Scripter Nominees Like 'Top Gun: Maverick'

The USC Scripter noms are here and hey, they picked Top Gun! I had no idea that the original movie was actually based on a magazine article. That bodes well for Top Gun getting into adapted screenplay, which is pretty weak this year and doesn’t really have a frontrunner for the category. We’ll see what Scripter does with it.

2023 USC SCRIPTER NOMINEES

Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale and Matthew Robbins
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Netflix)
Based on the fairy tale The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (Penguin Classics)

Kazuo Ishiguro
Living (Sony Pictures Classics)
Based on the novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (Penguin Classics)

Rebecca Lenkiewicz
She Said (Universal)
Based on the nonfiction book She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (Penguin Press)

Peter Craig, Ehren Kruger, Justin Marks, Christopher McQuarrie and Eric Warren
Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)
Based on characters from the 1983 California magazine article “Top Guns” by Ehud Yonay

Sarah Polley and Miriam Toews
Women Talking (Orion/MGM)
Based on Toews’ novel of the same name (Bloomsbury)

'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio' Leads the Annie Nominations

There’s not a lot of suspense over the winner for Best Animated Feature this year. Pinocchio has this in a walk, and hey, at least it’s not yet another Disney or Pixar winner, so the streak is broken. I suppose if there was a runner-up for this it’s Puss in Boots, which got surprisingly good reviews and has turned into a sleeper hit, bringing family audiences back to the box office in the last few weeks, but the respect for del Toro keeps this from becoming a race, I think. Although, with the Oscars still two months away, there could be a chance for a late Puss in Boots surge, so we may have to keep an eye on that (that would also not be Disney or Pixar, but rather a return to DreamWorks after many years).

2023 ANNIE AWARD NOMINATIONS

FEATURE
“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation
“The Sea Beast,” Netflix
“Wendell & Wild,” Netflix Presents A Monkeypaw Production/A Gotham Group Production

INDIE FEATURE
“Charlotte,” January Films, Ltd., Balthazar Productions, and Walking the Dog
“Inu-Oh,” Science SARU
“Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be,” On Classics (Mediawan)/Bidibul Productions/Buffalo 8
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC
“My Father’s Dragon,” Cartoon Saloon for Netflix

FX – FEATURE

“Avatar: The Way of Water” 

“Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear” 

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Minions: The Rise of Gru”

“The Sea Beast”

CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Teresa Falcone
“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Eric Anderson
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Tucker Barrie
“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Jorge Capote
“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Min Hong

CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
“Avatar: The Way of Water,” Production Company: 20th Century Studios/Disney Studios, FX Production Company: Weta FX; Daniel Barrett, Stuart Adcock, Todd Labonte, Douglas McHale, Stephen Cullingford
“Beast,” Production Company: Universal Pictures, RVK Studios, Will Packer Productions, FX Production Company: Framestore; Alvise Avati, Chris McGaw, Bora Şahin, Krzysztof Boyoko, Laurent Benhamo
“Finch,” Production Company: Amblin Partners Apple Original Films, FX Production Company: MPC; Simon Allen, Harinarayan Rajeev, Paul Nelson, Matthias Schoenegger
“Jurassic World Dominion,” Production Company: Amblin Entertainment & Universal Pictures, FX Production Company: Industrial Light & Magic; Jance Rubinchik, Alexander Lee, Rich Bentley, Antoine Verney Carron, Sally Wilson
“Peacemaker,” Production Company: HBO Max, FX Production Company: Weta FX; Michael Cozens, Mark Smith, Kai-Hua Lan, Selene McLean, Richard John Moore

CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE

“Luck,” Skydance LLC; Massimiliano Narciso

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; Jesús Alonso Iglesias

“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie,” Nickelodeon Animation Studio; Ida Hem

“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Taylor Krahenbuhl

“Wendell & Wild,” Netflix Presents A Monkey Paw Production/A Gotham Group Production; Pablo Lobato

DIRECTION – FEATURE

“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Domee Shi

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC; Dean Fleischer Camp, Kirsten Lepore, Stephen Chiodo

“My Father’s Dragon,” Cartoon Saloon for Netflix; Nora Twomey

“Wendell & Wild,” Netflix Presents A Monkey Paw Production/A Gotham Group Production; Henry Selick

MUSIC – FEATURE

“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Ludwig Göransson, Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro, Patrick McHale

“Mad God,” Tippett Studio; Dan Wool

“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Daniel Pemberton

“The Sea Beast,” Netflix; Mark Mancia, Nell Benjamin, Laurence O’Keefe

PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Curt Enderle, Guy Davis

“Mad God,” Tippett Studio; Phil Tippett

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; Nate Wragg, Joseph Feinsilver, Claire Keane, Wayne Tsay, Naveen Selvanathan

“The Bad Guys,” DreamWorks Animation; Luc Desmarchelier, Floriane Marchix

“The Sea Beast,” Netflix; Matthias Lechner, Jung Woonyoung

STORYBOARDING – FEATURE

“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” Illumination; Nima Azarba

“Minions: The Rise of Gru,” Illumination; Dave Feiss

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; Anthony Holden

“Strange World,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Jeff Snow

“Strange World,” Walt Disney Animation Studios; Javier Ledesma Barboll

VOICE ACTING – FEATURE

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; David Bradley (character: Geppetto)

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Gregory Mann (character: Pinocchio)

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC; Jenny Slate (character: Marcel)

“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” DreamWorks Animation; Wagner Moura (character: Wolf)

“The Sea Beast,” Netflix; Zaris-Angel Hator (character: Maisie Brumble)

WRITING – FEATURE

“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Domee Shi, Julia Cho “Eternal Spring,” Lofty Sky Entertainment Inc.; Jason Loftus

“Inu-Oh,” Science SARU; Akiko Nogi

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,” Marcel the Movie LLC; Dean Fleischer Camp, Jenny Slate, Nick Paley, Elisabeth Holm

EDITORIAL – FEATURE
“Disney and Pixar’s Lightyear,” Pixar; Tony Greenberg, Katie Bishop, Chloe Kloezeman, Axel Geddes, Tim Fox
“Disney and Pixar’s Turning Red,” Pixar Animation Studios; Nicholas Smith, Steve Bloom, David Suther, Anna Wolitzky, Christopher Zuber
“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” Netflix Presents A Double Dare You! Film/A Shadowmachine Production in association with The Jim Henson Company; Ken Schretzmann, Holly Klein, Emily Chiu, Hamilton Barrett
“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” Dreamworks Animation; James Ryan, ACE, Jacquelyn Karambelas, Natalla Cronembold, Joe Butler, Katie Parody
“The Sea Beast,” Netflix; Joyce Arrastica, ACE, Will Erokan, Vivek Sharma, Michael Hugh O’Donnell, Daniel Ortiz

'Everything Everywhere' Wins Picture and Director at Critics Choice Awards

The BFCA picked its winners tonight and went hard for Everything, giving it Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Editing and Supporting Actor. All except Best Actress really, which went to Cate Blanchett. Even though this would be her third Oscar I’m thinking that performance she gave in Tar is just too big for the actors to ignore, similar to Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood or Lincoln. Brendan Fraser won Best Actor though, which shows he’s still in the running for that and it may well be a three person race there with him, Austin Butler and Colin Farrell. All three of their movies may land Best Picture nominations in a week or so, as the PGA’s surprise nomination for The Whale showed that the industry does like the movie as a whole, not just him in it. That puts Fraser right in there. As for supporting actress I’m kind of amazed that Angela Bassett may win for a Marvel movie, but I guess it would be a career award there.

2023 BFCA WINNERS

Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actor: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Tár”

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Best Young Actor or Actress: Gabriel LaBelle, “The Fabelmans”

Best Acting Ensemble: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

Best Original Screenplay: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “Women Talking”

Best Cinematography: “Top Gun: Maverick”

Best Production Design: “Babylon”

Best Editing: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Costume Design: “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Best Hair and Makeup: “Elvis”

Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water”

Best Comedy: “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”

Best Animated Feature: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Best Foreign Language Film: “RRR”

Best Song: “Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”

Best Score: “Tár”

'Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret' Finally Gets a Movie

Judy Blume’s classic 1970 novel has finally been adapted to the big screen. What took so long? I don’t get it either. Directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (Edge of Seventeen), the movie keeps the early 70’s setting and will hopefully do the book justice.

Costume Design Guild Likes 'Babylon,' 'Elvis'

The CDG weighed in to today with their three categories- I don’t know what the frontrunner is in this category but I guess it could be Babylon, which is pinning its hopes for Best Picture nomination on strength with the guilds in the below the line categories.

2023 CDG NOMINEES

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film:

• Avatar: The Way of Water

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Hocus Pocus 2 (really?)

• Thor: Love and Thunder

Contemporary Film:

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

• Nope

• Tar

• Top Gun: Maverick

• Women Talking

Period Film:

• Bablyon

• Don’t Worry Darling

• Elvis

• Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris

• The Woman King

PGA Nominees Include 4 Sequels

That’s the big headline from this batch of films nominated for the Producers Guild award, I’d say. Four sequels? Wow, if that doesn’t say everything about the state of movies today. And hey a surprise nom here for The Whale! That seems to boost Brendan Fraser a bit, but I still think Austin Butler is looking like the frontrunner. I believe three of these films will be replaced at the Oscars- probably Glass Onion, Black Panther and The Whale. What with? I think Babylon, All Quiet on the Western Front and Women Talking are the likeliest contenders.

2023 PGA NOMINEES

• Avatar: The Way of Water

• The Banshees of Inisherin

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

• Elvis

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• The Fabelmans

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

• Tar

• Top Gun: Maverick

• The Whale

'Top Gun: Maverick' Gets a DGA Nomination

The all important Directors Guild speaks and presents its nominations to these five filmmakers:

• Todd Field, Tar

• Joseph Kosinski, Top Gun: Maverick

• Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

• Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

• Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

This means that these are our top five films of the year, and the Oscar Best Picture winner will be from this group (though not necessarily best director). The big news here is Kosinsky’s nomination for helming Top Gun, a filmmaker who’s stayed so anonymous that Tom Cruise hasn’t even tried to give him credit for the movie. But that’s how strong Top Gun is, so watch out. Right now it seems to me like Banshees, Everything Everywhere, Fabelmans and Top Gun are all strong bets to win. We’ll have to see what PGA has tomorrow.

First-Time Feature Nominees

• Alice Diop, Saint Omer

• Audrey Diwan, Happening

• John Patton Ford, Emily the Criminal

• Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, Murina

• Charlotte Wells, Aftersun

Makeup & Hair Guild Nominations Include 'Elvis' and 'The Batman'

The makeup & hairstyling guild is in, with nominations for heavy hitters in this department, like Elvis, Babylon, and The Whale.

2023 MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING GUILD NOMINATIONS

Best Contemporary Make-Up, Feature-Length Motion Picture

• The Batman

• Everything Everywhere All at Once

• The Menu

• Nope

• Spirited

Best Period and/or Character Make-Up, Feature-Length Motion Picture

• Amsterdam

• Babylon

• Blonde

• Elvis

• Till

Best Special Make-Up Effects, Feature-Length Motion Picture

• The Batman

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

• Elvis

• Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical

• The Whale

Best Contemporary Hair Styling, Feature-Length Motion Picture

• The Batman

• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

• Everything Everywhere All At Once

• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

• The Menu

Best Period Hair Styling and/or Character Hair Styling, Feature-Length Motion Picture

• Amsterdam

• Babylon

• Blonde

• Elvis

• The Woman King

'Everything Everywhere' and 'Banshees of Inisherin' Lead the SAG Nominations

The Screen Actors Guild noms are here and the big news is that Michelle Williams snub, in my opinion. Especially because they nominated Paul Dano! And liked The Fabelmans. Ana de Armas in for Blonde, which makes her a real shot for an Oscar nomination now. And the total blank of Top Gun means no support from the actors, making it a bit harder for that one to go all the way. I predict Everything Everywhere to win this, although Banshees is definitely in it. Both got five nominations here, which is the record.

2023 SAG NOMINEES

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

AUSTIN BUTLER / Elvis – “ELVIS”
COLIN FARRELL / Pádraic Súilleabháin – “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”
BRENDAN FRASER / Charlie – “THE WHALE”
BILL NIGHY / Williams – “LIVING”
ADAM SANDLER / Stanley Sugerman – “HUSTLE”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

CATE BLANCHETT / Lydia Tár – “TÁR”
VIOLA DAVIS / Nanisca – “THE WOMAN KING”
ANA de ARMAS / Norma Jeane – “BLONDE”
DANIELLE DEADWYLER / Mamie Till-Mobley – “TILL”
MICHELLE YEOH / Evelyn Wang – “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE”

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role

PAUL DANO / Burt Fabelman – “THE FABELMANS”
BRENDAN GLEESON / Colm Doherty – “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”
BARRY KEOGHAN / Dominic Kearney – “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”
KE HUY QUAN / Waymond Wang – “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE”
EDDIE REDMAYNE / Charlie Cullen – “THE GOOD NURSE”

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role

ANGELA BASSETT / Ramonda – “BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER”
HONG CHAU / Liz – “THE WHALE”
KERRY CONDON / Siobhán Súilleabháin – “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”
JAMIE LEE CURTIS / Deidre Beaubeirdra – “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE”
STEPHANIE HSU / Joy Wang/Jobu Topaki – “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE”

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

• BABYLON

• THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

• EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

• THE FABELMANS

• WOMEN TALKING

Cinema Audio Society Nominees Include 'Avatar,' 'Top Gun'

The sound mixers were the other guild that weighed in today, with the following nominations:

2023 CAS NOMINEES

Live Action Motion Picture:

• All Quiet on the Western Front

• Avatar: The Way of Water

• Elvis

• The Batman

• Top Gun: Maverick

Everything expected here, as action movies have dominance in the sound guilds. We can probably figure out the sound Oscar nominees by combining these with the MPSE nominees from the other day.

'The Fabelmans' and 'The Banshees of Inisherin' Win Top Golden Globes for Best Picture

The Golden Globes made their return tonight and Jerrod Carmichael hosted a very awkward event, but the winners did their best to make things lively, with nice speeches from Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Steven Spielberg. The Globes did their best to resuscitate The Fabelmans in the awards race, giving it a surprise Best Picture and Director win, while Angela Bassett upset in Best Supporting Actress. The Banshees of Inisherin also took down Everything Everywhere in a surprise win, but the Hollywood Foreign Press is not the industry and famously has a pretty bad track record in Best Picture. So we’ll have to see when the guild awards roll in. They may like other movies altogether.

2023 GOLDEN GLOBE WINNERS

Best Picture- Drama: The Fabelmans

Best Picture- Comedy/Musical: The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Actor in a Drama: Austin Butler, Elvis

Best Actress in a Drama: Cate Blanchett, Tar

Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actor: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Best Supporting Actress: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Best Director: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Best Screenplay: The Banshees of Inisherin

Best Animated Film: Pinocchio

Best Foreign-Language Film: Argentina, 1985

Best Score: Babylon

Best Song: “Naatu Naatu,” RRR

Joaquin Phoenix Stars in Ari Aster's 'Beau is Afraid'

Ari Aster, the director of the cult horror films Hereditary and Midsommar, has his third film Beau is Afraid, starring Joaquin Phoenix in what looks like a surreal ride through his greatest fears- so something of another horror movie, I presume. Or horror-esque. I’ve found both of his films to be interesting if not completely successful, so I’m guessing I’ll feel the same way about this one- especially if it’s too long, like Midsommar was. Excessive length seems to be a real problem lately with overly self-indulgent directors.