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Oscar Predictions Feinberg Forecast: Post-Venice/Telluride/TIFF/Emmys

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A NOTE FROM SCOTT With the 82nd Venice, 52nd Telluride and 50th Toronto film festivals and the 77th Primetime Emmy Awards now in the rearview mirror, the focus of the awards-industrial complex — journalists, publicists and talent — has shifted fully to the race to the 98th Oscars.

Since our last check-in, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet (Focus) solidified its frontrunner status by winning Toronto’s audience award, with Frankenstein and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (both Netflix) placing second and third, respectively. Toronto’s audience award is often predictive of best picture Oscar traction — Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech, 12 Years a Slave, Green Book and Zhao’s 2020 film Nomadland all won the former and went on to win the latter — but not always (last year’s winner, The Life of Chuck, faces an uphill climb this season).

Venice, meanwhile, awarded its top prize, the Golden Lion, to Father Mother Sister Brother (Mubi). Among its other winners: Benny Safdie was named best director for The Smashing Machine (A24) and Toni Servillo was chosen as best actor for La Grazia (Mubi).

Back in LA, journalists who were not in Venice, including myself, have just seen Kathryn Bigelow’s A House of Dynamite (Netflix). A directing tour-de-force and true ensemble piece, it will spark the same sort of concern and conversation about the proliferation of nuclear weapons that the 1983 ABC TV movie The Day After — one of the most watched TV programs of all time — did two generations ago.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.) has also begun screening in LA. Many journalists caught it last week — I was still in Toronto, so I will be seeing it later this week — and it unspooled for Academy members on Saturday night. Other member screenings last weekend included Kiss of the Spider Woman (Roadside), with Jennifer Lopez in attendance for a post-screening Q&A, and the documentary feature Riefenstahl (Kino Lorber).

And, ahead of the Oct. 1 submission deadline, the best international feature Oscar competition is continuing to shape up. The most significant recent news related to that is Brazil’s submission of The Secret Agent (Neon), which has been playing through the roof at festival and industry screenings, with writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho and lead actor Wagner Moura both looking like very strong contenders.

Additionally, Poland entered Kafka (still seeking U.S. distribution), the latest film from the great Agnieszka Holland, who has previously had films chosen to represent Poland (2011’s In Darkness, which was nominated, and 2017’s Spoor), West Germany (1985’s Angry Harvest, which was nominated) and the Czech Republic (2020’s Charlatan, which was shortlisted).

Please remember: my forecasts do not necessarily reflect my personal preferences. My aim is not to advocate for what I think the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should do, but rather to project what they will do. I arrive at my projections by screening many films, analyzing their campaigns, speaking with voters and studying relevant history and stats.





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Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL cargo spacecraft suffers thruster issue on way to the International Space Station

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September 16, 2025

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The debut mission of Northrop Grumman’s new jumbo cargo spacecraft didn’t go off without a hitch.

The company’s first “Cygnus XL” freighter suffered a thruster issue in orbit early Tuesday morning (Sept. 16), two days after launching toward the International Space Station (ISS) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.



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Week 6 Results + Scorecards | Dana White’s Contender Series Season 9

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September 16, 2025

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Last year, the number of contracts awarded declined for the first time, falling by four, but one could argue that the level of skill and upside of the Class of ’24 is higher than any previous season.

Through the first five weeks of Season 9, everything is tracking towards replicating last year’s numbers, as 21 competitors have collected contracts over the initial half of the season, and it feels like there are some real blue chippers in the mix.

How To Watch Season 9 Of Dana White’s Contender Series

As we kick-off the second half of the season this evening, another five sets of hopefuls are poised to make the walk, eager to add their names to the steady stream of fighters earning a call to the UFC over the last four weeks.

Check out how things played out below and stick around after the event to find out who impressed UFC President Dana White and will become the latest additions to the DWCS Class of ’25.





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A record supply load won’t reach the International Space Station as scheduled

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September 16, 2025

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The damage occurred during the shipment of the spacecraft’s pressurized cargo module from its manufacturer in Italy. While Northrop Grumman hopes to repair the module and launch it on a future flight, officials decided it would be quicker to move forward with the next spacecraft in line for launch this month.

This is the first flight of a larger model of the Cygnus spacecraft known as the Cygnus XL, measuring 5.2 feet (1.6 meters) longer, with the ability to carry 33 percent more cargo than the previous Cygnus spacecraft design. With this upgrade, this mission is carrying the heaviest load of supplies ever delivered to the ISS by a commercial cargo vehicle.

The main engine on the Cygnus spacecraft burns a mixture of hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide propellants. This mixture is hypergolic, meaning the propellants ignite upon contact with one another, a design heralded for its reliability. The spacecraft has a separate set of less powerful reaction control system thrusters normally used for small maneuvers, and for pointing the ship in the right direction as it makes its way to the ISS.

If the main engine is declared unusable, one possible option for getting around the main engine problem might be using these smaller thrusters to more gradually adjust the Cygnus spacecraft’s orbit to line up the final approach with the ISS. However, it wasn’t immediately clear if this was a viable option.

Unlike SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft, the Cygnus is not designed to return to Earth intact. Astronauts fill it with trash before departure from the ISS, and then the spacecraft heads for a destructive reentry over the remote Pacific Ocean. Therefore, a problem preventing the spacecraft from reaching the ISS would result in the loss of all of the cargo onboard.

The supplies on this mission, designated NG-23, include fresh food, hardware for numerous biological and tech demo experiments, and spare parts for things like the space station’s urine processor and toilet to replenish the space station’s dwindling stocks of those items.



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