'La La Land" Leads 89th Academy Award Nominations

Courtesy of AMPAS

The musical "La La Land" earned a record-tying 14 mentions when nominations for the 89th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday morning, earning bids in a bulk of the top categories (picture, director, actor, actress, original screenplay) and all of the technical categories (save visual effects). The Hollywood-set love letter to classic musicals recently earned a record-setting seven wins at the Golden Globes earlier this month.

Competing against it for best picture include "Arrival" and "Moonlight" which received eight nominations each, followed up by "Hacksaw Ridge", "Lion" and "Manchester by the Sea", all of which have six nods a piece. All of the aforementioned are in the running for best director (save for "Lion").

Rounding out the best picture slate are "Fences" and "Hell or High Water" with four nominations each and "Hidden Figures" with three mentions.

In talks of records, Meryl Streep earned her 20th acting nomination for her leading turn in "Florence Foster Jenkins" and sound mixer Kevin O'Connell received his 21st nomination for his work on "Hacksaw Ridge". O'Connell has yet to win an Academy Award in his 35 years of work in the industry.

In the animated feature race, the second highest-grossing film at the box office this year, "Finding Dory", was excluded from the slate in favor of "Kubo and the Two Strings," "Moana," "My Life as a Zucchini", "The Red Turtle" and "Zootopia". "Kubo" was also nominated for best visual effects, and "Moana" picked up an original song bid.


Best Picture
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"
Mel Gibson, "Hacksaw Ridge"
Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"
Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester By the Sea"
Denis Villeneuve, "Arrival"

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, "Manchester By the Sea"
Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge"
Ryan Gosling, "La La Land"
Viggo Mortenson, "Captain Fantastic"
Denzel Washington, "Fences"

Best Actress
Isabelle Huppert, "Elle"
Ruth Negga, "Loving"
Natalie Portman, "Jackie"
Emma Stone, "La La Land"
Meryl Streep, "Florence Foster Jenkins"

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, "Moonlight"
Jeff Bridges, "Hell or High Water"
Lucas Hedges, "Manchester By the Sea"
Dev Patel, "Lion"
Michael Shannon, "Nocturnal Animals"

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, "Fences"
Naomie Harris, "Moonlight"
Nicole Kidman, "Lion"
Octavia Spencer, "Hidden Figures"
Michelle Williams, "Manchester By the Sea"

Meryl Streep continues racking up Oscar records with 21st acting nomination

20th Century Fox

(UPDATE: Story originally posted on 1/19/2017 and has been updated to reflect additional nomination tallies)

An Oscar nomination is the ultimate distinction for achievement in film anyone would love to earn. It's not unusual to see people get two Oscar nominations in one year, sometimes, for the true auteur, even three.

Over the first nine decades of its award ceremonies dozens of records and milestones have been made in regard to wins and nominations, one of the most noticeable is Meryl Streep earning 21 nominations for acting, the most for any thespian. She claimed her 20th in 2016 for "Florence Foster Jenkins" and adds another nomination plaque for her leading turn in 2017's "The Post". Her three wins - best actress in 1982 and 2011 and supporting actress in 1979 - ties her among a handful of other performers with three acting wins, but one less than was earned by the ultimate acting winner Katharine Hepburn.

With her 20th nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins" this year, she joins an elite list of people who have earned 20 or more Oscar nominations. Streep, however, would not be the first woman to chalk up that many nominations. Edith Head earned 35 nominations and eight wins for her costume designs from 1948 to 1977.

Walt Disney is the person who has earn the most wins and nominations of any person in history: 59 nominations and 22 wins. Disney's wins were stretched among animated films and documentary subjects. The runner up is composer John Williams with five wins from 51 nominations, receiving his latest nomination in 2017 year for his original score for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"

While everyone who has earned at least 20 nominations has earned, at minimum, three wins, for their efforts, sound mixer Kevin O'Connell and composer Victor Young only won one time each. Connell's luck changed last year after winning on his 21st nod for his sound mixing efforts on "Hacksaw Ridge". Young's win came posthumously with his 1956 score for "Around the World in 80 Days." He was also nominated that year for the original titular song to "Written on the Wind."

Check out who else has earned 20 or more Oscar nominations below. 

My Bold Predictions for 2016 Oscar Nominations

Of course, "La La Land" has been having a great sweep of wins from critic and professional groups, including a historic clean sweep of its seven nominations from The Golden Globes on Jan. 8. "Moonlight" and "Manchester By the Sea" have also been given its fair share of love from a plethora of organizations.

Things seem to get a little interesting in a few races like, will Meryl Streep earn her record-extending 20th Oscar nomination for "Florence Foster Jenkins"? Will her co-star Hugh Grant earn his first nod for the film? Can Isabelle Huppert finally break into the Oscar race for her leading turn in the French film "Elle"? Will "Nocturnal Animals" be more of a contender than we thought?

My predictions for the highest award in the film world are based on the usually tea leaves of accolades presented so far, and some "Gotcha!" nominations that usually sneak in.

Nomination will be announced on Jan. 24, and in a new format, no less!

Best Picture
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Jackie Hidden Figures (added 1/20)
La La Land
Manchester By the Sea
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, "La La Land"
Mel Gibson, "Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, "Moonlight"
Kenneth Lonergan, "Manchester By the Sea"
Denis Villeneuve, "Arrival"

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, "Manchester By the Sea"
Andrew Garfield, "Hacksaw Ridge"
Ryan Gosling, "La La Land"
Viggo Mortenson, "Captain Fantastic"
Denzel Washington, "Fences"

Best Actress
Amy Adams, "Arrival"
Isabelle Huppert, "Elle"
Natalie Portman, "Jackie"
Emma Stone, "La La Land"
Meryl Streep, "Florence Foster Jenkins"

25th Philadelphia Film Festival, Day 11: Bittersweet ending

(Read about Days 9 and 10 here)

Perhaps they're not using their signature line "See Something You'll Never Forget" because I hadn't seen it promoted anywhere during the festival this year. Nothing was so incredible about the 21 films I saw this year that I wouldn't be able to forget them — though I really adored "Toni Erdmann" and "Paterson" — but it was certainly a better fest than the past two years when I really started covering it.

Maybe I just chose better films? Maybe the films, overall, were better? Even when I picked something I wasn't looking forward to I ended up being pleasantly surprised, like "Miss Impossible" and "Fire at Sea". There were a few rumblings in waiting lines about a few of the selections, but people seemed to be receptive of almost everything.

Of course, I am always more bothered by the fact that films consistently started late which is a prevalent problem with the festival. It's like a normality.

But anywho.

On day 11, the final day of the festival, I enjoyed just two films, the documentary "Obit" and the mystery "Personal Shopper".

25th Philadelphia Film Festival, Days 9 and 10: Downfall

(Read about days 7 and 8 here)

Man, come Friday morning I was still reeling from "Paterson" the night before. Such a fantastic movie (and even better after I saw my friend V as an extra in it).

As the sentiment faded, I wasn't really looking forward to much on Friday. I wasn't planning on seeing the closing night film, "Arrival", or seeing that what the award winners were from the private jury that almost no one knows exists. Friday was a day off for me from work and I just wanted to get the most of the badge that I had. I had only seen 13 movies up until the day.

The "Parents" dishcloth. Dropped stitches at the end/top.

On my short roster of three selections was the Danish film "Parents", the Japanese film "Harmonium" and the French Canadian "Boundaries".

These were three selections I should have strayed extremely far away from and should have opted to see something else... or nothing at all.

"Parents" is about a middle-aged couple who have to deal with their adult son finally moving out of their house. What started beautifully, just like the dishcloth I was making when it started, quickly turned into a mess, just like the dishcloth.

A great premise at face value, it then turned into a really weird sci-fi-ish tale where the parents change into their 20-something selves, and the mom wants to have a baby with her son. I couldn't with this film, not at all. Just give me a straight-forward tale about parents dealing with it instead of an overly pretentious bucket of crap that tries too hard to be awesome. I gave it props based on the premise.

25th Philadelphia Film Festival, Days 7 and 8: Persons of Extreme Interest, 'Christine' and 'Paterson'

(Read about day 4 here)

As I stated in my previous post, I usually take Monday and Tuesday off from festivals to get back into my regular work routine and catch up with a weeknight film on the other days.

This year was no different.

On Wednesday, which was seriously one of the longest, most tiring days I've had in a while, I drove out to a 9:25 screening of "Christine", the Rebecca Hall vehicle about reporter Christine Chubbuck who killed herself on live TV back in the '70s.

25th Philadelphia Film Festival, Day 4: Best Day Yet

(Click here to read about days 2.... and 3)

Day four of the festival was the best day yet, in my opinion. Granted, I was surprised how my first three days didn't include any noticeable duds of everything that I had seen so far! Usually, one or two get pretty low ratings on my film ballot, but not so this year. Everything was refreshing for one reason or another, whether the acting alone ("Things to Come"), sheer brilliance of character ("Toni Erdmann"),  or a tenacious, low-key mystery ("The Unknown Girl"), nothing has let me down yet.

Going into Sunday, I was feeling hopeful that everything I was going to see that day would be great. I heard a bit on Twitter about "Goldstone" and how great Jacki Weaver is in it. Essentially, she reprises her Oscar-nominated role in "Animal Kingdom", as the charming ruler of a corrupt system in this tale about the racial, backdoor dealings of Australia.

The entrance of an aboriginal federal detective to a vast, close-minded area of the country ruled by Maureen (Weaver) and patrolled by a young cop named Josh, throws things into disarray involving sex trades, the removing of aboriginals from their land, and an overbearing mining company.