Oscar ballots went out today, and they must be returned by next Friday the 13th. It’s a short window, but there’s been so much discussion.

Academy voters– need a cheat sheet? Here’s mine for the major categories:

BEST PICTURE

Manchester by the Sea, La La Land, Silence, Lion, Hell or High Water, Moonlight, Fences, Arrival, 20th Century Women, Sully.

BEST ACTOR

Casey Affleck–Manchester; Ryan Gosling-La La Land; Denzel Washington-Fences; Andrew Garfield-Silence; Tom Hanks-Sully.

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening-20th Century Women; Emma Stone-La La Land; Natalie Portman-Jackie; Amy Adams-Arrival; Isabelle Huppert– Elle.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Mahershala Ali-Moonlight; Dev Patel-Lion; Mykelti Williamson-Fences; Lucas Hedges-Manchester; Jeff Bridges-Hell or High Water

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Viola Davis- Fences; Nicole Kidman-Lion; Michelle Williams–Manchester; Naomie Harris–Moonlight; Octavia Spencer–Hidden Figures

BEST DIRECTOR

Martin Scorsese- Silence; Damien Chazelle– La La Land; Kenneth Lonergan–Manchester; Barry Jenkins–Moonlight; Clint Eastwood– Sully

I’ll have more categories tomorrow. But listen, this is easy. You just have to be tough. I didn’t like not giving nods to Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant for “Florence Foster Jenkins.” They are so good, and the movie is wonderful. I’m sorry about some others. This was a very good year, better than we’ve had in a long time. But I think this is the way to go. In Best Actress, if Viola Davis had gone into lead Best Actress, she would have won. She didn’t, and I can’t change that. So get out your pens, pencils, computers, and check em off! (PS Meryl won’t mind. She knows we love her.)

The Writers Guild nominations are out, and some films that were slipping through the cracks got some renewed interest today.

Both “Loving” and “Nocturnal Animals” had kind of fallen out of the Oscar discussion lately. They’re back now thanks to the WGA, but I think that their revival will be short lived. Still it’s nice to get some recognition. “Deadpool” also made it in, and I think that’s great. The Reese and Wernick script is really witty and fun, snarky and glib, and refreshing. Good for them!

Not eligible for WGA are “Lion” and “Florence Foster Jenkins.” But they will get Oscar nods for those adapted scripts. I think that will take out “Nocturnal Animals” and “Deadpool.”

Interesting: nothing for “Silence” or “Hacksaw Ridge.” And noticeably absent is a terrific original screenplay– “20th Century Women” by Mike Mills.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Hell or High Water, Written by Taylor Sheridan; CBS Films
La La Land, Written by Damien Chazelle; Lionsgate
Loving, Written by Jeff Nichols; Focus Features
Manchester by the Sea, Written by Kenneth Lonergan; Amazon Studios/Roadside Attractions
Moonlight, Written by Barry Jenkins, Story by Tarell McCraney; A24

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Arrival, Screenplay by Eric Heisserer; Based on the Story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang; Paramount Pictures
Deadpool, Written by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick; Based on the X-Men Comic Books; Twentieth Century Fox Film
Fences, Screenplay by August Wilson; Based on his Play; Paramount Pictures
Hidden Figures, Screenplay by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi; Based on the Book by Margot Lee Shetterly; Twentieth Century Fox Film
Nocturnal Animals, Screenplay by Tom Ford; Based on the Novel Tony and Susan by Austin Wright; Focus Features

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY

Author: The JT LeRoy Story, Written by Jeff Feuerzeig; Amazon Studios
Command and Control, Telescript by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, Story by Brian Pearle and Kim Roberts; Based on the book Command and Control by Eric Schlosser; American Experience Films

Zero Days, Written by Alex Gibney; Magnolia Pictures

The annual New York Film Critics Circle dinner was full of fun, as usual. Casey Affleck cracked up the crowd when he accepted Best Actor for “Manchester by the Sea.” He read aloud as part of his speech negative reviews of his past work, mostly the evening emcee, New York Magazine reviewer David Edelstein.

Edelstein wrote of Affleck in “Out of the Furnace:” Affleck’s line readings would be too mumbly and mulish even for the glory days of fifties Method mama’s boys, and he might as well be wearing a T-shirt that says, “Shoot Me.” In the same review, Edelstein began: It’s looking like whenever you see Casey Affleck in a movie’s credits, you can expect a standard genre B picture slowed down and tarted up… So you get the point. Edelstein was a sitting duck.

I did ask Casey if he’d trimmed his beard. It looked like he had. “Nope, nope,” he said, shaking his head. But he did look better groomed and less serious. I think he’s lightening up as his Oscar comes more into focus.

The room at Tao Downtown was full of stars and critics, of course, so Affleck’s move played hilarious. It rattled Edelstein a little, so he tried for the rest of the evening to repair the situation. But, you know, thats a lose-lose for everyone. Eventually even Edelstein got the point.

Affleck got his own gentle roasting from “Gone Baby Gone” co-star Amy Ryan, who noted that he was so at ease on set that sometimes it seemed like he didn’t know why he was there.

The night was punctuated by a lot of nice speeches by people like “La La Land” director -writer Damien Chazelle, “Manchester” Best Supporting Actress Michelle Williams, and “Moonlight” supporting actor Mahershala Ali. Best Actress winner Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”) was happy to note that Greta Garbo won the first such award 82 years ago.

Among the presenters: John Turturro, Adam Driver and famed comedian Robert Klein, the latter brought in to give “Zootopia” the best animated film award. Klein was Most Animated Presenter of the night, doing a live riff that was hilarious and brought the house down. He kicked the stuffing out of what could have been a deadly three hours in awards hell.

But it wasn’t — as opposed to tonight’s National Board of Review– awards chosen to fill a banquet hall and sell $600+ seats– this was the real thing and felt like it. Next stop: Sunday’s Golden Globes.

photo c2017 Showbiz411 by Paula Schwartz