The Watchers Film Show Blog is 7 today!

Happy birthday to us! Yep, The Watchers Film Show Blog is 7 today! Hopefully we're not going to get the seven-year itch at any time soon...

Thank you, Marilyn!

So, in seven years, we've had over 346,000 page views from all around the world: from the US, China, Canada, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Italy and many other places - even including the rather mysterious Unknown Region. 

A massive THANK YOU to everyone who has read and followed the blog, especially when content has been a little lean (a situation that will be rectified shortly). We feel very chuffed that our ramblings are being read and listened to. 

So thank you again, you wonderful wonderful people!

With love & popcorn,

The Watchers

(Rhys, Matt, & Tez)

Awards Season 2019: Screen Actors' Guild (SAG) Awards Winners

Last night (27th January), the Screen Actors' Guild Awards were announced. Here are the film winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: 

Black Panther

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: 

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: 

Glenn Close (The Wife)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: 

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: 

Emily Blunt (A Quiet Place)

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Film:

Black Panther

A couple of interesting results from the night. No surprises in Mahershala Ali and Glenn Close's wins. I do however find it interesting that SAG went for Rami Malek for Best Actor. That, and the Golden Globe win, must put him ahead in the Oscars race. Also, I was pleased to see Emily Blunt named Best Supporting Actress. She's an actress that I like and enjoy watching and it's also good to see A Quiet Place get a bit of recognition. 

Before anyone starts shitposting that the End is Nigh because Black Panther did so well, I want to point something out. The other nominees in the Outstanding Cast category (equivalent to their Best Picture) were A Star Is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Crazy Rich Asians. Green Book, and Roma- two films with very good chances of taking the Best Picture Oscar- were not nominated for that particular SAG award. As good as a film as I think Black Panther is, I would argue that it's the least likely of the eight Oscar nominees to win. 

Our next stop on Awards Season is the Directors' Guild (DGA) Awards this coming Saturday (2nd February).

Awards Season 2019: Academy Award Nominations

As announced earlier today, here is a selection of the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards:

BEST PICTURE

Black Panther

BlackKlansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

Roma

A Star Is Born

Vice

BEST DIRECTOR

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)

Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman) 

Adam McKay (Vice)

Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale (Vice)

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate)

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

BEST ACTRESS

Yalitza Aparicio (Roma)

Glenn Close (The Wife)

Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)

Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)

Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)

Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Sam Rockwell (Vice)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Vice)

Marina de Tavira (Roma)

Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Emma Stone (The Favourite)

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

By my reckoning, that's 28 out of 33 for a prediction success rate of 85%. I'll take that! 

A couple of surprise nominations for Roma in the acting categories (although Yalitza Aparicio's name has cropped up previously) and a few surprises in Best Director too- I can imagine Pawel Pawlikowski is over the moon at the moment. Otherwise, everything pretty much went as expected. I'm particularly pleased for the nomination for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse for Best Animated Feature and the love for Can You Ever Forgive Me? (two superb performances rightly recognised, along with a superb script). 

As predicted, Black Panther is the first mainstream superhero movie to get a Best Picture Oscar nod. I've just looked out of the window and- well, I never- the sky hasn't fallen and the End of Days hasn't begun. Hopefully, this will be an encouragement to the Academy members to perhaps broaden their horizons somewhat?

If my calculations are correct, Roma and The Favourite both get 10 nominations apiece, while A Star Is Born and Vice both get eight. 

The 91st Academy Awards will be handed out on Sunday February 24th. It's looking likely that, for the first time in 30 years, the ceremony won't have a main host- but will still have guest presenters to announce each award.  

Huge congratulations to all nominees!

Next up for awards season is the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards this coming Sunday (27th January), so there'll be a post about that early next week. 

Awards Season 2019: Tez's Official Academy Award Nomination Predictions

Tomorrow (22nd January), the nominations for the 91st Academy Awards will be announced.

This year, there'll be a two-part live presentation where the nominations for all 24 categories will be announced. This'll be hosted by Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick, Silicon Valley) and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Girlfriends), and will start at its traditional time of 5:20am PST [which makes it the more palatable time of 1:20pm here in the UK]. I have to say, I quite liked last year's mix of video and live presentation. 

As has been my practice for the last few years, I like to try and predict who will be nominated (this is done for Best Picture, Best Director and the four acting awards). Below is my list of who I think will be named tomorrow.

NB. Since the 2010 ceremony, the Academy rules state that there could be anywhere between five and ten Best Picture nominees. I have selected ten films. If the total number of films nominated is less than ten, but one of the movies selected is named in my list of ten, I will count it as a successful prediction.

BEST PICTURE

A Star Is Born

Black Panther

BlacKkKlansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

Green Book

If Beale Street Could Talk

Mary Poppins Returns

Roma

Vice

BEST DIRECTOR

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Peter Farrelly (Green Book)

Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Adam McKay (Vice)

BEST ACTOR

Christian Bale (Vice)

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Willem Dafoe (At Eternity's Gate)

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

BEST ACTRESS

Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns)

Glenn Close (The Wife)

Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)

Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)

Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)

Sam Elliott (A Star Is Born)

Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Vice)

Claire Foy (First Man)

Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Emma Stone (The Favourite)

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

Usually a score of 15 is adequate, but given the fact that there could be anywhere between 5 and 10 Best Picture awards, I'ill be happy with a prediction of 18 or higher. Last year, it was 29 out of 34 as I didn't reckon on the love for Phantom Thread.  

As usual, there's been a solid core of nominees in each category with the occasional variation. The variation is where things are interesting. 

I went with all the DGA nominees, but Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) might get a nod in place of Peter Farrelly for Best Director. 

In Best Actor (and, in fact, with all of the acting categories), I would be confident in 4 out of 5 of the nominations- with Willem Dafoe the most likely to be replaced by another actor. You could easily see John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), Ethan Hawke (First Reformed), or maybe even Lucas Hedges (Boy Erased) or- a bit of a longshot- Ryan Gosling (First Man) in his place. Given the Academy's propensity for chucking in at least one curveball, you might see Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) or Toni Collette (Hereditary) in place of Emily Blunt in the Best Actress category. 

In the Best Supporting Actor category, last year's winner Sam Rockwell could be nominated for his turn as George W. Bush in Vice in place of Sam Elliott (although I chose Elliott as he got the SAG nomination). Finally, in the Best Supporting Actress race, I wouldn't be surprised if Margot Robbie gets nominated for Mary Queen Of Scots in place of Claire Foy. 

So what do you reckon? Am I on the right track or barking up the wrong tree? If you were a member of the Academy, who would you vote for?

I'll update the blog with my thoughts on the official nominees tomorrow afternoon. 

Awards Season 2019: Razzies Nominations

And so, as is traditional now on the eve of the Oscar nominations, we come to one of the more lighthearted and less serious awards: the Golden Raspberrys (Razzies), dishonouring the worst in film in 2018. 

Here are the full nominations for the 39th Annual Razzie Awards 

WORST PICTURE

Gotti

The Happytime Murders

Holmes & Watson  

Robin Hood

Winchester 

WORST ACTRESS

Jennifer Garner (Peppermint)

Amber Heard (London Fields)

Melissa McCarthy (The Happytime Murders and Life of the Party)

Helen Mirren (Winchester)

Amanda Seyfried (The Clapper)  

WORST ACTOR

Johnny Depp (Voice Only) (Sherlock Gnomes)

Will Ferrell (Holmes & Watson)

John Travolta (Gotti)

Donald J. Trump (As Himself) (Death of a Nation and Fahrenheit 11/9)    

Bruce Willis (Death Wish)

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jamie Foxx (Robin Hood)

Ludacris (Voice Only) (Show Dogs)

Joel McHale (The Happytime Murders)

John C. Reilly (Holmes & Watson)

Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) 

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Kellyanne Conway (As Herself) (Fahrenheit 11/9)

Marcia Gay Harden (Fifty Shades Freed)

Kelly Preston (Gotti)

Jaz Sinclair (Slender Man)

Melania Trump (As Herself) (Fahrenheit 11/9)

WORST SCREEN COMBO

Any Two Actors or Puppets (Especially in Those Creepy Sex Scenes) (The Happytime Murders)

Johnny Depp & His Fast-Fading Film Career (Sherlock Gnomes)

Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly (Holmes & Watson)

Kelly Preston & John Travolta (Gotti)  

Donald J. Trump & His Self Perpetuating Pettiness (Death of a Nation & Fahrenheit 11/9)

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL

Death of a Nation 

Death Wish

Holmes & Watson

The Meg 

Robin Hood  

WORST DIRECTOR

Etan Cohen (Holmes & Watson)

Kevin Connolly (Gotti)

James Foley (Fifty Shades Freed)

Brian Henson (The Happytime Murders)

The Spierig Brothers (Winchester)  

WORST SCREENPLAY

Death of a Nation

Fifty Shades Freed

Gotti

The Happytime Murders

Winchester

So it's a four-way tie between Gotti, Holmes & Watson, The Happytime Murders, and Death Of A Nation for most nominations (each with 6) 

Nothing for Venom. Nada. Zip. This surprises me. Joint-top nominations for The Happytime Murders? That does not surprise me. As for the other categories, everything seems pretty standard as the Razzies go. Slating for the Fifty Shades... films? Check. Raging contempt for Johnny Depp? Check.

In case anyone's wondering, Death Of A Nation is a 'docudrama' which- and I kid you not- compares the dramatic fracturing of the US over the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and the presidency of Donald Trump. A film which has the tagline: 'Can we save America a second time?' It's written and directed by 'documentarian' and convicted felon Dinesh D'Souza whose last film- Hillary's America: The Secret History Of The Democratic Party- did a massive hatchet job on Democrats in general and Clinton in particular and got similarly panned at the 2017 Razzies. Unsurprisingly, and with a depressing inevitability, D'Souza received a full pardon by Trump in 2018.  I look this shit up so you don't have to. You're welcome, random people of the Internet. 

The Razzies winners will be announced on Saturday February 23rd 2019 (ie. the day before the Oscars). 


Right, after all of this malarkey, it just leaves the big one: the 91st Academy Awards, whose nominations will be announced tomorrow (Tuesday 22nd January). I am still weighing up my predictions for the main six categories- several categories are wide open-  but I will post them later today (once I've actually made a decision). 

Awards Season 2019: Producers' Guild Awards (PGA) Winners

Just a quick awards season update today, ahead of a few major posts tomorrow and Tuesday - you have been warned!

PRODUCERS' GUILD AWARDS (PGA) WINNERS

Yesterday (Saturday 19th January), the Producers' Guild of America announced its winners for the 2019 Producers' Guild Awards. 

The film winners are:

Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Green Book

Documentary Film: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse


I'll be honest, I'm a little surprised that Green Book took the top prize. There's been some controversy surrounding the film (such as the family of Dr. Don Shirley calling it a 'symphony of lies'), so it's an interesting choice. It did also win the Golden Globe for Best Musical/Comedy, so it's definitely a strong contender. I'll wait to see the film myself to make any judgement about it. 

More love for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, which is great, and I hope that this documentary about Mister Rogers gets a release as I'd love to see it (same with RBG). 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, tomorrow, the Golden Raspberry Awards will announce their nominations (and I'm fully expecting to see The Happytime Murders and Venom being ripped new ones) and I'll also be posting my predictions for what will be nominated for an Oscar on Tuesday. 

Awards Season 2019: Critics' Choice Movie Award Winners

Last night (13th January), the Critics' Choice Awards were handed out. Here's a full list of film winners:

Best Picture: Roma

Best Actor: Christian Bale (Vice)

Best Actress: Glenn Close (The Wife) and Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born) (tie)

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Best Acting Ensemble: The Favourite

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Best Animated Feature: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Best Original Screenplay: First Reformed

Best Adapted Screenplay: If Beale Street Could Talk

Best Comedy: Crazy Rich Asians

Best Actor In A Comedy: Christian Bale (Vice)

Best Actress In A Comedy: Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Best Action Movie: Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie: A Quiet Place

Best Foreign Language Film: Roma

Best Score: First Man

Best Song: 'Shallow' (A Star Is Born)

Best Production Design: Black Panther

Best Editing: First Man

Best Costume Design: Black Panther

Best Hair & Makeup: Vice

Best Visual Effects: Black Panther

Best Cinematography: Roma

Best Young Actor/Actress: Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade)


Roma was the big winner of the night with four awards, whilst Vice and Black Panther took home three apiece (and Vice winning two awards for Christian Bale's performance as Dick Cheney). 

In terms of the acting awards, Golden Globe winners continue their streak (and take another step towards the Oscars) - although, sadly, Olivia Colman may get overshadowed when the awards body doesn't separate comedy and drama as the momentum is certainly behind Glenn Close at the moment. In other categories, nothing seems massively controversial. I was pleased with the wins for Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, 'Shallow', and A Quiet Place (in a bit of a oh-that's-nice kind of way). 

Congratulations to all winners!

So, next up with awards season, it's the PGA Awards this coming Friday (19th January) so I'll do a quick post about that over the weekend. 

Awards Season 2019: BAFTA Film Awards Nominations

Morning all!

In recent years, the British Academy have started taking a cue from their American counterpart by announcing the nominations for their annual film awards at an early morning press conference (although, thankfully, not as early as 5:30am). But it was at the slightly more respectable time of 07:30 this morning (9th January) that Will Poulter and Hayley Squires announced this year's BAFTA Film Award nominees.

Here's a selection of the nominees:

BEST FILM

BlackKkKlansman

The Favourite

Green Book

Roma

A Star Is Born

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

Beast

Bohemian Rhapsody

The Favourite

McQueen

Stan & Ollie

You Were Never Really Here

LEADING ACTOR

Christian Bale (Vice)

Steve Coogan (Stan & Ollie)

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Viggo Mortensen (Green Book)

LEADING ACTRESS

Glenn Close (The Wife)

Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Viola Davis (Widows)

Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born)

Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy)

Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman)

Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?)

Sam Rockwell (Vice)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams (Vice)

Claire Foy (First Man)

Margot Robbie (Mary Queen Of Scots)

Emma Stone (The Favourite)

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite)

DIRECTOR

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite)

Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War)

A full list of nominees can be found here.

The Favourite is indeed the favourite with a staggering 12 nominations, with Bohemian Rhapsody, First Man, Roma, and A Star Is Born with seven apiece. Interestingly, of Roma's seven nods, Alfonso Cuaron is nominated for six of them! (Must be some kind of record, surely?). Mind you, of A Star Is Born's seven, Bradley Cooper has five. 

Pretty much the same names that you've come to expect throughout the season- although Steve Coogan's nod was a nice touch, and it was interesting to see the director choices (this is Pawlikowski's first nomination in this awards season). This is also Viola Davis' first nomination this season. Widows as a whole seems to have been overlooked somewhat. That said, it's been a strong year for film, so not everything is going to get the recognition it perhaps should.  

This year's EE Rising Star nominees are Jessie Buckley, Cynthia Erivo, Barry Keoghan, Lakeith Stanfield, and Letitia Wright. This award is voted on by the general public and you can vote for your favourite here.

The BAFTA Film Awards will be handed out on Sunday 10th February with the utterly radiant and sublime Joanna Lumley hosting for a second year.

Congratulations to all nominees!

Next up is the Critics' Choice Awards on Sunday 13th January, so there'll be a post about that on Monday (14th January)

Awards Season 2018: Writers' Guild Awards (WGA) and Directors' Guild Awards (DGA) Nominations

A double dose of awards news today, with the recent announcement of two Guild Awards nominations, so let's dive straight in.

WRITERS' GUILD OF AMERICA (WGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

This year's nominees for the WGA Awards were announced yesterday (7th January). Here they are:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Eighth Grade

Green Book

A Quiet Place

Roma

Vice

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

BlacKkKlansman

Black Panther

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

If Beale Street Could Talk

A Star Is Born

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Bathtubs Over Broadway

Fahrenheit 11/9

Generation Wealth

In Search Of Greatness

With the Documentary category, the WGA have opted to highlight documentaries that haven't so far had much (if any coverage). In fact, I've only heard of one of them, which is Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 11/9. But, as has been stated before, the WGA's eligibility rules for what can be nominated are incredibly stringent (much more so than the Academy's) which has meant that several films which might expect a Screenplay nod aren't eligible (such as The Favourite, Isle Of Dogs, and Incredibles 2). It's entirely possible that the Academy will go their own way with the Screenplay nominations, although I'd expect to see Green Book, Roma, Vice, If Beale Street Could Talk, and A Star Is Born get Oscar nods. 

-------------

DIRECTORS' GUILD OF AMERICA (DGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The nominees for this year's Directors' Guild Awards were announced today (8th January). Here are the nominees in the Feature Film category:

Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Peter Farrelly (Green Book)

Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)

Adam McKay (Vice)

No 'surprises' here as all five directors have had multiple nods throughout the season to date. I'm sure fans of The Favourite may consider Yorgos Lanthimos' exclusion a 'snub' but, you never know, the Academy may see things differently. We'll find out in two weeks' time. Bradley Cooper also received a nomination for Outstanding Directorial Achievement of a First-Time Feature Film Director. 

So that's the major guilds news up to date. It might be an early morning for me tomorrow (9th January), as the BAFTA Film Awards nominations are being announced at 7:30am by Will Poulter (The Revenant) and Hayley Squires (I, Daniel Blake). There'll be a post discussing the nominations at some point tomorrow: might be summat to read over breakfast, might be one for your dinner/tea/supper. I like to keep you on your toes. 

Awards Season 2019: Golden Globes Winners

Last night, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the winners of the 76th Annual Golden Globe Awards, for both television and film, in a ceremony hosted by Sandra Oh (Killing Eve) and Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).

Here is the full list of film winners.

Best Motion Picture (Drama): Bohemian Rhapsody

Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy): Green Book

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (Roma)

Best Actor (Drama): Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)

Best Actor (Comedy or Musical): Christian Bale (Vice)

Best Actress (Drama): Glenn Close (The Wife)

Best Actress (Comedy or Musical): Olivia Colman (The Favourite)

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali (Green Book)

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)

Best Screenplay: Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly (Green Book)

Best Original Score: Justin Hurwitz (First Man)

Best Original Song: 'Shallow' (A Star Is Born)

Best Foreign Language Film: Roma

Best Animated Feature Film: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award: Jeff Bridges


Green Book was the main winner of the evening, with three awards, whilst Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma won two each. 

The Golden Globes can be a good barometer for the way awards season is going, as it is generallly one of the first major awards to be handed out. Last year, all four acting Oscar winners won at the Golden Globes (although it should be pointed out that it was the Best Actor and Actress- Drama that took home the Academy Award). So that puts Rami Malek and Glenn Close in a good position, although going into the event, I think few people would have tagged them as winners. 

In fact, many outlets are calling Close's win the biggest surprise of the night (with many assuming that it would be Lady Gaga's night). But how much of a surprise is it really that an actress of the calibre of Glenn Close giving what many critics have called the performance of her career (and with a career like hers, that's no mean feat) should win an award that she's been nominated for? If she hadn't been nominated at all and Gary Oldman had just decided to give the award to her... now that would be a surprise!

[On a connected but separate note, can we stop using the term 'snub' for when people don't win? It's frankly a bit of an insult to those that do. You may think that your person did a better job, but to use the word 'snub' is to undermine and undervalue the work of those that did win.]

Whilst Oh's and Samberg's opening might have lacked the bite of previous years, they made for an affable and pleasant pairing. Other standout moments include Regina King committing to make sure that everything she produces in the next two years will be 50% women; Jeff Bridges' humble (if not a bit bizarre) acceptance speech where he 'tagged' the audience and suggested that people be 'rudders' for society to change, and  Christian Bale thanking Satan for giving him 'inspiration' for playing Dick Cheney in Vice, which makes a change from people thanking God, I guess. 

In addition to Bale and Colman's film wins, Richard Madden and Ben Whishaw won Golden Globes for their performances in Bodyguard and A Very English Scandal respectively, so A Good Night For The Brits(TM).

Finally, the legend that is Carol Burnett was the inaugural recipient of a new Golden Globe Award which has been named after her. It's the television equivalent to the Cecil B. DeMille Award and will honour a lifetime achievement in television work. Her acceptance speech was touching and wonderful, and she deserves this plaudit. And if they're looking for nominees for next year, might I humbly suggest either Bob Newhart or Lily Tomlin?



There'll be more awards stuff tomorrow (Tuesday 8th) as the Directors' Guild Award announce their nominees, whilst the Writers' Guild Awards were announced today. I'll recap both tomorrow then share the BAFTA nominations on Wednesday. 

Awards Season 2019: Producers' Guild Awards (PGA) Nominations

And we are back to Awards Season today (4th January) with the announcement of this year's PGA Awards nominees. The film nominees are as follows:

PRODUCERS' GUILD OF AMERICA (PGA) AWARDS NOMINATIONS

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

Black Panther

BlackKkKlansman

Bohemian Rhapsody

Crazy Rich Asians

The Favourite

Green Book

A Quiet Place

Roma

A Star Is Born

Vice

A lot of names present and correct. In the past few years, the PGA have included genre/comic-book movies in their lists (Wonder Woman last year, Deadpool in 2017) but they've been an exception, not the rule. This definitely strengthens Black Panther's chances of a Best Picture nod. Interesting to see A Quiet Place nominated in place of some other awards favourites (such as If Beale Street Could Talk or Mary Poppins Returns), but- as noted above- the PGA will often march to the beat of its own drum. I think we'll see 8 of the above in the Oscar Best Picture category.

Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Dr Seuss' The Grinch

Incredibles 2

Isle Of Dogs

Ralph Breaks The Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Not really much to say on this, apart from I'm really pleased to see Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse included (and I hope the Academy see fit to follow suit on January 22nd). 

Documentary Film (previously announced)

The Dawn Wall

Free Solo

Hal

Into The Okavango

RBG

Three Identical Strangers

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

A strong year for documentary films, with four on the list I'd like to see (Free Solo, RBG, Three Identical Strangers, and Won't You Be My Neighbor?). I would like to see three of those featuring on the Academy's list. 


The PGA Awards will be handed out on 19th January. Congratulations to all nominees!


Just to give advance warning, next week is a bit heavy with the awards season stuff with the Golden Globe results, more Guild Award nominees, and the BAFTA Film nominations all to come, plus the Critics' Choice results. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say...

Happy New Year from The Watchers!

Happy New Year!

Hopefully 2019 has got off to a good start for you all, and you had a wonderful and joyful Christmas (wherever you are and however you spent it).

A whole new 12 months sit before us, full of cinematic goodies like The Favourite, Green Book, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Glass, The Lego Movie 2, How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Beautiful Boy, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Happy Death Day 2U, Hellboy, John Wick Chapter 3, Rocketman, Toy Story 4, IT: Chapter 2, Joker, Avengers: Endgame, and Star Wars Episode IX to look forward to. 

We'll be reviewing these and many more as the months pass by, so keep your eyes on the blog and your ears on the podcast (don't get those two mixed up - it never ends well). 

Our very best wishes for a happy and healthy 2019!

The Watchers

(Rhys, Matt & Tez)