Introducing The Denzel Washington Cookbook

I’m sure a lot of you are having Oscar-themed parties tonight. If you’re in the UK, your Alex Zane-fuelled excitement will go right into the small hours and if you’re in America, well, it all happens over dinner really, doesn’t it.

It’s tough to stay unpredictable if you host these things year on year, so I thought I’d give you a loving nudge in the right direction for a night that’s sure to be talked about just as much as this year’s Met Ball.

Introducing:

Other recipes include: Remember the Tiramisu and The Scone Collector.

Because Only The Best Oscar Parties Feature Denzel.

– A massive thank you to Elliott Crossley for the image and D.J. Devereux for being part of the original, inspired conversation we had one day at work.

2013 Oscar Predictions: The Voice Of The People – Sort Of

Last year, my housemate Becca decided to be the voice of the (fairly movie ignorant) nation and gave me her inspired Oscar nominations. War Horse led the way and you should definitely give them a once-over, here.

Seeing as she is my own personal Karl Pilkington of the film world, I once again decided to dig into the recesses of her brain and find out what she thought would win this year – taking into consideration that she’s only seen Silver Linings Playbook, The Impossible and half of Les Miserables (for reasons we won’t go into as she’s scared it’s not strictly legal). Outside the main contenders, she’s seen The Avengers, Snow White And The Huntsman and Mirror Mirror, but this house has mad love for Tarsem’s latest, so I won’t have a word said against it. Oh, and she’s seen Paperman as I put it up on Facebook when Disney made it available on YouTube.

Check out the voice of the people’s Oscar picks below, working from the technical categories up to the big dogs. And yes, this is verbatim. Enjoy:

London Critics’ Circle Award Winners

It’s an Amour love-in for the London Critics’ Circle. And the rest of the winners are rather lovely, too, even if the acting wins are for the most part on a par with what we’ve already seen during this year’s Oscar Race.

But London felt it was right to applaud Rust And Bone, The Imposter and Berberian Sound Studio which the Oscar nominations left out completely, with recognition also going to the wonderful Andrea Riseborough.

With a couple of other well-deserved wins for British talent, check out the full list of winners below:

Someone Call The Guinness Book Of World Records

These three are having the world’s most epic barbie.

I Should Probably Post These Oscar Nominations, Then

Seeing as everyone was a little Oscar’d out yesterday, I thought I’d wait until today to put these up. I’m not going to say too much, as I think I exhausted my point over on Twitter (@iamnotwaynegale) and said everything I wanted to when predicting my nominations here.

‘Snubs’ aside, all I’ll say is that I’m absolutely thrilled for Benh Zeitlin and little Quvenzhané and really pleased Eiko Ishioka gets a fitting tribute.

Check out the full list of nominees for the 85th Academy Awards below:

Dear Papa Oscar…

The Academy. AMPAS. That there group of old, white men. Whatever you choose to call them, it’s fair to say we all have a pretty tumultuous relationship with the Oscars and the way each respective year’s ‘Best of Film’ is represented. Someone’s always left out, certain films are never pushed and, let’s face it, if it’s backed by the Weinsteins, that movie’s chances are skyrocketed by about a billion percent.

Yet I find myself oddly fascinated by the whole bizarre nature of Awards Season and how it ultimately appears to be a bit of a numbers game. Last year I pretty much called all the winners apart from Meryl’s cheeky little deprivation of Viola Davis’ glory and that wonderfully unexpected Best Editing win for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. But this year’s feeling a little different. A bit more wide-open. Although Zero Dark Thirty has had an incredible run, Argo is looming ever greater behind Bigelow and Life Of Pi’s huge BAFTA nomination haul is certainly not to be ignored.

Though the acting quartet of Chastain, Day-Lewis, Hathaway and Jones seem pretty sturdy in their respective runs thus far, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sally Field are Academy heavyweights who have had more than their fair share of success with individual Critics groups, with Jennifer Lawrence and Emmanuelle Riva also making their mark.

But I have a few wishes of my own this year, Papa Oscar. A few things I’d like to see and a few people I’d like to see left out. Watch the nominations live here at 13:30 UK time and check out what I have to say (along with my predictions for the big eight categories) below:

Fed Up Of People Talking About The BAFTA Nominations Yet?

Now, I’m sure you’re pretty sick and tired of hearing peoples’ two cents on today’s BAFTA nominations and how they might correlate with tomorrow’s (well, today now) Oscar nominations, yadda yadda, blah blah blahhh.

So I’m simply going to post the list of nominations below with no preamble. That can come with whatever tomorrow’s Academy Award nominations bring!

Check out the full list of the EE (eurghh) British Academy Film Award nominations below:

Denver Film Critics Society Award Winners

Denver, Denver, Denver. How you bore me. But at this point in the game surprises don’t hold much weight, with this all but confirming those we expect to see in tomorrow’s Oscar nominations.

However, it’s a tad unfair to say this list of winners bores me when it actually makes me more excited about Argo’s chances come February.

Check out Denver’s picks below:

Alliance Of Women Film Journalists Award Winners

The Alliance Of Women Film Journalists really do crack me up. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a woman, but some of the categories these ladies use to reward feminism or slap the hand of those who aren’t doing us many favours are downright hysterical.

Zero Dark Thirty is their outright winner (it led the nominations) and the other acting awards don’t defer from what we’ve already seen, but with awards such as ‘Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star’ and ‘Actress Most In Need Of A New Agent’, you need to give this list of winners a proper look – even if they do piss all over my love of Anna Karenina. But they do give Adam Sandler a stern telling off and, at present, that can only be a good thing.

Check out their winners below:

North Texas Film Critics Association Award Winners

North Texas love a little bit of Abraham Lincoln. Not Timur Bekmambetov’s version, though. They bloody hate vampires.

Lawrence, Jones and Hathaway continue their streak and the wonderful Untouchable takes another award for Best Foreign Film.

There’s not a great deal to look at, but check out North Texas’ winners below: