Cinema News: Movies Update: Awards Season Heats Up

January 9, 2023

By Stephanie Goodman

Film Editor

Hi, film fans!

It's a big week for awards season watchers. After the tarnished Golden Globes are handed out on Tuesday, the directors and actors guilds weigh in with their nominations on Wednesday and the Producers Guild follows suit on Thursday. Then on Sunday, the Critics Choice Awards are announced.

Why is so much concentrated in one week? A look at the Oscar calendar holds the answer. Academy members begin voting on Thursday and they have until Jan. 17 to register their choices. For films and stars hoping to make the cut, getting recognition from the guilds or on televised affairs like the Globes and the Critics Choice can be helpful.

That said, the ceremonies, while high-profile, aren't a great indicator of what to expect from the academy — mainly because there's no overlap in voters. The Globes are decided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization that was at the heart of financial, ethical and diversity scandals surrounding those prizes. And the Critics Choice honors are, just like they sound, handed out by working film journalists.

The nominations from the guilds, on the other hand, can be indicative of what producers, directors and performers in the academy will vote for. What films are likely to be on their lists? Kyle Buchanan, our awards season expert, came up with an educated guess about the 10 movies that will be in the running for best picture. (Under new Oscars rules, the top category will have 10 contenders no matter what.)

Still, he wrote, "this is an unusual year when even the strongest movies come with significant debits, which means there's still room for big-budget entertainments (like 'Babylon,' 'Nope,' 'Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery' and 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever'), foreign-language films (including 'RRR,' 'Decision to Leave' and 'All Quiet on the Western Front'), and indie films with strong performances (like 'The Whale,' 'Till,' 'She Said' and 'Aftersun') to pull through."

It sounds like this one's going to be a nail-biter, and I can't wait!

Clockwise from top left: Sony Pictures; Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, via Associated Press; Neon; Focus Features

THE PROJECTIONIST

Will These Be the 10 Best Picture Oscar Nominees?

Now that critics' laurels and box office results are in, the race for the top honor is clearer. But there's still room for an outside contender to slip in.

By Kyle Buchanan

Universal Pictures

And the 2023 Oscar Nominees Should Be …

Academy voters will do what they want, but if our chief critics had their way, these are the films and performers that would be up for Oscars this year.

By Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott

Ilze Kitshoff/Sony Pictures

These Would Be Our Oscar Nominations

Four editors and one critic share their wish lists for best picture, best actress and best actor.

By Stephanie Goodman, Mekado Murphy, Jason M. Bailey, Jason Farago and Andrew LaVallee

Patti Perret/A24

Raúl Castillo Can Empathize With Ambivalence

In "The Inspection," he plays a drill instructor who takes a bullied recruit under his wing, the kind of nurturing the actor says he has benefited from as well.

By Kathryn Shattuck

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NEWS & FEATURES

Michael Tran/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The Golden Globes: How to Watch the Show's Rehabilitation Attempt

The group that puts on the ceremony has promised reforms since it plunged into scandal two years ago. On Tuesday, it will try to win back viewers.

By Julia Jacobs

Clockwise from top left: IFC Midnight; Zipporah Films; Neon; Orion Pictures

When the Camera Can't Turn Away, These Women Force Us to Listen

Films as different as the biopic "Till" and the thriller "Resurrection" use lengthy monologues to give female characters the chance to truly be heard.

By Nicolas Rapold

Netflix

For 'Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio,' a Star Built From Tiny Gears and 3-D Printing

The studio behind stop-motion hits like 'Corpse Bride' and 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' started work on the new film in 2008 but had to wait for the technology to catch up.

By Charles Solomon

Annette Brown/Disney

In 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,' One Scene Celebrates and Commemorates

Grieving Chadwick Boseman's death, the "Black Panther" creative team transferred fragments of their sorrow onto a signature funeral sequence.

By Kalia Richardson

Nikola Solic/Reuters

To Buff a Balkan Leader's Image, a Filmmaker Calls In Kevin Spacey

A director cast the beleaguered actor as Franjo Tudjman, the late Croatian leader, whom some call a patriot and others revile as an ethnonationalist zealot.

By Andrew Higgins

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