Oscar Podcast #17: AFI - Selma Soars, American Sniper Shoots Blanks

Explicit content warning

11/16/14 • 111 min

Big happenings with some major premieres of Oscar hopefuls at AFI this last week in the form of Selma, American Sniper and A Most Violent Year give the Gold Rush Gang (Richard, Jason and myself, Erik) a lot to talk about in this podcast. We discuss the mixed test screening (attended by a trio of AwardsWatchers) that led to some frantic predictions changes to a complete reversal after its stellar debut at AFI. American Sniper didn't fare as well and might be out the majors as a result and A Most Violent Year gets the reviews it needed to stay in the race.

We also discuss various tech predictions like Cinematography, Film Editing, Visual Effects and the Sound Categories. Is once frontrunner Interstellar out of the running here? Will a Best Picture frontrunner find itself with a few extra tech noms to pad its total? Can Roger Deakins finally win?

We end with some Independent Spirit Awards talk and predictions. Those are announced on Tuesday the 25th (not the 24th as I keep mentioning in the podcast) and we'll have a follow-up podcast post-nominations and before the wealth of critics awards start rolling in during the first week of December.

Previous Episode

Oscar Podcast #16: Where Have Selma and Unbroken Gone?

In this new Oscar podcast, Erik, Kenneth, Matt M and Peter discuss where Selma and Unbroken are in the race. Have they fallen? Are they steady? With a handful of AwardsWatch members having just seen the first and only Selma screening, there's lots to tell and lots to talk about.

We also take a crack at the juicy Best Actor category, overflowing with potential contenders with Michael Keaton in Birdman, Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, Jack O'Connell in Unbroken and Sony Pictures Classics' dilemma of too many players. Of course, we also talk about Best Actress and just how locked Julianne Moore is for Still Alice.

Later we talk about the resurgence of Into the Woods and its Best Picture chances and ponder some of the documentary and foreign language film contenders.

Next Episode

Oscar Podcast #18: Indie Spirit Noms, NYFCC & NBR Predictions

In this podcast Richard, Matt L. and I discuss the Film Independent Spirit nominations from this week; who got snubbed (The Imitation Game!) and who made a big play in the race (Selma!). We break down the categories to find a 30th Spirits Awards with a bit of a throwback to its early days to truly indie picks like Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. We talk about the hows and whys of Harvey Weinstein's failure to secure a single nomination for The Imitation Game and will it be a bellwether for the season to come. And what happened in the Best Screenplay category?

Then we dig into the two critics groups announcing next week; the New York Film Critics Circle on Monday the 1st and the National Board of Review on Tuesday the 2nd. Lots of Boyhood predictions, which is to be expected from the best rated film of the year. Also across the board predictions for Michael Keaton (Birdman) for Best Actor, Julianne Moore (Still Alice) for Best Actress, J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) for Best Supporting Actor but a split in Best Supporting Actress that finds a battle between Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year and Patricia Arquette in Boyhood but with a fun prediction from Matt L. You'll just have to listen to the podcast to find out who.