Fresh Fork

  Let's start... 1 - Ryan Gosling He may not have a huge list of movies in his body of work, but the few times he makes something, all the time he almost carries the movie. In fact, Gosling is a proof that talent does exist and that you don't need excentrical characters to receive raves. He rose to fame after the big screen adaptation of  The Notebook  (2004) and then received lots of critical praise for his performances in movies like  Half Nelson  (that gave him an Oscar, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations),  Lars and the Real Girl  (that gave him a Golden Globe, a SAG Award and other major awards nominations) and  Fracture  (in which he shres the screen with Anthony Hopkins). This year he starred Blue Valentine alongside Michelle Williams, a very well-received indie movie that got raves in both Sundance Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, specially the two lead's performances, starting a early Oscar buzz for Ryan Gosling an...

  wards season is ready to start and distributors are already lining their contenders. After the indie Winter & Spring and a lackluster Summer seasonl, it seems there aren't many contenders that had their releases outside of a film festival this year. Sure Thanksgiving and Christmas season always have a word to say concerning the Oscar potential of more commercial cinematic ventures, but I consider the biggest players have already screened in Cannes, Venice, Telluride and TIFF.  To understand the Oscar game, we have to have some points in mind: #1 - it kinda plays like a presidential election in the way your party (AKA distributor) needs to champion the movie and land a FYC campaign; #2 - Best Picture nominees are chosen through a preferential balloting system, which means the love towards a movie plays a big part in the game while not liking the movie does not (you can't "unvote" a movie or block the AMPAS members of picking it);  #3 - the first critics' awar...