Toni Collette is a high-wire artist. Also loves "Roma"

by Nathaniel R

The Film Experience had the pleasure of a lengthy one-on-one chat with the inimitable Toni Collette yesterday after a screening and reception for her new horror classic Hereditary. We'll publish the whole interview in a few days but we thought we'd share a tidbit she thoughtfully e-mailed afterwards. You see during our chat, we had mentioned that they (the proverbial they) always say that actors are an insecure lot but this couldn't possibly be true of her. Wouldn't you have to be supremely confident about your gifts to attack high-wire material like Hereditary or the new miniseries Wanderlust? If you stop to think about it both of those provocative projects, one about multi-generational family trauma and the other about long-term intimacy and sexuality, essentially live or die based on the complexity of the central performance. 

Our conversation took a detour after that so she sent us this note...

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Soundtracking: FYC 5 Original Song Outliers

by Chris Feil

In lieu of a regular deep dive into the soundtrack of one film, Soundtracking is indulging in some For Your Consideration tracks before the season narrows down to a few contenders. Naturally, all of the talk for original songs this season has been gobbled up by A Star Is Born with some hopes being thrown towards the likes of Mary Poppins Returns, Black Panther, and even Radiohead's Thom Yorke for Suspiria. I'll unpack the field once Oscar reveals its shortlist on December 17 (remember that quiet news item that the Academy will be announcing song and score shortlists all at once along with such categories as visual effects?).

But the outsiders deserve some love too, so allow me to champion a few solid tracks...

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81 days til Oscar

by Nathaniel R

Diane & Warren / Don & Meryl at the 1981 Oscars

You know what I feel is tragic about online Oscar history, dear readers? It's the lack of abundance of Oscar night photos before, say, 2000. Oh sure you can usually find photos of the winners holding their Oscars but try finding complete gowns of all the Best Actress nominees if you (hypothetically) wanna fantasize about ordering custom doll sets of every vintage. You're out of luck for any year prior to the explosion of 24/7 media coverage and constant Oscar coverage. Take the 1981 Oscars for example...

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The Best of a Bad Lot: Oscar Winning Actresses in Bad Movies

by Seán McGovern

The shade of it all... the 1974 ceremony for the Best Actresses of 1973 (L-R from the bottom corner) Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson, Barbra Streisand

Christmas really brings out my contrarian side, and since it's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year (awards season), permit me to be a humbug. Those who truly appreciate the Oscars understand that sometimes it is about the politics and not the performance. Academy voters are not infallible, but we shouldn't underestimate their other important role in taking the cultural temperature to find out what and who was hot in cinema in any given year. Without getting into a discussion of who did and didn't deserve their award, there are definitely some great female performances honored in films that may otherwise not have been so deserving. Some potentially controversial opinions after the jump...

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AFI Top Ten plus "Roma" but "Where is Crazy Rich Asians"?

The American Film Institute has announced their top 10 of the year... well top 11 since they did a bit of cheating this year. Well, more than a bit of cheating. Though their raison d'etre is to honor American films (see: their name), they included The Favourite, which is clearly a UK/Ireland production with a Greek director (even if some of the money is American). They also felt the need to give Mexico's Roma a special award. Can you blame them? Otherwise those two movies would have gone without awards this season. [Editor's note: Sarcasm!]

Their top ten is as follows...

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