy suits, lovely dresses, golden statues, cheers and jeers. We can practically smell the microwave cooked popcorn and homemade chili dip as we speak. The Oscars are nothing without ferocious opinions, hard-wrought cynicism and reformed faith in the (supposedly) “dying” art of cinema.

Continue reading Where To Watch All The 2017 Oscar Nominees at The Playlist.

The Oscar nominations are in, and now begins the road to the ceremony next month, and the conversation tends to turn toward which movies deserve to win. There will be backlash against contenders (“La La Land“) and controversies about those nominated (Mel Gibson, Casey Affleck), and it can be easy to forget that the nine nominees for Best Picture are, mostly, pretty damn good.

Continue reading Oscars: Supercut Celebrates The 2017 Best Picture Nominees at The Playlist.

It’s awards-nerd Christmas today, with the reveal of the 89th Academy Award nominations this morning. We’ve already gone through the snubs and surprises of this morning’s announcement, as well as some analysis, reactions and a discussion of how it completes Mel Gibson’s comeback, but there’s plenty more to be unpacked, especially if you’re a stats fan.

As we do every year, we’ve broken this morning’s nods down to the numbers, from awards trivia to box office of the nominated films.

Continue reading The 2017 Oscar Nominations By The Numbers at The Playlist.

Last summer at the Venice Film Festival saw the first stirrings that Mel Gibson had fully found his way back into the industry’s good graces. He arrived on the Lido with his new film “Hacksaw Ridge,” and it was greeted with a 10-minute standing ovation at the premiere. After spending a decade trying to rebuild his image following a DUI arrest in 2006 during which he unleashed sexist and anti-Semitic insults and comments, and the leak of phone calls to his ex-wife in 2010 which featured more racist and sexist language (and saw his longtime agency WME drop him as a client as a result), each of those 10 minutes must’ve felt like a lifetime for Gibson.

Continue reading Mel Gibson’s Redemption Is Complete With Best Picture & Best Director Oscar Nominations For ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ at The Playlist.

It’s time for the Oscar nominations, or as they’re known this year, “La La Land” Day. The musical was expected to scoop up a slew of nominations, but it really did a number on the Academy Awards this year (sorry).

The Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone starring musical earned a staggering 14 nominations, tying “Titanic” and “All About Eve” for most nods. Coming in strong behind were the sci-fi “Arrival” and “Moonlight,” each earning 8 nominations, with “Manchester By The Sea” landing 6 nods.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Ties Record With 14 Oscar Nominations at The Playlist.

After a brief hiatus for self-care, spending the holidays with family, and catching up with the glut of titles that were released at the end of 2016, Over/Under Movies is back to ring in the new year.

For those new listeners who have come around the podcast since finding our home at The Playlist, we typically end the year (or, in this case, begin the new year) with a two-part episode of each host compiling their list for the most overrated and most underrated films of the film year, as opposed to our usual format of pitting two films against each other.

Continue reading Podcast: Over/Under Movies Discuss The Most Overrated Movies Of 2016 at The Playlist.

We’re closing in on the Oscar nominations, which arrive next week, and as Film Twitter and pundits debate and argue about which movies deserved merit or not, it’s easy to forget the struggle filmmakers go through just to get anything made. And the latest directors roundtable from THR reminds everybody that a film is a mere stop on a life-long journey for each moviemaker.

Mel Gibson (“Hacksaw Ridge”), Oliver Stone (“Snowden”), Damien Chazelle (“La La Land”), Mira Nair (“Queen Of Katwe”) and Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) all swap stories from the battlefield of the set.

Continue reading 77-Minute Directors Roundtable Talk With Damien Chazelle, Mel Gibson, Denzel Washington, Barry Jenkins, More at The Playlist.

It’s now 5 PM in Los Angeles on the final day of Oscar nomination voting and as fellow awards season watcher David Poland has said for years, “pencils down” everybody.

READ MORE: 9 Things We Learned About This Year’s Oscars From the 2017 BAFTA Awards Nominations

The 2017 Oscar season began early with “Birth of a Nation” being crowed an inevitable Best Picture winner a year ago at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival while “Manchester by the Sea” was seen as a Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and screenplay opportunity at best (how times have changed).

Continue reading Oscar Nomination Voting Is Officially Over: Who’s In And Who’s Out? at The Playlist.

The Cinema Audio Society revealed the nominees for the 53rd Annual CES Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing today. This honor is equivalent to the Oscar for Best Sound Mixing, but also includes separate Animated and Documentary categories.

READ MORE: The 30 Best Film Scores & Soundtracks Of 2016

The nominees, including television honorees, are as follows:

MOTION PICTURE — LIVE ACTION

“Doctor Strange”
Production Mixer – John Midgley, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Tom Johnson
Re-recording Mixer – Juan Peralta
Scoring Mixer – Peter Cobbin
ADR Mixer – Doc Kane, CAS
Foley Mixer – Scott Curtis

“Hacksaw Ridge”
Production Mixer – Peter Grace
Re-recording Mixer – Kevin O’Connell, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Andy Wright
Re-recording Mixer – Robert Mackenzie
Scoring Mixer – Daniel Kresco
ADR Mixer – Diego Ruiz
Foley Mixer – Alex Francis

“La La Land”
Production Mixer – Steven Morrow, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Andy Nelson, CAS
Re-recording Mixer – Ai-Ling Lee
Scoring Mixer – Nicholai Baxter
ADR Mixer – David Betancourt
Foley Mixer – James Ashwill

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
Production Mixer – Stuart Wilson
Re-recording Mixer – Christopher Scarabosio
Re-recording Mixer – David Parker
Scoring Mixer – Joel Iwataki
ADR Mixer – Nick Cray
Foley Mixer – Frank Rinella

“Sully”
Production Mixer – Jose Antonio Garcia
Re-recording Mixer – John Reitz
Re-recording Mixer – Tom Ozanich
Scoring Mixer – Bobby Fernandez
ADR Mixer – Thomas J.

Continue reading ‘Rogue One,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Westworld’ Earn Sound Mixing CAS Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

Predictions based on the nominations. [Feb. 6]

NOMINEES
1. “Hacksaw Ridge”
2. “Arrival”
3. “La La Land”
4. “Deepwater Horizon”
5. “Sully”

PREVIOUS CONTENDERS (for historical context)
“The BFG”
“Doctor Strange”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them”
“Jason Bourne”
“The Jungle Book”
“Passengers”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“13 Hours”

Gregory Ellwood’s Current Oscar Predictions:
Best Picture
Director
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Original Screenplay
Adapted Screenplay
Editing
Cinematography 
Production Design
Animated Feature Film
Foreign Language Film
Documentary Feature
Original Score
Original Song
Costume Design
Makeup and Hairstyling
Visual Effects
Sound Mixing
Sound Editing

Continue reading 2017 Best Sound Editing Oscars Contenders at The Playlist.

The American Cinema Editors announced the nominees for the 67th Annual Eddie Awards today and cast a light on what the industry’s often-most-overlooked artists feel were the best in film and television over the past year.

There were truly no dramatic snubs in the theatrical field, which covers both dramatic and comedy categories. However, if you were the editors of “Jackie,” “Silence,” “Florence Foster Jenkins,” “Loving,” “20th Century Women,” “Hidden Figures,” “Fences” or “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” you didn’t get good news this morning.

Continue reading ‘Deadpool,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Stranger Things’ Earn Key ACE Eddie Awards Nominations at The Playlist.

We’re almost at the finish line of the nominations phase for the race to the 89th Academy Awards. On Jan 13th voting will end and there will be that always too quiet wait until Jan. 24th when the nominations are revealed and everyone overthinks every category and every nomination. In the meantime, the Golden Globes will try and wield some influence this Sunday, the Producers Guild and BAFTA will both announce their nominees on Jan.

Continue reading 8 Awards Season Questions As The New Year Begins at The Playlist.

A few weeks into our annual year-end binge of the Best and Worst of the movies in 2016, and we’ve looked at the finest trailers and posters, the best movies and TV shows, the breakthrough directors and actors, the best scores and soundtracks, the worst films, and the most anticipated films and television series. There’s plenty more to come, but with the weekend here, and a weekend where a new “Star Wars” movie is opening, no less, we wanted to loosen up a bit and talk about the Best Action Sequences of 2016.

Continue reading The 25 Best Action Sequences Of 2016 at The Playlist.

The march toward the Oscars continues, and if you want an idea of how the acting nominations might shake out there, the SAG Awards are good place to start.

“Manchester By The Sea” led the way with four nominations, with “Fences” and “Moonlight” close behind with three nods each. Taking a quick look, sleeper contenders this awards season look to be “Captain Fantastic” and “Florence Foster Jenkins,” while the WTF nod at the SAGs this year goes to “Nocturnal Animals” for Best Stunt Ensemble.

Continue reading ‘Manchester By The Sea’ Leads SAG Award Nominees at The Playlist.

The HFPA gives birth to awards season dreams and the HFPA crushes them. Well, that’s what they like to think. The Golden Globe Awards are nothing more really than a marketing exercise to get people to buy tickets for end of year prestige flicks and to get Academy members to put one or two films higher on that screener pile.  Keeping that in mind we’ve studied the nominees for the 74th Golden Globes announced earlier this morning and compiled a pretty fair best and worst list for your consideration.

Continue reading Best & Worst Of The 2017 Golden Globe Awards Nominations: Thandie Newton, ‘Deadpool,’ ‘Moonlight’ at The Playlist.

There are a couple of things to always remember about the Golden Globes. First off, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (aka the HFPA) are not like the Academy, any industry guild organization or any major city-based critics group.  They are 90 or so international journalists who mostly live in the United States and are keenly aware of not only making the studios and networks who provide them with stellar access to talent happy, but the importance of not looking “wrong” in the eyes of their peers (well, at least when it comes to film).

Continue reading 74th Golden Globes Nods Analysis: ‘La La Land,’ ‘Moonlight,’ ‘Westworld’ Dominate Along With A Ton Of Surprises at The Playlist.

The past few weeks have seen countless critics guilds and other organizations start handing out their honors for the best of 2016, but now it’s time for the big guns of the awards season with the Golden Globes nominations.

Continuing to ride high, Damien Chazelle‘s “La La Land” danced into the lead this morning with 7 nominations in the film category. Every year, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association likes to throw a few curveballs, and they did just here with Jonah Hill getting a nod for “War Dogs.” Meanwhile, “Deadpool” sneaked into the Best Picture Comedy Or Musical category.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Leads 2017 Golden Globes Nominations at The Playlist.

The American Film Institute released their yearly top 10 list for both film and television today and there were few true surprises.

Before discussing, here are the sections themselves.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
“Arrival”
“Fences”
“Hacksaw Ridge”
“Hell or High Water”
“La La Land”
“Manchester by the Sea”
“Moonlight”
“Silence”
“Sully”
“Zootopia”

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
“The Americans”
“Atlanta”
“Better Call Saul”
“The Crown”
“Game of Thrones”
“The Night of”
“The People vs.

Continue reading ‘La La Land,’ ‘Moonlight’ And ‘Game Of Thrones’ Make AFI’s Top 10 Of 2016 Lists at The Playlist.

The clock has rolled over to December, and the awards season isn’t wasting a hot minute. The Broadcast Film Critics Association have revealed their nominations for the 22nd Annual Critics’ Choice Awards, and one of the year’s major frontrunners for Oscar glory remains on top.

“La La Land” leads the pack with twelve nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Song, with “Arrival” and “Moonlight” coming in close behind with ten nods each.

Continue reading ‘La La Land’ Leads Critics’ Choice Awards Nominations, ‘Arrival’ & ‘Moonlight’ Close Behind at The Playlist.

In news that will surprise no one: Once again, box-office tracking was off the mark. Heading into the weekend, predictions placed “Doctor Strange” opening between $70-75 million. Well, the experts were wrong, as the debut was bigger than expected and once again, Marvel has another hit on their hands.

“Doctor Strange” debuted in North America with an excellent $84 million, putting it just a whisper behind the opening figures for “Thor: The Dark World.” While the $644 million worldwide haul for that movie is a good benchmark to set for “Doctor Strange,” there’s a possibility it could finish a bit higher.

Continue reading ‘Doctor Strange’ Has Magical $84 Million Opening Weekend [Box Office] at The Playlist.

“Hacksaw Ridge” is not your ordinary war movie. The return of Mel Gibson behind the camera sees the filmmaker telling the incredible true story of Desmond T. Doss, a conscientious objector who nonetheless earned the Congressional Medal Of Honor by saving the lives of 75 men in the battlefield, without carrying a weapon. And it’s working that mix of intriguing narrative elements that Rupert Gregson-Williams delivered his score for the movie.

Continue reading Exclusive: Stream Track From Rupert Gregson-Williams’ ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ Score, Composer Talks ‘Wonder Woman,’ Mel Gibson, More at The Playlist.