Sunday, March 10, 2024

Tim's 96th Oscar Picks

It's that time of year again! The red carpet is rolled out and the Oscars are here! Which can only mean one thing, it's time for my annual Oscar Picks!


Jimmy Kimmel is back for as our host and I'm incredibly excited to see what he has in store for us. 

This year's nominees are one of a kind and I had pleasure as always speaking with a number of them. Oppenheimer has been quite the powerhouse this award season, and I expect that to continue tonight. Some of these races are so tight that I may as well have just flipped a coin to decide them. I'm also really looking forward to seeing Ryan Gosling perform "I'm Just Ken" on the Oscar stage. The past two years I've only predicted 1 wrong. Can my streak continue?  
Without further ado, here's my picks for the 96th Oscars. 

BEST PICTURE

Oppenheimer

BEST ACTOR

Cillian Murphy

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Robert Downey Jr. 

BEST ACTRESS

Emma Stone

This is a toss-up. It could go either way between Lily Gladstone and Emma Stone. While I know a lot of people are leaning towards Lily Gladstone after the SAG win, which is statistically smart, I'm picking Emma Stone for the upset. While they both won the Golden Globe in their respective categories, Emma Stone has led the way with the awards this season, including the BAFTA which Lily Gladstone wasn't even nominated for. I think the international vote pushes Emma Stone to win. 

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Da'Vine Joy Randolph

BEST DIRECTOR

Christopher Nolan

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Oppenheimer

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST EDITING

Oppenheimer

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Anatomy of a Fall

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

American Fiction

BEST DOCUMENTARY

20 Days in Mariupol

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

War is Over! Inspired by Music of John and Yoko

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Red, White, & Blue

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

The Last Repair Shop

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Barbie

This is a tough one. I honestly feel like it's a toss-up between Barbie and Poor Things. They both won their respective categories at the Costume Designer Guild awards, but the momentum seems to be going towards Barbie here.

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP 

Maestro

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

The Zone of Interest

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Oppenheimer

BEST ORIGINAL SONG 

"What Was I Made For?" - Barbie
Billie Eilish & Finneas O'Connell

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Poor Things

This one is also a complete toss-up between Barbie and Poor Things. I think what gives Poor Things the edge here is winning the Art Directors Guild and BAFTA.

BEST SOUND

Oppenheimer 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Creator

Don't miss the 96th Academy Awards, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel on ABC. This year's show starts an hour earlier at 4PM PST. 

Friday, February 9, 2024

ShortsTV presents the Oscar Nominated Shorts in theaters

As the Oscar nominations have been announced, ShortsTV is once again giving you the opportunity to see all of the nominated short films in theaters. 


Once again, we will be working with ShortsTV to bring you interviews with the Oscar nominated filmmakers from each shorts category. 

Official ShortsTV trailer for the 2024 Oscar Nominated Shorts

In my opinion, short films tend to be one of the most overlooked categories by a viewing audience, even though these films often pack the same punch the features do. One of my favorite things about covering the Oscar Shorts every year is watching so many new/young filmmakers find their way to becoming major filmmakers we grow to love, and sometimes, even seeing tenured successful filmmakers return to the shorts to tell a story. 

Click on the link below to find out where you can see this year's Oscar Shorts, brought to us by ShortsTV. Oscar shorts hit theaters starting February 16, 2024.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

The Academy creates Casting category for 98th Oscar's

 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gave us an exciting announcement today, that starting in 2026, for the 98th Oscars, films released in 2025 will be considered for an Academy Award for Casting. This is such an exciting announcement as there are so many roles that should be recognized for their hard work in filmmaking. Still waiting for Stunts to get their own category, but this is good progress. See the Academy's official press release below!


ACADEMY ESTABLISHES CASTING AWARD FOR 98TH OSCARS®

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today the creation of an annual competitive Academy Award® for Achievement in Casting, beginning with the 98th Academy Awards® for films released in 2025.

“Casting directors play an essential role in filmmaking, and as the Academy evolves, we are proud to add casting to the disciplines that we recognize and celebrate,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang. “We congratulate our Casting Directors Branch members on this exciting milestone and for their commitment and diligence throughout this process.”

“On behalf of the members of the Casting Directors Branch, we’d like to thank the Board of Governors, the Awards Committee and Academy leadership for their support. This award is a deserved acknowledgment of our casting directors’ exceptional talents and a testament to the dedicated efforts of our branch,” said Academy Casting Directors Branch governors Richard Hicks, Kim Taylor-Coleman and Debra Zane.

Category rules for eligibility and voting for the inaugural award will be announced in April 2025 with the complete 98th Academy Awards Rules. The specifics of the award’s presentation will be determined by the Academy’s Board of Governors and its administrative leadership at a future date.

The Casting Directors Branch was created in July 2013. There are currently nearly 160 members of the branch.

The last new award category created was Best Animated Feature Film, established in 2001.



Tuesday, January 23, 2024

96th Oscar Nominees (COMPLETE LIST)

  The 96th Oscar Nominations are here! 


This year's list of nominees is such an incredible array of talent. Oscar voter turnout was incredibly high this year, with turnout from a record breaking 96 countries! Oppenheimer led the nomination with a whopping 13 nominations. Lily Gladstone also became the first Native American actress to receive a Best Lead Actress nomination. I was very excited to see Danielle Brooks get nominated for "The Color Purple", but shocked to not see Fantasia get nominated. This is also the first year in a long time that I have not seen any of the Documentary Feature nominees. I'm also incredibly excited to see Jared and Jerusha Hess get nominated in Animated Short. Hopefully we can get them on the show in the coming weeks. Here is the complete list of this year’s nominees!

Performance by an actor in a leading role

  • Bradley Cooper in "Maestro"
  • Colman Domingo in "Rustin"
  • Paul Giamatti in "The Holdovers"
  • Cillian Murphy in "Oppenheimer"
  • Jeffrey Wright in "American Fiction"
 

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

  • Sterling K. Brown in "American Fiction"
  • Robert De Niro in "Killers of the Flower Moon"
  • Robert Downey Jr. in "Oppenheimer"
  • Ryan Gosling in "Barbie"
  • Mark Ruffalo in "Poor Things"
 

Performance by an actress in a leading role

  • Annette Bening in "Nyad"
  • Lily Gladstone in "Killers of the Flower Moon"
  • Sandra Hüller in "Anatomy of a Fall"
  • Carey Mulligan in "Maestro"
  • Emma Stone in "Poor Things"
 

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

  • Emily Blunt in "Oppenheimer"
  • Danielle Brooks in "The Color Purple"
  • America Ferrera in "Barbie"
  • Jodie Foster in "Nyad"
  • Da'Vine Joy Randolph in "The Holdovers"
 

Best animated feature film of the year

  • "The Boy and the Heron" Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
  • "Elemental" Peter Sohn and Denise Ream
  • "Nimona" Nick Bruno, Troy Quane, Karen Ryan and Julie Zackary
  • "Robot Dreams" Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz
  • "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal
 

Achievement in cinematography

  • "El Conde" Edward Lachman
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Rodrigo Prieto
  • "Maestro" Matthew Libatique
  • "Oppenheimer" Hoyte van Hoytema
  • "Poor Things" Robbie Ryan
 

Achievement in costume design

  • "Barbie" Jacqueline Durran
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Jacqueline West
  • "Napoleon" Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
  • "Oppenheimer" Ellen Mirojnick
  • "Poor Things" Holly Waddington
 

Achievement in directing

  • "Anatomy of a Fall" Justine Triet
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Martin Scorsese
  • "Oppenheimer" Christopher Nolan
  • "Poor Things" Yorgos Lanthimos
  • "The Zone of Interest" Jonathan Glazer
 

Best documentary feature film

  • "Bobi Wine: The People's President" Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp and John Battsek
  • "The Eternal Memory" Nominees to be determined
  • "Four Daughters" Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
  • "To Kill a Tiger" Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe and David Oppenheim
  • "20 Days in Mariupol" Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner and Raney Aronson-Rath
 

Best documentary short film

  • "The ABCs of Book Banning" Sheila Nevins and Trish Adlesic
  • "The Barber of Little Rock" John Hoffman and Christine Turner
  • "Island in Between" S. Leo Chiang and Jean Tsien
  • "The Last Repair Shop" Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers
  • "Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó" Sean Wang and Sam Davis
 

Achievement in film editing

  • "Anatomy of a Fall" Laurent Sénéchal
  • "The Holdovers" Kevin Tent
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Thelma Schoonmaker
  • "Oppenheimer" Jennifer Lame
  • "Poor Things" Yorgos Mavropsaridis
 

Best international feature film of the year

  • "Io Capitano" Italy
  • "Perfect Days" Japan
  • "Society of the Snow" Spain
  • "The Teachers' Lounge" Germany
  • "The Zone of Interest" United Kingdom
 

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling

  • "Golda" Karen Hartley Thomas, Suzi Battersby and Ashra Kelly-Blue
  • "Maestro" Kazu Hiro, Kay Georgiou and Lori McCoy-Bell
  • "Oppenheimer" Luisa Abel
  • "Poor Things" Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston
  • "Society of the Snow" Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé
 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

  • "American Fiction" Laura Karpman
  • "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" John Williams
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Robbie Robertson
  • "Oppenheimer" Ludwig Göransson
  • "Poor Things" Jerskin Fendrix
 

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

  • "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot"
    Music and Lyric by Diane Warren
  • "I'm Just Ken" from "Barbie"
    Music and Lyric by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt
  • "It Never Went Away" from "American Symphony"
    Music and Lyric by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson
  • "Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" from "Killers of the Flower Moon"
    Music and Lyric by Scott George
  • "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie"
    Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
 

Best motion picture of the year

  • "American Fiction" Ben LeClair, Nikos Karamigios, Cord Jefferson and Jermaine Johnson, Producers
  • "Anatomy of a Fall" Marie-Ange Luciani and David Thion, Producers
  • "Barbie" David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner, Producers
  • "The Holdovers" Mark Johnson, Producer
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Dan Friedkin, Bradley Thomas, Martin Scorsese and Daniel Lupi, Producers
  • "Maestro" Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers
  • "Oppenheimer" Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, Producers
  • "Past Lives" David Hinojosa, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler, Producers
  • "Poor Things" Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, Producers
  • "The Zone of Interest" James Wilson, Producer
 

Achievement in production design

  • "Barbie" Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
  • "Killers of the Flower Moon" Production Design: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Adam Willis
  • "Napoleon" Production Design: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Elli Griff
  • "Oppenheimer" Production Design: Ruth De Jong; Set Decoration: Claire Kaufman
  • "Poor Things" Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath; Set Decoration: Zsuzsa Mihalek
 

Best animated short film

  • "Letter to a Pig" Tal Kantor and Amit R. Gicelter
  • "Ninety-Five Senses" Jerusha Hess and Jared Hess
  • "Our Uniform" Yegane Moghaddam
  • "Pachyderme" Stéphanie Clément and Marc Rius
  • "WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko" Dave Mullins and Brad Booker
 

Best live action short film

  • "The After" Misan Harriman and Nicky Bentham
  • "Invincible" Vincent René-Lortie and Samuel Caron
  • "Knight of Fortune" Lasse Lyskjær Noer and Christian Norlyk
  • "Red, White and Blue" Nazrin Choudhury and Sara McFarlane
  • "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" Wes Anderson and Steven Rales
 

Achievement in sound

  • "The Creator" Ian Voigt, Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van der Ryn, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
  • "Maestro" Steven A. Morrow, Richard King, Jason Ruder, Tom Ozanich and Dean Zupancic
  • "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" Chris Munro, James H. Mather, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
  • "Oppenheimer" Willie Burton, Richard King, Gary A. Rizzo and Kevin O'Connell
  • "The Zone of Interest" Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn
 

Achievement in visual effects

  • "The Creator" Jay Cooper, Ian Comley, Andrew Roberts and Neil Corbould
  • "Godzilla Minus One" Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima
  • "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" Stephane Ceretti, Alexis Wajsbrot, Guy Williams and Theo Bialek
  • "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" Alex Wuttke, Simone Coco, Jeff Sutherland and Neil Corbould
  • "Napoleon" Charley Henley, Luc-Ewen Martin-Fenouillet, Simone Coco and Neil Corbould
 

Adapted screenplay

  • "American Fiction" Written for the screen by Cord Jefferson
  • "Barbie" Written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach
  • "Oppenheimer" Written for the screen by Christopher Nolan
  • "Poor Things" Screenplay by Tony McNamara
  • "The Zone of Interest" Written by Jonathan Glazer
 

Original screenplay

  • "Anatomy of a Fall"Screenplay - Justine Triet and Arthur Harari
  • "The Holdovers"Written by David Hemingson
  • "Maestro"Written by Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer
  • "May December"Screenplay by Samy Burch; Story by Samy Burch & Alex Mechanik
  • "Past Lives"Written by Celine Song

Monday, January 22, 2024

96th Oscar Nominations LIVE stream

Award Season is underway and the 96th Academy Awards are right around the corner! Tomorrow morning actor Jack Quaid and actress Zazie Beetz will announce the nominees for the 96th Oscars LIVE from The Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. (VIDEO PLAYER AT THE BOTTOM)


As usual we will provide a live stream of the nominations starting at 5:30AM. There will be two nomination sections as there has been the past several years with the second session starting at 5:41AM. Here is the schedule for the category announcements: 

5:30 a.m. PST
(Not listed in order of presentation and subject to change)

Actor in a Supporting Role 
Actress in a Supporting Role 
Animated Short Film 
Costume Design 
Live Action Short Film
Makeup and Hairstyling 
Music (Original Score) 
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Writing (Original Screenplay)

5:41 a.m. PST
(Not listed in order of presentation and subject to change)

Actor in a Leading Role 
Actress in a Leading Role 
Animated Feature Film 
Cinematography 
Directing 
Documentary Feature Film 
Documentary Short Film 
Film Editing
International Feature Film 
Music (Original Song) 
Best Picture
Production Design 
Sound
Visual Effects

The Oscars will air LIVE March 10th on ABC. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. 

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Episode 190 - LIVE from SDCC w/ Alex Watson, Clyde Ratliff, and Christian Martin (J-WAT Productions)

 LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE

On today's episode we are coming to you LIVE from San Diego Comic-Con!


This year I decided to bring my producing partners at J-WAT Production, Alex Watson, Clyde Ratliff, and one of our crew members, and comic book writer, Christian Martin! 



I was excited to officially introduce J-WAT Productions to San Diego. Sadly, Terrence Kiriokos couldn't make it as he had a prior commitment. We had two big announcements for San Diego Comic-Con this year. We announced our feature horror film Bundy Manor would be released September 8th, as well as the new comic book we are working on called, The Cleaning Club! 

Thank you so much to Alex, Clyde, and Christian for making the trek down to San Diego. You can watch our official trailer for Bundy Manor below, and keep your eyes out for The Cleaning Club late this year. 

Bundy Manor - Official Trailer

Thanks for having us, San Diego!

Enjoy the episode. 

 LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ON PODBEAN HERE

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Episode 189 - Rob Kutner Returns!

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE 

On today's episode of the podcast, comedy writer Rob Kutner returns!

Rob Kutner

As many of you know, Rob is a former writer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Conan, and Teen Titans Go! Rob's new comic book, "Snot Goblins" is out now and Rob will be at San Diego Comic-Con this week signing the new comic! It was great to catch up with Rob on this episode. We haven't had a real chance to talk since Pre-Covid!

On the episode we talked about making the transition from writing late night, to animation, and now to comic books, his favorite character to write on Teen Titan's Go!, the inspiration behind Snot Goblins, and so much more!

"Snot Goblins"

A huge thanks to Rob Kutner. Don't miss Rob signing Snot Goblins at the First Second Books booth, Friday, July 21st from 12-2PM at San Diego Comic-Con. And don't miss our live show, Thursday, July 20th at the Neil Morgan Auditorium. 

Thanks, Rob!

Enjoy the episode!

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON APPLE PODCASTS HERE 

FOLLOW ROB ON TWITTER HERE

FOLLOW ROB ON INSTAGRAM HERE

FOLLOW TIM ON TWITTER HERE

FOLLOW TIM ON INSTAGRAM HERE

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE ON PODBEAN HERE