COLUMN: Predicting the major 88th Academy Award nominations

The 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page. Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the third year in a row.

2015, 2016, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 13, 2016Best Picture, The race for Best Picture, Oscar Predictions, Oscar nominations, Oscar contenders, Oscar hopefuls, Oscar bait, 88th Academy Awards, 88th Oscars, Oscars, 2016, 2015, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Big 8, Oscar snubs, Oscar surprises, Spotlight, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, The Big Short, Carol, Room, Brooklyn, The Martian, Bridge of Spies, Creed, Inside Out, Son of Saul, Straight Outta Compton, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, George Miller, Tom McCarthy, Todd Haynes, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Ridley Scott, Adam McKay, Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, Ryan Coogler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs, Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl, Matt Damon, Bryan Cranston, Trumbo, Johnny Depp, Black Mass, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Keaton, Brie Larson, Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, Charlize Theron, Sarah Silverman, I Smile Back, Helen Mirren, Emily Blunt, Sicario, Sylvester Stallone, Mark Rylance, Michael Shannon, 99 Homes, Paul Dano, Love and Mercy, Jacob Tremblay, Benecio del Toro, Mark Ruffalo, Steve Carell, Christian Bale, Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation, Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina, Alex Garland, Rooney Mara, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria, Rachel McAdams, Josh Singer, Pete Docter, Meg LaFauvre, Josh Cooley, Oren Movermann, Michael Alan Lerner, Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, Joel and Ethan Coen, Joel CoenComment

COLUMN: Facts and history of the Cannes Film Festival

If you are a casual follower of the movie industry, there's a good chance that you've probably heard of, but don't know much about, the Cannes International Film Festival. You probably have seen the fashion report on E! and a few red carpet interviews on Entertainment Tonight or Extra. First off, you've got to say it right to sound cinephile-cool. "Cannes" pronounced "CAN" and not "CANS". That will help right off the bat. In this column, I'm presenting this article on the facts and history of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival to help the unfamiliar and uninformed movie fan sound like one of the 1% of cinema aficionados.

2015, Column, Editorial, Foreign FilmDon ShanahanMay 12, 2015Cannes Film Festival, Cannes, Palme d'Or, In-Competition, 68th Cannes Film Festival, Festival de Cannes, Un Certain Regard, Cannes winners, Best Actress, Best Picture, Best Foreign Language Film Comments

CHECKLIST: My full and official 2015 Oscar predictions

Alright, folks! I've done all of the research I can. I've read all of the tea leaves and broken down every race. I've made my detailed picks in seven columns and editorials over the past week. Here's my master list. In the three years of writing these Oscar nominations and following the data on my website, my prediction score has improved every year. Last year, I correctly guessed 20 of 24 awards up from 19 and 17 from the two years before. I'm gunning for another 20+ night again.

2015, Column, EditorialDon ShanahanFebruary 18, 2015Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Animated Feature, Best Animated Short Film, Best Documentary, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Song, Best Original Score, Boyhood, Birdman, Still Alice, Julianne Moore, Richard Linklater, Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, Whiplash, Patricia Arquette, Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Graham Moore, The Imitation Game, Ida, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Dam Keeper, The Phone Call, Citizenfour, Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1, Interstellar, American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, SelmaComment

COLUMN: Five snubs and five surprises from the 87th Academy Award nominations

The Oscar nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced this morning. Directors J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron mapped out the little categories and then actor Chris Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs drops some bombs this morning. As always, there are plenty of surprises and plenty of snubs. Through it all, the frontrunners have already emerged and this race is taking shape, so much so that I could probably name the eventual winners already today.

COLUMN: Predicting the major 87th Academy Award nominations

With the 87th Academy Award nominations being announced tomorrow morning, I'm cutting it close with my predictions of who and what names will hear their named called. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page, where I've been following the trends and reading the tea leaves. Using that data and a batch of hunches, here are my savvy predictions for tomorrow's nominations in the eleven major categories.

COLUMN: Who will win/should win the 2015 Golden Globes?

More and more each year, the Golden Globes have become more an a popularity contest than a true precursor to the Academy Awards. What you're watching on TV is a party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in an effort to be loved and share some love. To its credit, the awards show still garners legitimate attention and ratings. The winners do get a pretty positive rub and the marketers gain a few more "Winner of..." graphics to put in the newspapers next to their films. Let's take a look at the film categories and pick some winners.

EDITORIAL: Final 2014 Awards Tracker and Oscar Reactions

In my final update of this year's Awards Tracker, here are the final tallies, Oscar winners, and my reactions. The Oscar winners in each category are in bold. See you next year for another data session and season!

2014, Column, EditorialDon ShanahanMarch 3, 2014Award Prediction, Awards Predictions, Awards Tracker, Awards Talk, 86th Academy Awards, Oscar nominations, Oscars, Oscar Predictions, 2014, 2014 Oscars, Best Motion Picture, Best Costume Design, Best Animated Feature, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Sound Mixing, Best Picture, Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Sound, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Animated Short, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Original Score, Best Actress, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Original Song, Best, Best Screenplay, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Original Screenplay, Best Animated Short Film, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Supporting Actress, Best Directing, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Musical Score, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, The race for Best PictureComment

CHECKLIST: My full and official 2014 Oscar predictions

Alright, folks! I've done all of the research I can with my 2014 Awards Tracker. I've read all of the tea leaves and broken down every race. I've made my picks and here's the master list.

Don ShanahanFebruary 28, 2014Best Picture, Best Original Song, Best Animated Short Film, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Sound, Best Animated Short, Best Motion Picture, Best Documentary Feature, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Actress, Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Costume Design, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Musical Score, Best Live Action Short Film, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Directing, Best, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Animated Feature, Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Foreign Language Film, 12 Years a Slave, Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity, Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club, Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine, Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong'o, Spike Jonze, Her, John Ridley, The Hunt, Frozen, Get a Horse!, The Act of Killing, The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, The Voorman Problem, Emmanuel Lubeski, The Great Gatsby, Steven Price, Let It Go, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Day at the Movies, Tim Day, The Sleepy SkunkComment

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2014: The race for Best Picture

In this seventh and final post, we have come to the big finish. Here is my breakdown for the race for Best Picture. This is the big one and the cherry on top for my prediction series. Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool. Let's go!