At Home or Away: The Dilemma of Holiday Oscar Viewing

Throughout his career, Willem Dafoe hasn’t shied away from challenging roles. And he wishes streaming audiences would challenge themselves in similar ways instead of watching lowest-common-denominator content.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The SAG Awards nominations provided an exciting blend of usual suspects and stunning omissions. For some awards season strategists — particularly the ones behind critically adored films like “Anatomy of a Fall” and “May December” — there’s no choice but to ask, “what happened?” The SAG Awards’ pearl anniversary brought expected mentions for Oscar contenders such as the two summer smash hits “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” leading the tally for all movies with four nominations each. In addition, the crime epic “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the satirical dramedy “American Fiction” managed three mentions.

After the first two major guilds weighed in this morning, it is still very clear, as it has been for some time, that it is a ‘Barbenheimer’ world and we just live in it.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Awards Circuit Column: It’s decision time. After months of campaigning, festivalgoing, splashy premieres, magazine profiles and morning-show appearances, Academy voters will finally get their ballots this week (Thursday, Jan. 11).

Taylor Swift and Brittany Mahomes are hanging out again!

It’s hard to think about anyone other than Mark Harmon playing the role of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA, has become a crucial indicator on which films and performances could garner support for the Academy Awards due to the huge overlap of voting members. Over the years, its influence on the Oscars has been undeniable, with many of its winners often helping to shape a narrative. After getting ignored by all the major guilds, last year’s German-language film “All Quiet on the Western Front” made a big showing before going on to nab nine Oscar nominations and winning four.

Jackson Mahomes, whose sideline antics have annoyed, outraged, and delighted football fans in the Kansas City area, has had three felony charges against him dropped.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Greta Gerwig‘s blockbuster comedy “Barbie” has been deemed an adapted screenplay by the Writers Branch executive committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, despite campaigning for original screenplay, Variety has exclusively learned. When official Oscar nomination voting opens Thursday, Jan. 11, eligible voting members of the branch will only be able to cast votes for the script written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach in adapted screenplay.

A grandma was forced to leave her home for Christmas because of damp and mould – after she had already been moved out for two weeks so the issue could be fixed. The 54-year-old says she returned from a fortnight staying in a hotel throughout December to find that her home was still covered in damp and mould, despite apparent work arranged by her housing association to deal with the problem.

The first bank holiday of 2024 is behind us already, with New Year's Day over and done with. There's a bit of a wait until our next bank holiday, which is the long Easter weekend. Last year, we enjoyed an extra day off in May thanks to King Charles' coronation. But this year, England and Wales get the standard eight bank holidays in total, with no other special occasions on the cards.

Princess Catherine is over wasting her energy on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!

It’s hard to think about anyone other than Mark Harmon playing the role of Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs on NCIS.

Home Alone is arguably one of the best Christmas films of all time.Directed by Chris Columbus, the 1990 comedy stars Macaulay Culkin as eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, who defends his family home against two robbers played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.The film spawned several sequels, with Culkin reprising his role in 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. A third film in the franchise, released in 1997, starred Alex D.

Amazon is teasing Prime Video’s offerings for 2024 and released the first looks of projects starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Camila Mendes and more.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Who says you can’t laugh and win Oscars, too? In a stunning year for cinema, the candidates for the coveted best picture category are overflowing with prime comedic endeavors that surpass their dramatic counterparts. From a toy doll to an author with a triumphant “Black book” to a reverse Frankenstein tale that shows a whole lot of sex, the Academy has an opportunity to invite the softer side of cinema to its ceremony.

Alexander Payne’s 3x Golden Globe nominated, 8x Critics Choice nominated dramedy The Holdovers will stream on Peacock on Friday, Dec. 29.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the shortlists in 10 categories for the upcoming 96th Oscars ceremony. Overall, Greta Gerwig’s meta-comedy “Barbie” had the most mentions with five including sound, original song for its three submissions from Billie Eilish (“What I Was Made For?”), Dua Lipa (“Dance the Night”) and Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (“I’m Just Ken”), and original score, from the latter duo. The big miss for “Barbie” was in makeup and hairstyling, which was the category that yielded the most surprises.

As we near Christmas, we’re looking back at the Hallmark stars who have starred in the most holiday films for the fan fave channel.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Oscars shortlist voting period has closed as of 5:00 p.m. PT. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the finalists in 10 categories — documentary feature (15), documentary short subject (15), international feature (15), makeup and hairstyling (10), sound (10), original score (15), original song (15), animated short film (15), live action short film (15), and visual effects (10) — on Thursday, Dec.