Tuesday
Nov102020
Coming in November: The 'Smackdown' Season Finale
Tuesday, November 10, 2020 at 8:00AM THANKS FOR ATTENDING THE SEASON FINALE...
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN OF 1987
- Fatal Attraction (feat. Anne Archer)
- Gaby A True Story (feat. Norma Aleandro)
- Moonstruck (feat. Olympia Dukakis)
- Throw Momma From the Train (feat. Anne Ramsay)
- The Whales of August (feat. Ann Sothern)
We sincerely hope you've enjoyed this super-sized season! It's so much work but we love doing it. Here are all the episodes this year in case you missed any...
May 8th ~ SMACKDOWN 1981
May 28th ~ SMACKDOWN 1947
June 17th ~ SMACKDOWN 2002
July 6th ~ SMACKDOWN 1957
July 26th ~ SMACKDOWN 1991
Aug 20th ~ SMACKDOWN 2005
Sept 16th ~ SMACKDOWN 1938
Oct 11th ~ SMACKDOWN 1965
Nov 19th ~ SMACKDOWN 1987
Reader Comments (69)
2002 is an all star category. Would be nice for Latifah to complete the all winner-ness of the lineup.
21/3: Meryl Streep
5/1: Julianne Moore
4/1: Kathy Bates
1/1: Catherine Zeta-Jones
1/0: Queen Latifah
Woohoo!
If it's 2002 can you do a section on snubs like Michelle in White Oleander.
Excited for the upcoming years and discussion during this long pause.
For the 2002 ladies I gotta go with Meryl cause I see Catherine & Julianne as co-leads of their films. Those two are greater than the other three however I can’t vote for a leading performance in this category.
I think under ordinary circumstances Streep would have campaigned lead for Adaptation. The only reason why she competed in this category was to double nod for The Hours. @Eoin D.
Zeta-Jones is such a brilliant, fun, sharp, scene stealing performance that I'm so delighted with her win the more I look back on it. Streep was also sensational in Adaptation, and it would have been such a worthy win, but my heart is always with Zeta-Jones.
Personally, that is where my love for this particular lineup ends though. Moore is a bore, Bates is forgettable, and Queen Latifah, while fun, is just not up to snuff with such a rich year.
Samantha Morton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Bebe Neuwirth round out my personal ballot, with Neuwirth coming closest to snagging Zeta-Jones' win.
1) Zeta-Jones / Chicago
2) Neuwirth / Tadpole
3) Pfeiffer / White Oleander
4) Streep / Adaptation
5) Morton / Minority Report
To me the category in 2002 wasn't the strongest. CZJ was an okay nominee but I never understood why her win was so inevitable. Latifah, much as I like her, was meh in Chicago. Moore was good in The Hours but I actually thought the smaller roles by Toni Collette and Miranda Richardson were the real standouts. Bates was fine in Schmidt but nothing special (altho her nude scene was a total surprsise!).
To me, this was one of those years where Meryl would have been the best choice for the award (as opposed to those years where she was nominated just for being Meryl Streep). I feel the same way with Devil Wears Prada.
At any rate will def look forward to this and all the other Smackdowns!
I have yet to watch About Schmidt, but so far, I'm with Meryl. Would have loved to see Toni Collete among the nominees.
Maybe this time I will actually LIKE "Adaptation". I know I'm in a minority there.
OTOH, "About Schmidt" is my favorite Payne, and "Chicago" was the last time I agreed with Oscar on Best Picture.
Great line-up of movies in 2002! I vividly remember following thefilmexperience through this whole race.Looking forward to this and the other years. Great project.
Yay! I missed the smackdown. I love this year because 2001/2002 was around the time I got seriously into the Oscars and my love for movies got deeper. I was becoming a teenager and only into SERIOUS movies like The Hours and In the Bedroom lol
I can't wait!
Rejoice for our cries have been heard about 2002! And Nathaniel shall deliver unto us a glorious smackdown for the summer!
So excited!
Don't forget Patricia Clarkson in "Far From Heaven"!!
Ah thank you NATHANIEL! I'm so excited.
2002! Yay, Smackdowns and Seasons of Bette are really helping me hang out. Without those two on the horizon I’d be despondent all the time, so thank you for these twin gifts!!!
Even with the very clear tiers this smackdown will inevitably rest in, I hope we Havel a panel to add some interest to it
Meryl(wins)
—————-
CZJ
Moore
—————-
Latifah
Bates
*Places within each tier could switch depending on the panel.
The Oracle - you really think that Meryl will easily take this? Zeta-Jones in Chicago is like Moreno in West Side Story - a perfect combination of performer and role! The only time she’s come close to this perfection is in the highly underrated Intolerable Cruelty - chilly ice queen you can’t relate to because she’s better than you! That’s her wheelhouse, basically!
It is a shame CZJ has retired like Diaz and Paltrow they were the Queens from 98 - 04.
Yay! Can’t wait. As to 2002 - maybe my favorite Meryl performance (definitely top 3), although I liked CZJ a lot. And a salute to Drew for mentioning Bebe Neuwirth in Tadpole. Loved her in that.
Rob, speaking of Miranda Richardson, she also knocked it out the park in Spider that year.
It's too bad Spider had such a weird release schedule. Otherwise, Miranda Richardson might have had a chance. She deserved to win, let alone be nominated
@ken s, as incredible as Richardson was, Spider is not a movie The Academy would have ever even glanced at, especially not in the early aughts. Maybe a splattering of critics mentions, but once the televised awards started, she would have been entirely absent.
Drew, yes she had little chance as it was, but a barely-there qualifying run and a general release long after the awards season killed it off completely. As it is, at least all the nominees are at least good, and Streep and Bates are pretty great, so it's only a melancholy footnote to the awards story of 2002.
Following up with my earlier comment, here’s a completely plausible list of 5 nominees among those who didn’t make it. What a year!
1) Patricia Clarkson / Far From Heaven
2) Bebe Neuwirth / Tadpole
3) Michelle Pfeiffer / White Oleander
4) Miranda Richardson / Spider
5) Samantha Morton / Minority Report
@Paranoid Android
Isn't Weaver the supporting actress of Tadpole? It's Neuwirth's movie.
I haven’t seen it in forever but I know the studio was pushing Neuwirth as supporting and she won a few scattered citations there.
Cannot wait!!
1981 is a super boring race but at least now we got the time to revisit Reds and Ragtime, both endless.
Can't wait!
This is one of the best series here at TFE and all these years are fascinating case studies. 1957 is particularly interesting since I've rarely seen people discuss any of those performances. That said, I don't envy the panelists that will have to put through A Gentleman's Agreement for the '47 smackdown. Holm is terrific but the film is among the very worst Best Picture winners.
Oh, this is going to be great! Looking forward to 1981!
PS - I held the Oscar Maureen Stapleton won for REDS. What a thrill.
For 2002, I would have given Julianne Moore the Oscar for THE HOURS. She is insanely brilliant in that movie.
Amazing!! I cannot wait for the return of the Smackdown, my favorite thing on the internet. Both years are going to be great (can't wait to see Gentlemen's Agreement talked about on the Smackdown). My votes would be for 2002 and 1991. I'd go with the winners for both years, though I had a lot of fondness for the other ladies in the lineup.
Very exciting; Smackdown is back!
The Smackdowns are my favorite aspect of the site. Thank you! I look forward to those that await! Have you considered doing Supporting Actor once the actresses are through? I’d love to see what you could do with them.
I love this year for actressing. My nominees would be:
Adaptation. - Meryl Streep
Far from Heaven - Patricia Clarkson
The Hours - Toni Collette
8 femmes - Isabelle Huppert
White Oleander - Michelle Pfeiffer
The Hours is obviously a three-lead film. I think I'm of the mindset that Zeta-Jones and Gere are both major supporting roles with Zellweger as the one true lead of Chicago. I didn't know there was as much contention about Meryl's categorization, but it's interesting to consider; I've always thought of her as supporting.
My 5:
1. Michelle Pfeiffer (White Oleander)
2. Meryl Streep (Adaptation)
3. Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago)
4. Andrea Martin (My Big Fat Greek Wedding)
5. Patricia Clarkson (Far From Heaven)
Wes -- I just dont think there would be enough reader interest for the colossal amount of work the smackdowns are. But I am discussing several options backstage.
Wes - noooo, lead actress before supporting actor!
9 smackdowns in one year, we are spoiled. This is too much but I'm super exited.
This lineup is sooooo good. Chicago holds up well.
-Lanchester just over Jones?
-Tandy being robbed of an all-timer performance by Ruehl, with a good showing by Lewis (this is TFE after all)
-Adams just over (increased appreciation these last few years as an actress) Weisz, Williams does very well too.
-Only familiar with Bainter, who judging from discourse over the years, should walk away with it. I remember liking the You Can't Take It With You lady as well.
-I love the book and film of A Patch Of Blue so I would go with Winters, but a second win irks some folks. Ruth Gordon is universally beloved so should eek it out, but not having seen Othello and knowing the at time excessive love Maggie Smith gets for even standing in front of a camera, I can't rule her out sight unseen.
-Olympia Dukakis in a landslide. Many fives are headed her way. The real interest is in the opinions on the other nominees. Possibly a bit one note, but Anne Ramsey nails her role completely and I'd love to see her do especially well. Full on comedy performances are always welcome nominees for me. (or even winners at times if this was the 90's)
Poor Winters couldn't even get a picture over The Sound Of Music old nun. This does not bode well....
I agree, lead actress before supporting actor. We're actressexuals here, after all.
Please do Leading Actress before supporting actor. Most of the time I find the supporting actor category to be the worst list of nominees over history. At least with leading actress nominees also come from greater films.
If you do Leading Actress BeKindRewind must be a panelist.
EOIN -- surprise. BeKindRewind is a panelist on our very next smackdown, 1957!
Concerning /3rtfuls wish for Latifah to round out the 2002 S.Actress lineup becoming all winners:
A Queen Latifah Oscar win for Bessie in 2015 would have been as welcome as a Drew Barrymore win for Grey Gardens in 2009. (Heck Lange or even Sigourney in the less cinematic Prayers For Bobby outdid the eventual winner.)
Any guidance on where to watch Sayonara and The Batchelor Party? Can't find them streaming or as part of Netflix DVD rentals.
I'd love an occasional supporting actor smackdown, depending on the year. 1993 would be fun.