SXSW: The High Cost of Insulin in ‘Pay or Die’

By Abe Friedtanzer

It should surprise virtually no one that there are tremendous issues with the healthcare system in the United States today, and that pharmaceutical and insurance companies are a big part of those problems. The award-winning limited series Dopesick showed just how detrimental the prescription of excessively powerful drugs can be. A new documentary premiering at SXSW, Pay or Die, looks at another side of the coin: the exorbitant cost of medication necessary to a person’s survival and the dire consequences of falling short…

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Oscar Volley: Is production design best or most this year?

Team Experience has been pairing up to discuss Oscar categories. Here's Cláudio and Mark talking Best Production Design. Totally my fault that this went up late but enjoy this digestif since we just talked Best Picture - Editor

CLÁUDIO: Since the start of our new era of an expanded Best Picture ballot, it's become harder and harder for movies not nominated for the big category to win elsewhere. Even so, it's not unusual to see one sole production succeeding against the apparent odds, nabbing a couple of prizes in categories dominated by more beloved titles. This year that could be the case for Babylon in Best Production Design. After its BAFTA victory, I'm inclined to predict the Chazelle's polarizing chronicle of Old Hollywood, but the mightiness of Best Picture nominees Avatar: The Way of Water, All Quiet on the Western Front, Elvis, and The Fabelmans looms large over the race...

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Nathaniel's Best Actress & Supporting Actress Ballots

by Nathaniel R

How is it Friday before the Oscars already? So much to do before then including Final Predictions, my own top ten list, two more Oscar volleys, and ten more categories at the annual film bitch awards (my own long-running party of "best" this & that). Sorry to rush through the duet of the categories we live for: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. But they're up. Among the 10 selected actresses there are six current Oscar nominees but only five overlaps; Hong Chau is stronger in The Menu than in The Whale. In both cases, and as always in her career, she's totally elevating her material. "These are tortillas" is among the very best line-readings of the year. Somehow she's calm, polite, and dripping with condescension at the same time. She's just a magical actress and it's so satisfying to see her finally get her mainstream due via that Oscar nod.

And you surely foresaw that I couldn't have a Best Actress list this year without the great Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You Leo Grande (doing her most revelatory work in two decades) and Danielle Deadwyler, so operatically moving in Till. 

P.S. Though we can't do the medal ceremony until all categories are posted, I think I've made it clear over and over again that Dolly de Leon will be my gold medalist for Best Supporting Actress. While it's abundantly clear that she was an 'almost there' in 6th place for Oscar's shortlist, given how well Triangle of Sadness did overall, it's still a damn shame she was passed over. I'd boot any of the current nominees -- even the ones I myself nominated -- just to have her in that lineup.

Team Experience Predictions Chart - FINAL PREDICTIONS

Final Oscar predictions from the team...

The time has come! The Film Experience writers have made their predictions in all 23 Oscar categories. While many categories are incredibly contentious, one in particular seems pretty easy.

BEST PICTURE

After a staggering precursor run, every member of the Team Experience is predicting Everything Everywhere All At Once to win Best Picture. We don’t want to get overconfident, but the Daniels’ multiverse epic will likely take a healthy chunk of hardware home on Oscar night. The question at hand is how many awards it will win...

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Oscar Volley: Biopic Breakout or Heartfelt Comeback in "Best Actor"?

Team Experience has been teaming up to discuss the various Oscar races. Here's Christopher James, Abe Friedtanzer and Nathaniel R...

CHRIS: It's been a while since Best Actor was the most exciting and unpredictable race of the evening. Heading into last weekend, it was truly a three man race between Austin Butler (Elvis), Brendan Fraser (The Whale) and Colin Farrell (The Banshees of Inisherin). Now that both BAFTA and SAG have made like Brendan Gleeson and passed over Farrell, I sadly feel like he has dropped out of contention for the win. Of the nominated five, he was my personal vote. He knows how to dramatize Pádraic's hurt, while also finding the comedy in his tragedy. With just the crinkle of an eyebrow, he communicates such emotional vulnerability, a level to which we don't often see men rewarded for showing.

The race is now a photo finish with BAFTA/Globes winner Austin Butler and SAG/Critics Choice winner Brendan Fraser. This mirrors the 2011 Best Actress showdown, where Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) had both BAFTA and Golden Globes wins and Viola Davis (The Help) took home SAG and Critics Choice prizes. In the end, Streep won, which is hopeful for Butler. However, the SAG/Critics Choice combo was a successful path to victory for Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye) last year, so Fraser is certainly not out of the running...

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