This is the Buzzmeter. You can subscribe to it by heading to our newsletter sign-up. I send these out as well as post them here and it might become a podcast. Because the Oscar race has been swallowed up by publicity, it's hard to tell what is real anymore, isn't it? It's hard to know who is being honest or who is pandering. It's a very surreal moment to...

The AARP Movies for Grownups has been around for a while. They don't really tell you that much about the Oscar race, mainly because I could not find who picks the nominees, how many people pick the nominees. Is it a committee? How does it work...either way, they are aimed at people over 50 which, for a very long time, described the Academy. That isn't true anymore. To that...

There seems to be a bit of a controversy-not-controversy brewing online. Sebastian Stan has said that he wanted to do a Variety's Actors on Acting but none of the publicists wanted their clients associated with him so he could not do it. I hate to break it to Mr. McKay but welcome to the new normal. This is the monster you and everyone else have created where it's perfectly...

Oscar winner Viola Davis will be honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award when the Golden Globes air Sunday, January 5, 2025. The press release follows:   LOS ANGELES, California – November 20, 2024 – The Golden Globes® announced that actress, producer and Golden Globe winner Viola Davis has been named the Cecil B. DeMille Award honoree for 2025. Davis earned her first Golden Globe award for Best Supporting...

Welcome to the Buzzmeter, a report every few days of what makes my radar. Universal did it right by slow-screening Wicked to the right people. First, just a handful of "friendlies." Their response was ecstatic. Then, they rolled it out to those we call the "junket whores," we say it with love. And they, too, were ecstatic. By the time Wicked dropped on Rotten Tomatoes, somehow, 2,500 people rated...

For the next few weeks (leading up to the Golden Globe nominations), the focus will primarily (most likely) be on the categories outside of the top eight that are above the line. Focusing on these three, in particular, is appropriate as they seem to bridge the previous eight and the remaining 16 categories. 1) Animated Feature Voted on by the entire academy, what makes the Best Animated Feature category...

One of these two movies, Gladiator II or Wicked, or both, will be getting into the Oscars. They are set to drop on this Friday opposite each other, Barbenheimer style. Both should do very well. I don't know who will win the box office between these two. I could even venture a guess at this point. Barbie trounced Oppenheimer but Oppenheimer won all the awards. It doesn't matter. I...