Here’s What Won At Cannes


Here’s what won at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  As the Academy’s membership has become more international, Cannes has been transformed into an Oscar precursor over the past few years.  Time will tell if that’s the case this year.  (Of the film’s that did win this year, The Secret Agent sounds like the most Oscar-friendly)

Palme d’Or
Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident

Grand Prix
Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value

Jury Prize
Mascha Schilinski for Sound of Falling and Oliver Laxe for Sirat (tie)

Best Director
Kleber Mendonça Filho for The Secret Agent

Best Screenplay
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for Young Mothers

Best Actress
Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister

Best Actor
Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent

Special Prize
Resurrection, dir. Bi Gan

Camera d’Or for Best First Film
The President’s Cake, dir: Hassan Hadi

Palme d’Or for Best Short Film
I’m Glad You’re Dead Now, dir: Tawfeek Barhom

Here’s What Will Be Playing At The 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival


The line-up for the 2025 Cannes Film Festival was announced earlier today.  Here is what will be playing and competing at the world’s most prestigious film festival.  With the Academy getting more and more international in its outlook, Cannes itself has become something of an Oscar precursor.  So, at least one of these films listed below will probably be amongst the films later nominated for Best Picture of the Year.

The 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival will open on May 13th, 2025.

COMPETITION

Alpha, Julie Ducournau
Dossier 137, Dominik Moll
The Eagles of the Republic, Tarik Saleh
Eddington, Ari Aster
Fuori, Mario Martone
The History of Sound, Oliver Hermanus
La Petite Derniere, Hafsia Herzi
The Mastermind, Kelly Reichardt
Nouvelle Vague, Richard Linklater
The Phoenician Scheme, Wes Anderson
Renoir, Chie Hayakawa
Romeria, Carla Simone
The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonça Filho
Sentimental Value, Joachim Trier
A Simple Accident, Jafar Panahi
Sirat, Oliver Laxe
Sound of Falling, Mascha Schilinksi
Two Prosecutors, Sergei Loznitsa
Young Mothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

UN CERTAIN REGARD

Aisha Can’t Fly Away, Morad Mostafa
Eleanor the Great, Scarlett Johansson
Heads or Tails?, Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis
Homebound, Neeraj Ghaywan
Karavan, Zuzana Kirchnerová
L’inconnu de la Grande Arche, Stéphane Demoustier
The Last One for the Road, Francesco Sossai
Meteors, Hubert Charuel
My Father’s Shadow, Akinola Davies Jr
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Diego Céspedes
Once Upon A Time In Gaza, Tarzan Nasser and Arab Nasser
A Pale View of the Hills, Kei Ishikawa
Pillion, Harry Lighton
The Plague, Charlie Polinger
Promised Sky, Erige Sehiri
Urchin, Harris Dickinson

OUT OF COMPETITION

Colours of Time, Cedric Klapisch
Highest 2 Lowest, Spike Lee
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Christopher McQuarrie
Partir un jour, Amélie Bonnin – opening film
The Richest Woman in the World, Thierry Klifa
Vie Privée, Rebecca Zlotowski

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

Bono: Stories of Surrender, Andrew Dominik
The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, Sylvain Chomet
Tell Her I Love Her, Romane Bohringer

MIDNIGHT SCREENINGS

Dalloway, Yann Gozlan
Exit 8, Kawamura Genki
Songs of the Neon Night, Juno Mak

CANNES PREMIERE

Amrum, Fatih Akin
Connemara, Alex Lutz
The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, Kirill Serebrennikov
Orwell: 2+2 =5, Raoul Peck
Splitsville, Michael Angelo Covino
The Wave, Sebastián Lelio

Lisa Marie’s Way Too Early Oscar Predictions For April


Now that the 2024 Oscars are over with, it’s time to move on to the 2025 Oscars!

Needless to say, there’s probably nothing more pointless than trying to guess which films are going to be nominated a year from now.  I can’t even guarantee that all of the films listed below are even going to be released this year.  And, even if they are released this year, I can’t guarantee that they’ll actually be any good or that the Academy will show any interest in them.  I mean, someone like Martin Scorsese always seems like a safe bet but we all remember what happened with Silence.  For months, everyone said Silence would be the Oscar front runner.  Then it was released to respectful but not ecstatic reviews.  Audiences stayed away.  The film ended up with one technical nomination.  And let’s not forget that last year, at this time, the narrative was that it was going to be Ridley Scott’s year.

My point is that no one knows anything.  As much as I hate quoting William Goldman (because, seriously, quoting Goldman on a film site is such a cliché at this point), Goldman was right.

(Add to that, 2025 is starting to look like it’s going to be a seriously underwhelming year as far as the movies are concerned.)

Anyway, here are my random guesses for April!  A few months from now, we can look back at this list and have a good laugh.

Best Picture

After The Hunt

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Deliver Me From Nowhere

Eddington

F1

Frankenstein

The Lost Bus

One Battle After Another

Wicked For Good

The Young Mothers Home

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson for One Battle After Another

Jon M. Chu for Wicked For Good

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for The Young Mother’s Home

Guillermo del Toro for Frankenstein

Joseph Kosinksi for FI

Best Actor

Austin Butler in Eddington

Timothee Chalamet in Marty Supreme

Leonardo DiCaprio in One Battle After Another

Matthew McConaughey in The Lost Bus

Jeremy Allen White in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Best Actress

Olivia Colman in The Roses

Cynthia Erivo in Wicked For Good

Julia Roberts in After The Hunt

Amanda Seyfried in Ann Lee

June Squibb in Eleanor The Great

Best Supporting Actor

Colman Domingo in Michael

Josh O’Connor in The History of Sound

Sean Penn in One Battle After Another

Joaquin Phoenix in Eddington

Christoph Waltz in Frankenstein

Best Supporting Actress

Fran Drescher in Marty Supreme

Ayo Edebri in After The Hunt

Ariana Grande in Wicked For Good

Gabby Hofman in Deliver Me From Nowhere

Nia Long in Michael

Here Are The 2024 Oscar Winners!


It was quite a night for Anora and Sean Baker!  Sean Baker tied Walt Disney’s record by winning 4 Oscars in one night.  After being dismissed as an als0-ran by many critics, Anora made a comeback and swept the Oscars.  It was actually kind of fun to watch.

(As far as my predictions go, I hit 12 out of 23 correctly.  That’s one of my worst showings ever but at least I managed to stay over 50%, albeit barely.)

Best Picture

  • Anora

Best Actor

  • Adrien Brody – The Brutalist

Best Actress

  • Mikey Madison – Anora

Best Supporting Actress

  • Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez

Best Supporting Actor

  • Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain

Best Director

  • Sean Baker – Anora

Best Adapted Screenplay

  • Conclave – Peter Straughan

Best Original Screenplay

  • Anora – Sean Baker

Best Film Editing

  • Anora

Best Cinematography

  • The Brutalist

Best Original Song

  • El Mal – Emilia Pérez

Best Original Score

  • The Brutalist

Best International Feature

  • I’m Still Here – Brazil

Best Animated Feature

  • Flow

Best Documentary Feature

  • No Other Land

Best Costume Design

  • Wicked

Best Make-up and Hairstyling

  • The Substance

Best Production Design

  • Wicked

Best Sound

  • Dune: Part Two

Best Visual Effects

  • Dune: Part Two

Best Live Action Short

  • I’m Not a Robot

Best Animated Short

  • In the Shadow of the Cypress

Best Documentary Short

  • The Only Girl in the Orchestra

My Oscar Predictions


Okay, let’s do this!  Here are my predictions of what will win at the big show tonight!

Best Picture — Anora

Best Directing — Sean Baker, Anora

Best Actor — Timothee Chalamet, A Complete Unknown

Best Actress — Mikey Madison, Anora

Best Supporting Actor — Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain

Best Supporting Actress — Ariana Grande, Wicked

Best Original Screenplay — A Real Pain

Best Adapted Screenplay — Conclave

Best Animated Feature — The Wild Robot

Best Production Design — Wicked

Best Cinematography — Nosferatu

Best Costume Design — Wicked

Best Film Editing — Conclave

Best Makeup and Hairstyling — Wicked

Best Sound — Dune Part II

Best Visual Effects — Dune Part II

Best Original Score — The Brutalist

Best Original Song — Never Too Late from Elton John: Never Too Late

Best Documentary Feature — Sugarcane

Best International Feature: I’m Still Here

Best Animated Short: Yuck!

Best Documentary Short: The Only Girl In The Orchestra

Best Live Action Short: The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent

Welcome To Oscar Sunday!


Oscar, in happier times

Welcome to Oscar Sunday!

Today is practically a holiday for me.  As someone who loves movies and who also loves award shows, the Oscar Ceremony is an important annual event.  I really don’t feel like the previous year is over until the Oscars have been handed out.  For me, I won’t truly be able to move on from 2024 and really plunge into 2025 until the award for Best Picture is handed out.

This Oscar Sunday might be a little bit more lowkey than past Oscar Sundays but we’ll be here, the TSL crew, watching the show and rooting for our favorite films!  We’ll be posting all the winners, maybe a few reviews, and I’ll be tossing out some Oscar thoughts throughout the day.

Remember that picture below?  That was supposed to be the defining moment of the Oscars, an announcement that the Academy was still relevant and that Hollywood could compete with an increasingly online world.  Today, it can easy to forget just how fawning the coverage was over the 2014 Oscar selfie.  The picture is kind of a Rorschach test.  Do you see Hollywood fun and glamour or do you see a bunch of smug celebrities?  I’ve heard both answers.  I’ve always liked Bradley Cooper’s smile and Jared Leto trying to get in the shot.  What’s often forgotten is that poor Liza Minnelli was in the back of that crowd, trying to get in the picture but being not making it.

The Oscar selfie started out as a good thing but then it inspired other “celebs are just like us!” Oscar moments and boy, did those get old fast.  Chris Rock making people buy Girl Scout cookies was okay.  Jimmy Kimmel sending an army of celebs to interrupt a movie playing next door was Hollywood at its most self-important, walking into a movie that people had paid to see and loudly announcing themselves.  (If that movie’s audience cared about the Oscars, they wouldn’t have been at a movie during the ceremony.)  The infamous Stephen Soderbergh-produced Oscars were the worst, a COVID-era slog that couldn’t even pull off its grand emotional finale.  Probably the most spontaneous and human moment on a recent Oscar telecast was Will Smith punching Chris Rock on live TV, cursing at the top of his lungs, and then rambling about God after winning his Oscar.  Last year, Oppenheimer’s victory felt right and Robert Downey, Jr’s Oscar win felt like a moment that deserved a cheer.  It was a return to the wonderful Oscars of old but now, this year, we’re back to largely obscure nominees and the front runner’s chances falling apart because of things she posted online.  The big question tonight is not whether Emilia Perez will win (it won’t) but whether or not Karla Sofia Gascon’s tweets have taken down Zoe Saldana’s chances along with her own.  The old Oscar selfie hits a bit differently after all that.

Of course, the most interesting thing about this selfie is that, for all the attention it received, it ended up being memory holed, largely because of Kevin Spacey managing to get in the frame.  Ellen DeGeneres, as well, is no longer quite as beloved as she once was.  This picture truly is an artifact of a different time.  Myself, I like old movie so I’m always going to prefer Audrey Hepburn with her telegrams.

Enjoy Oscar Sunday!

Scenes That I Love: “That’s Bird Seed!” from The Oscar


Have you ever wondered what it takes to win an Oscar?  The 1966 film, The Oscar, revealed to audiences just how sleazy a world Hollywood can be.  Frankie Fane (Stephen Boyd) does everything he can to win an Oscar and he doesn’t care who he hurts!  But fear not — Hollywood may not be perfect but it has no room for someone like Frankie Fane!  At the end of the movie, a man named Frank does win the Oscar but his last name is Sinatra and Frankie Fane is left humiliated.  That’ll teach him to try to pull one over on the Academy!

The Oscar is an incredibly silly film but it’s also a lot of fun.  In this scene that I love, Frankie’s best friend — played by Tony Bennett, in both his first and final film — confronts Frankie about the type of star that he’s become.

“That’s birdseed!”

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Also-Ran Edition


4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

Since today is Oscar nomination day, today’s edition of 4 Shots From 4 Films is dedicated to films that were nominated for Best Picture but which did not win.

4 Shots From 4 Best Picture Nominees

Citizen Kane (1941, dir by Orson Welles, DP: Gregg Toland)

High Noon (1952, dir by Fred Zinnemann, DP: Floyd Crosby)

Goodfellas (1990, dir by Martin Scorsese, DP: Michael Ballhaus)

Lost In Translation (2003, dir by Sofia Coppola, DP: Lance Acord)

Here Are The 2024 Oscar Nominations


Here they are!  The 2024 Oscar nominations!

There’s a few surprises, like I’m Still Here getting nominated for Best Picture.  I will say that if Kamala Harris had won in November, Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong would not have been nominated for The Apprentice.  The same impulse that causes the Academy to honor the films of Adam McKay is responsible for the nominations of Stan and Strong.  Pamela Anderson getting a nomination for The Last Showgirl would have made for a great story but it didn’t happen.

After all the hype, the actual announcement of the nominations is always a bit of a let down.

Best Picture
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Emilia Pérez”
“I’m Still Here”
“Nickel Boys”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Best Director
Jacques Audiard, “Emilia Pérez”
Sean Baker, “Anora”
Brady Corbet, “The Brutalist”
James Mangold, “A Complete Unknown”
Coralie Fargeat, “The Substance”

Best Actress
Mikey Madison, “Anora”
Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”
Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”
Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”

Best Supporting Actress
Monica Barbaro, “A Complete Unknown”
Ariana Grande, “Wicked”
Felicity Jones, “The Brutalist”
Isabella Rossellini, “Conclave”
Zoe Saldaña, “Emilia Pérez”

Best Actor

Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”

Timothee Chalament, “A Complete Unknown”

Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”

Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”

Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov, “Anora”
Kieran Culkin, “A Real Pain”
Edward Norton, “A Complete Unknown”
Guy Pearce, “The Brutalist”
Jeremy Strong, “The Apprentice”

Original Screenplay:
“Anora”
“The Brutalist”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”
“September 5”

Adapted Screenplay
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nickel Boys”
“Sing Sing”

International Feature
“I’m Still Here”
“The Girl with the Needle”
“Emilia Pérez”
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”
“Flow”

Animated Feature
“Flow”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”

Documentary Feature
“Black Box Diaries”
“No Other Land”
“Porcelain War”
“Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat”
“Sugarcane”

Best Editing
“Anora”
“Conclave”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Wicked”
“The Brutalist”

Best Original Score in a Motion Picture
“The Brutalist”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Conclave”
“Wicked”
“The Wild Robot”

Production Design
“The Brutalist”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked”

Best Costume Design
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Gladiator II”
“Nosferatu”
“Wicked”

Best Sound
“A Complete Unknown”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Wicked”
“Emilia Perez”
“The Wild Robot”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
“A Different Man”
“Emilia Pérez”
“Nosferatu”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Animated Short
“In the Shadow of Cypress”
“Wander to Wonder”
“Yuck”
“Magic Candies”
“Beautiful Men”

Live Action Short
“Anuja”
“The Last Ranger”
“A Lien”
“The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent”
“I’m Not a Robot”

Documentary Short
“Death by Numbers”
“I Am Ready, Warden”
“Incident”
“The Only Girl in the Orchestra”
“Instruments of a Beating Heart”

Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Mi Camino” from “Emilia Pérez”
“El Mal” from “Emilia Pérez”
“Never Too Late” from “Elton John: Never Too Late”
“The Journey” from “The Six Triple Eight”
“Like a Bird” from “Sing Sing”

 

Lisa Marie’s Final 2024 Oscar Predictions


The Oscar nominations are due to be announced tomorrow so I guess I should post my final predictions.  2024 has been a rough year for me and my sisters.  Our Dad was in a car accident in May and, after two months of physical rehab, passed away in August while in home hospice care.  Needless to say, going to the movies was the last thing on my mind for much of 2024.

(I’m very thankful that my fellow contributors who kept the site going during our frequent absences.  Their hard work not only kept TSL alive but it also rekindled my own passion for the Shattered Lens.  I am still very much in mourning but writing for this site and sharing my thoughts with our readers has definitely helped me to regain some semblance of stability.)

So, there’s a lot of Oscar hopefuls that I have not seen.  That’s one reason why I haven’t done a best of 2024 list this year or my usual “If Lisa Marie Had All The Power” posts because there’s still a lot that I need to watch.  (I may publish them at some point in February, by which point everyone will have moved on but it will make me feel happy.)  I’m flying blind here with a lot of the potential nominees.  But I’ve been following the guilds and the critic awards and I feel reasonably confident about the predictions below.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll find out how right or wrong I am.

Best Picture

Anora

The Brutalist

A Complete Unknown

Conclave

Dune Part II

The Brutalist

A Real Pain

September 5

The Substance

Wicked

Best Director

Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez

Sean Baker for Anora

Edward Berger for Conclave

Brady Corbet for The Brutalist

Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

Best Actress

Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl

Cynthia Erivo in Wicked

Karla Sofia Gascon in Emilia Perez

Mikey Madison in Anora

Demi Moore for in Substance

Best Actor

Adrien Brody in The Brutalist

Timothee Chalamet in A Compete Unknown

Domingo Colman in Sing Sing

Daniel Craig in Queer

Ralph Fiennes in Conclave

Best Supporting Actress

Jamie Lee Curtis in The Last Showgirl

Ariana Grande in Wicked

Margaret Qualley in The Substance

Isabella Rossellini in Conclave

Zoe Saldana in Emilia Perez

Best Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov in Anora

Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain

Edward Norton in A Complete Unknown

Guy Pearce in The Brutalist

Jeremy Strong in The Apprentice