COLUMN: Who should win/will win the 2016 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 and hosted by Ricky Gervais 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.

2015, 2016, Editorial, Column, SPECIALDon ShanahanJanuary 8, 2016Best Original Score, Carter Burwell, Carol, Daniel Pemberton, Steve Jobs, Alexandre Desplat, The Danish Girl, Ennio Morricone, The Hateful Eight, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto, The Revenant, John Williams, Johann Johannsson, Creed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Fifty Shades of Grey, Furious 7, Elle Goulding, Wiz Khalifa, Brian Wilson, Love and Mercy, Writing's on the Wall, Sam Smith, Spectre, Simple Song #3, Sumi Jo, Youth, Mustang, Son of Saul, The Brand New Testament, The Club, The Fencer, Timbuktu, The Assassin, Best Foreign Language Film, Amour, The Artist, Best Animated Feature, Inside Out, Shaun the Sheep, Shaun the Sheep Movie, The Good Dinosaur, The Peanuts Movie, Anomalisa, Charlie Kaufman, Disney/Pixar, Emma Donoghue, Room, Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight, Aaron Sorkin, Adam McKay, Charlie Randolph, The Big Short, Quentin Tarantino, Brooklyn, Michael Shannon, 99 Homes, Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation, Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies, Sylvester Stallone, Paul Dano, Mark Ruffalo, Benecio del Toro, Sicario, Jacob Tremblay, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Helen Mirren, Trumbo, Jane Fonda, Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina, Kristen Stewart, Clouds of Sils Maria, Lily Tomlin, Grandma, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, Melissa McCarthy, Spy, Maggie Smith, The Lady in the VAn, The Lady in the Van, Amy Schumer, Trainwreck, Teyonah Parris, Chi-Raq, Al Pacino, Danny Collins, Infinitely Polar Bear, Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Matt Damon, The Martian, Kevin Hart, Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Saoirse Ronan, Cate Blanchett, Brie Larson, Charlize Theron, Carey Mulligan, Suffragette, Far from the Madding Crowd, Will Smith, Concussion, Michael Fassbender, Eddie Redmayne, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bryan Cranston, Michael Keaton, Michael B. Jordan, Tom Hanks, The Wolf of Wall Street, Todd Hayne, George Miller, Ridley Scott, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globes, 73rd Golden Globes, Golden Globe nominees, Golden Globe winners, who will win/should win, Awards Predictions, Awards Tracker, Awards Talk, 88th Academy Awards, Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a LessonComment

EDITORIAL: Final 2015 Awards Tracker and Oscar Reactions

Let's put a bow on the 2014 Oscar race. Last night, I correctly predicted 16 of the 24 winners. 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 awards season!

2014, 2015, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanFebruary 23, 2015Birdman, Boyhood, Whiplash, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Interstellar, American Sniper, Eddie Redmaybe, Julianne Moore, J.K. Simmons, Patricia Arquette, John Legend, Common, Glory, Selma, Everything is Awesome, The LEGO Movie, Gone Girl, The Imitation Game, Graham Moore, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Ida, Citizenfour, Feast, Best Animated Short, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Directing, Best Documentary Feature, Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Animated Short Film, Best Animated FeatureComment

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

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2015: The music and sound categories

It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this second post, we look at the musical and sound categories that include original score, original song, sound editing, and sound mixing. Let's do this!

COLUMN: The Ultimate Playlist of Movie Music Lullabies

I hope this big post and 200-song playlist finds you and serves you well. It's been quite the passion project for me to build, on and off, over the last year and a half. Thanks for letting me merge sounding like a parenting blogger and a movie in one post. Please share this column with your friends with kids. It's all not just for babies either. If you like this kind of music, it works great in the car or at the office as well. As a school teacher, I used to play this in my elementary school classes all the time. It's excellent music for creativity and focus for all ages. Enjoy!

2014, Column, Editorial, SPECIALDon ShanahanJuly 8, 2014Donald Shanahan, Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson, Movie music, film scores, Film music, Best Original Score, John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer, Clint Eastwood, Michael Giacchino, Thomas Newman, Gabriel Yared, Lennie Niehaus, Tan Dun, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Shigeru Umebayashi, Alexandre Desplat, Joe Hisashi, Luis Bacalov, Ludovic Bource, Philippe Rombi, Cesar Benito, Ennio Morricone, Wojciech Kilar, Mychael Danna, Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, Stanley Myers, Nina Rota, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Conti, Carter Burwell, Harold Faltermeyer, Danny Elfman, Craig Armstrong, George Fenton, Graeme Revell, Maurice Jarre, Michael Kamen, Michael Nyman, Christopher Doyle, Rachel Portman, Stephen Warbeck, Trevor Jones, Explosions in the Sky, Daft Punk, M83, Tyler Bates, Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimeck, Reynold Heil, Aaron Zigman, Arcade Fire, Dario Marianelli, Harry Escott, Howard Shore, Jon Brion, John Debney, Patrick Doyle, Marc Streitenfeld, Mark IshamComment

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 music and sound categories

It's time to make my formal predictions. In this post, we look at the music and sound technical categories that include song, score, editing, and mixing. Let's go!

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