April 08, 2021

2020-2021 Oscar Nominations Reactions

April 08, 2021/ Matt

The nominations for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards were (finally) unveiled March 15th with David Fincher’s Mank leading the way with 10 nominations. In a true sign of spreading the wealth, the next most nominated films are Mank’s fellow Best Picture contenders (The Father, Judas & the Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal, The Trial of the Chicago 7) all nabbing 6 mentions, with the final top category nominee (Promising Young Woman) netting 5. Though this season has been far from business as usual given the ongoing pandemic, the nominations announcement featured the typical highs (yay “Husavik”!), lows (how does anyone pass on nominating Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods?!), and head-scratchers (wait, who is the lead of Judas & the Black Messiah if both titular roles are nominated in supporting?).

I correctly predicted 95/118 of this year's nominees (about 80.5%), which was good enough for a 106th place finish of 9,329 participants at GoldDerby - top 1.1%! Though having finished 12th, 1st, 8th, and 4th in years past, it wasn’t my best showing. It also wasn’t my worst percentage, so, much like the Academy’s choices, there were some positives to balance the negatives.

Read on for a list of the nominations and my predictions results.

March 14, 2021

Final 2020-2021 Oscar Nominations Predictions

March 14, 2021/ Matt

Cut! Print! That’s a wrap! The day has (finally) arrived - Oscar nominations morning!

The 93rd Annual Academy Awards nominations will be revealed on Monday morning by Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas in two segments beginning at 8:19am (you can view a live stream of the announcement via the Oscars website).

The nominations will honor the best in cinema from the past year (plus the first two months of 2021, as the Academy extended their eligibility window to accommodate 2020’s ever-shifting pandemic landscape). Though many major films pushed their releases to later this year or beyond, 2020 still had an adundance of quality films and performances to choose from if you knew where to look. Given the upended distribution patterns, we here at CineMunch still have quite a bit to catch up on before we finalize our picks for best of the year, but can vouch that many of this year’s likely honorees are pretty damn good.

Read on for my final nominations predictions!

September 20, 2020

2020 Emmy Awards Predictions

September 20, 2020/ Matt

The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out this evening, honoring the best in television from the 2019-2020 season.

HBO is hoping “Succession” will succeed the finally ended “Game of Thrones” with a Drama Series victory, while Canadian underdog “Schitt’s Creek” hopes to follow the path of last year’s Comedy Series winner “Fleabag” with a win for its final season. It’s HBO’s incredible limited series “Watchmen”, however, that will walk away with the most Emmys this season. The virtual, semi-live festivities will air on ABC beginning at 8pm ET, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. My full predictions are below…

February 09, 2020

Final 92nd Oscars Predictions

February 09, 2020/ Matt

And just like that, it’s time close the book on the cinematic year of 2019 with this evening’s presentation of the 92nd Annual Academy Awards! Here at CineMunch settled on what we would say is the definitive ranking of 2019's best films (and whaddaya know, one of our faves might just win the top Oscar, too!), so it's time to double down on some final predictions.

Last year’s race saw the more traditional (*cough* regressive) Green Book triumph over Roma, which was fighting to be the first foreign language film to snag Best Picture at the Oscars. A similar narrative looks set to unfold this year as World War I epic 1917 is your frontrunner, while a critically popular foreign film is nipping at its heels in South Korean phenomenon Parasite - which may have just enough passion within the industry to accomplish what Roma wasn’t able to a year ago.

Beyond 1917 vs Parasite in the top two races, there’s a healthy mix of sure-things (you can go ahead and engrave the statues for all four of this year’s acting winners right now) and wide-open races (particularly Original Song and Animated Feature). Each of this year’s nine Best Picture nominees stands a good chance at bringing home some hardware (except The Irishman - sorry, Marty!), but it will undoubtedly be 1917 walking away with the most trophies. We’re firmly in the Parasite camp over here and are thrilled it’s guaranteed at least one win (in the newly renamed International Film category), but we’re also hoping the shortened awards season results in a few surprises throughout the night.

So settle in, mix yourself a cocktail or four (in lieu of our traditional Oscar Menu, we’ll be feasting on a resplendent cheese plate and sipping cheap wine), and follow along with our predictions below!

January 20, 2020

2019 Oscar Nominations Reactions

January 20, 2020/ Matt

The nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards were unveiled last week with a record four films receiving double-digit nomination totals. Joker led the field with 11 citations, followed closely by The Irishman, 1917, and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood with 10 each. As usual, the nominations announcement was met with some cheers (yay Parasite!) and some jeers (too many to list, but where on Earth is JLo?!?), but the truncated award season resulted in few truly left-field surprises.

I correctly predicted 98/124 of this year's nominees (about 79%), which was good enough for a 243rd place finish of 12,613 participants at GoldDerby - top 2%! Though having finished 12th, 1st, 8th, and 4th within the past six years, it wasn’t my best showing. It also wasn’t my worst percentage, so, much like the Academy’s choices, there were some positives to balance the negatives.

Read on for a list of the nominations and my predictions results.

January 12, 2020

Final 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions

January 12, 2020/ Matt

Pencils down! It’s already that time of year again - Oscar nominations morning!

The 92nd Annual Academy Awards nominations will be announced by John Cho and Issa Rae on Monday morning in two segments beginning at 8:18am ET (you can view a live stream of the announcement via the Oscars website).

2019 featured some stellar films (a few of which will even be among the nominees!), though, as ever, the Academy will throw handfuls of nominations at movies we deem less than worthy (our annual Best of the Year lists will arrive early next month). And with the Oscars ceremony and awards season moved up earlier than usual this year, there’s bound to be some surprises once the dust has settled.

Read on for my final nominations predictions!

January 05, 2020

2020 Golden Globe Awards Predictions

January 05, 2020/ Matt

The marathon of awards season kicks off in earnest tonight with the presentation of the 77th Annual 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 only around 90, so their choices do make for the occasional head scratch, eyebrow raise, or spit take. Tom Hanks will receive this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in film, and Ellen DeGeneres will take home the Carol Burnett Award for lifetime achievement in television.

Read on for my sure-to-be-inaccurate predictions, and tune in starting at 8pm ET on NBC as Ricky Gervais returns as host for this year’s drunken soiree!

September 22, 2019

2019 Emmy Awards Predictions

September 22, 2019/ Matt

The 71st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out this evening, honoring the best in television from the 2018-2019 season.

HBO is hoping to capitalize on industry goodwill for the final seasons of two Emmy darlings in “Game of Thrones” and “Veep”, though it’s the Emmys - so anything’s possible! Taking a cue from this year’s Oscars ceremony, the show will have no official host and will air live on FOX beginning at 8pm ET. My full predictions are below…

February 24, 2019

Final 91st Oscars Predictions

February 24, 2019/ Matt

The countdown clock approaches zero to the 91st annual Academy Awards; tonight is finally the night! Here at CineMunch we've ranked our favorite films of 2018 and we know what’s on tonight’s Oscar Menu, so it's time to double down on some final predictions.

Last year I wrote about how insane the year’s Best Picture race was—with The Shape of Water taking home the gold in a crowded field, as I did ultimately predict. The year before that seemed like an assured La La Land victory (and we know how that turned out!); while the year before that was a heated three-way race that saw Spotlight narrowly squeak out a win.

This year looks to add to the crazy, as a number of different scenarios could plausibly play out in many categories, namely Best Picture. Critical fave Roma hopes to become the first ever foreign language film to take the top prize, while box-office behemoth Black Panther hopes to make history for Marvel and superhero movies. Voters might’ve been swayed by the regressive, but comforting, Green Book, or perhaps nominations co-leader The Favourite is their favorite (sorry, had to). Each of the eight films nominated for Best Picture looks likely to take home at least one little gold statue, so it might be a spread-the-wealth type of Oscar year. We’ll know soon enough, though, and I for one can’t wait to find out what’s inside all 24 envelopes—provided they have the right envelope (sorry, had to)!

So settle in, mix yourself a cocktail (we'll be starting with Queen Anne’s Bitches’ Brew with Emma Stonefruit in honor of The Favourite), and follow along with our predictions below!

January 22, 2019

2018 Oscar Nominations Reactions

January 22, 2019/ Matt

The nominations for the 91st Annual Academy Awards have arrived with The Favourite and Roma leading the charge with 10 nominations a piece. A Star is Born and Vice weren’t too far behind with eight mentions, followed by juggernaut Black Panther with seven. As usual, the nominations announcement was met with some cheers, jeers, and at least a few WHOA WHAT?! selections.

Have a listen to our initial thoughts on this morning's announcement below (we’re mostly already exhausted by this Oscar season!), and don't forget to subscribe to our CineDrunk podcast on iTunes. Read on for a list of the nominations and my predictions results.