February 26, 2017

Final 2016 Oscar Predictions

February 26, 2017/ CineMunch

The day has arrived! We've reached the finish line of this long movie awards season, and it's time to hand out the final trophies of the year! We here at CineMunch have ranked our favorite films of 2016 and bestowed our own awards (the 3rd Annual CineMunchies, don'tchaknow), so now we look to the 89th Annual Academy Awards to put a feather in 2016's cap tonight on ABC. Find out who we'd vote for if we had a ballot here.

This year the suspense won't be what's inside the final envelope (congrats, La La Land), but in just how many statues Damien Chazelle's original musical will take home. It's poised to nab at least eight, but could win as many as twelve, which would break the record of eleven wins set by Ben-Hur in 1959 (and then matched by Titanic in 1997 and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2003).

So settle in, mix yourself a cocktail (we'll be starting with Viola's Triumph martinis from our Oscar Menu), and follow along with our predictions below! For more (snarky) commentary and up-to-the-minute analysis, be sure to follow us on Twitter @CineMunch.

January 24, 2017

2016 Oscar Nominations Reactions

January 24, 2017/ Matt

The nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards have landed, and La La Land danced away with 14 nominations - tying the record for the most nominated film in Oscar history with All About Eve (1950) and Titanic (1997). Not so close behind were Arrival and Moonlight, with eight nominations each. Though there may not have been as many shocking snubs or surprises as in year's past, Oscar still had some curveballs to throw (No Amy Adams?! Hey, Michael Shannon! Mel Gibson - really?).

Have a listen to our initial thoughts on this morning's announcement below, and don't forget to subscribe to our CineDrunk podcast on iTunes. Read on for a list of the nominations and predictions results.

January 23, 2017

Final 2016 Oscar Nominations Predictions

January 23, 2017/ Matt

The day we've all been waiting for has arrived!

November 3, 2020!?

Sadly, no. The Oscar nominations will have to do for now. The 89th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced Tuesday morning at 8:18am ET (you can view a live stream of the announcement via the Oscars website). On hand to reveal the nominees in all 24 categories: actors Jennifer Hudson, Brie Larson, and Ken Watanabe, writer/director Jason Reitman, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski, and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

2016 certainly had its ups and plentiful downs, but it was a pretty decent year for film (if you knew where to look). I expect this year's Oscar nominations to mostly reflect that quality (though full disclosure, we here at CineMunch think awards behemoth and Oscar frontrunner La La Land was good, but wildly overrated). Our own personal top ten lists and choices for the best of the year will drop next month. In the meantime, let's guess what the Academy will deem the best of the best.

Read on for my final nominations predictions.

January 07, 2017

2017 Golden Globe Awards Predictions

January 07, 2017/ Matt

Contrary to what the calendar says, the holidays are not over. They've only just begun! Welcome to Awards Season 2016-2017, continuing this weekend with the Golden Globe Awards!

Hollywood's best and brightest (or in some cases just newest) stars of ALL the screens will gather Sunday night dressed in their second finest frocks for the second most important red carpet of the year. The awards will be handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, whose membership numbers fewer than 100, so their choices do make for the occasional head scratch, eyebrow raise, or spit take. Jimmy Fallon hosts and some lady named Meryl Streep will receive this year's Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.

So grab a pitcher of your second favorite mixed drink, follow along with us on Twitter @CineMunch throughout the telecast (starting at 8pm ET on NBC), and read on for my foolhardy predictions!

September 17, 2016

2016 Emmy Awards Predictions

September 17, 2016/ Matt

The 68th Annual Emmy Awards will bestow show shiny trophies upon the best in television from the 2015-2016 TV season on Sunday, September 18th. Oh, the Emmys. They either award the same shows and performers year after year or the winners list is full of several WTFs, though that's never consistent from year to year (or even within the same year), so they can be difficult to predict. This will likely be a year full of sweeps: "Game of Thrones", "Veep", and especially "The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story" are expected to clean up in their respective fields.

And victories for those programs would be more than fine with us! Our latest podcast detailed all our favorite things from the past year in TV, many of which are nominated this year. Below you'll find Matt's predictions in all televised categories, in the presumed order they will be announced. Jimmy Kimmel hosts this year's show, which will air on ABC beginning at 8pm ET. Be sure to mix some drinks and follow along with our commentary on Twitter @CineMunch.

July 13, 2016

2016 Emmy Nominations Predictions

July 13, 2016/ Matt

Nominations for the 68th Annual Emmy Awards, honoring the best of the best in television, will be announced tomorrow, July 14th. While the television academy rarely strays from their well-tread path of favorites in selecting their nominees, there were enough departing series (namely Mad Men) or shows that didn't air new episodes during the past year (like Louie) to free up at least one slot in almost every category - meaning there's still room for Frasier or The West Wing to nab a nomination or two! ...I'm mostly kidding. Below are my last-minute predictions in 16 of the top categories.

February 28, 2016

Final 2015 Oscar Predictions

February 28, 2016/ Matt

The time has come, Oscar geeks! Pencils down, ball gowns on! 2015 was a great year in film (see our top ten lists for the year here), and we're excited to put a bow on it and celebrate with the 88th Annual Academy Awards tonight on ABC. It has been one truly exciting and unpredictable Oscar season with lots of films and performances worthy of attention...and some not (find out who among the nominees we'd vote for if we had a ballot). As usual, there are a few sure things (congrats, Leo!) and some tight battles (Costume Design, the Sound categories), but the most thrilling race of all will be decided with the final envelope, as this just might be the craziest Best Picture race I've seen in my almost 20 years of prognosticating!

Hunker down, pour yourself a beverage (we'll be starting with a glass of Scotchlight), and follow along with our sure-to-be-inaccurate predictions below! For more detailed analysis, have a listen to our final predictions podcast or, for full rankings, click on each category header below.

February 24, 2016

CineDrunk: Final 2015 Oscar Predictions

February 24, 2016/ CineMunch

A drumroll, please. But not from Whiplash, because it would be cruel to remind us of such things.

Nay, a drumroll to announce our final* predictions for the 88th Annual Academy Awards. Drinks in hand, we worked through all 24 categories in a magnanimous effort to help you win your office pool. No need to send us a cut of your winnings. Helping fellow Oscar-obsessives is what we do.

*Final means "subject to change." Set-in-stone predictions to be posted Sunday.

Also listen and subscribe via iTunes.

January 14, 2016

2015 Oscar Nominations Reactions

January 14, 2016/ Matt

They're heeeeere! Nominations for the 88th Annual Academy Awards were announced today, and it was The Revenant that came out on top with a whopping 12 nominations. Close behind was Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 well-deserved mentions. As is always the case with Oscar, there were a handful of surprise inclusions and a few jaw-dropping snubs. So let's dig in to see how I fared with my predictions and what the CineDrunk team thinks of it all.

Have a listen to our initial reactions below, and also subscribe to CineDrunk on iTunes. Read on for the list of nominations and prediction results.

January 13, 2016

Final 2015 Oscar Nominations Predictions

January 13, 2016/ Matt

The day we've all been waiting for has arrived! Or maybe just me and a handful of other nerds, I guess. The 88th Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced Thursday morning in two batches beginning at 8:30am ET (you can view both announcements live at the Oscars website or the second announcement on most major news programs at 8:38am ET). The nominees will be announced live in all 24 categories by directors Guillermo del Toro and Ang Lee, actor John Krasinski, and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

2015 delivered an abundance of quality films (we here at CineMunch will have our top ten lists and year-end superlatives ready for the public early next month), and I'm hopeful this year's crop of nominees reflect that quality. Knowing the Oscars though, they probably won't (I'm looking in your direction, Helen Mirren). Some of this year's categories are the most fluid and difficult to predict I've ever encountered in my 15+ years of prognosticating (Best Supporting Actor is wildly competitive), so there are bound to be some surprises.

Unlike my impressive performance last year (where I placed first on awards betting site GoldDerby out of more than 3,000 participants and experts), I expect to do considerably less well this year. I'll predict my overall prediction accuracy rate is somewhere around 72%. Look at me predicting my own predictions - someone stop me! Read on for my final nominations predictions.