With critics' groups across the country starting to hand out their awards, the Oscar race is officially on. Cinemablend's Sean O'Connell joins us to handicap the major categories. With no clear frontrunner, it's anyone's guess which movie is going to break out before the big night.
In the Best Picture category, it's looking like things are boiling down to a showdown between "The Post" and "Lady Bird." O'Connell weighs the pros and cons of each, noting that he thinks the Steven Spielberg political drama is the best movie of the year. We also consider whether "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" could be the franchise's first Best Picture nominee since the 1977 original, "A New Hope."
Then, we tackle the contenders duking it out in the acting categories. Meryl Streep is looking to win her fourth Oscar for her leading role in "The Post." If anyone can stop her, O'Connell says it will likely be "Lady Bird's" Saoirse Ronan or "I, Tonya's" Margot Robbie. As for the actors, "Darkest Hour's" Gary Oldman is pulling ahead as the one to beat for his portrayal of Winston Churchill.
Brandless, the company that offers hundreds of products for three bucks apiece on its website, believes better doesn't have to cost more. CEO Tina Sharkey says the company can eliminate efficiencies to keep costs for the consumer down.
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Facebook is planning on launching a dating feature, fueling more competition in the online dating world. Sarah Jones Simmer, Chief Operating Officer at female-focused dating app Bumble, tells Cheddar that competition validates the industry and rids the stigma of online dating.
The entrepreneur and reality-TV star throws herself a baby shower on "David Tutera's CELEBrations." Coco tells Cheddar's Baker Machado that she and husband Ice-T "wanted to do it big" for their only child, a daughter named Chanel.
The blockbuster-to-be is the first major Hollywood film to feature a mostly Asian cast since "The Joy Luck Club" was released in 1993. "It's such a big moment to see this incredible cast, this story that really resonated with me as as second-generation kid, and I think it will resonate with lots of people whose families live between these two cultures," says Piya Sinha-Roy, a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly.
Seeing their own movie on the big screen is a thrill for the directors Jonathan and Josh Baker, whose new film "Kin" will hit theaters Aug. 31. The crime thriller with a sci-fi twist stars James Franco, Zoë Kravitz, Dennis Quaid, and Myles Truitt. "We're very luck," says Josh Baker. "You put professionals in a room together to talk, and usually gold happens."
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Janet Comenos, the CEO of celebrity marketing company, Spotted sat down with Cheddar anchors to discuss the rise in "disgrace insurance," the cost to protect brands from scandals surrounding celebrity endorsers -- something prompted by Harvey Weinstein and the #MeToo movement.
Haley Sacks says that her superpower is to create social media memes that explain high-level financial concepts as she pokes fun at Wall Street culture. "There needs to be a Suze Orman for the digital age," Sacks says. "That's me honey!"
The financial world is getting the meme treatment. Haley Sacks runs the popular Instagram account @MrsDowJones, and joins Cheddar to discuss how she uses pop culture to make business accessible.
