Oscar Volley: Supporting Actress confounds and divides

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Eurocheese, Mark Brinkerhoff, and Cláudio Alves on the volatile Best Supporting Actress race.

EUROCHEESE: Hello Gents - With the SAG awards throwing us a curveball, this might be the most exciting race this year! I have no idea who's taking the win. Before we get into it, any thoughts on these five nominees? 

MARK: Any thoughts? All the thoughts!

I honestly did not expect for this race to be as exciting and, dare I say, unpredictable as it appears to be now. A month ago, it seemed like Angela Bassett’s to lose, a long coronation to a storied—and underrewarded—career, and now…I don’t know what to make of it, following Kerry Condon’s win at BAFTA and Jamie Lee Curtis’ gobsmacking upset at SAG...

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Will history repeat itself?

Please welcome new contributor Danny Cox.

by Danny Cox

At this moment, the fate of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar is the least settled of the acting  categories. Will Jamie Lee Curtis ride the wave of her SAG win? Does Kerry Condon’s BAFTA  upset suggest wanting to award at least one actor from the much lauded film? Or does the earliest  front runner, the winner of the Golden Globe and Critic’s Choice Award, Angela Bassett rally back around to take home the prize? While there is definitely momentum for both Curtis and Condon,  one thing Bassett has over the two of them is a strange parallel to a former win. If Bassett pulls  this off, this would not be the first time a highly respected actor gets a late career nomination for  a film that is popular with the general public in a category with split competition. Does that sound familiar?

If Bassett wins, it would be Jack Palance in City Slickers all over again.  Unexpected comparison I know, but hear me out...

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Ranking Roger Deakins' Oscar Nominations

by Cláudio Alves

Roger Deakins on the set of EMPIRE OF LIGHT | © Searchlight Pictures

Since two categories merged into one, no director of photography has amassed as many Oscar nominations as Roger Deakins. The British cinematographer earned his 16th nod this year for Sam Mendes' Empire of Light, having previously won for 1917 and Blade Runner 2049. His career spans continents and six decades, encompassing projects as varied as a Marvin Gaye video clip and pioneering work in animated cinema. What started as an early interest in the possibilities of digital filmmaking has turned into a veritable pursuit of innovation, bringing classic technique to virtual spaces. A visionary, a pioneer, a living legend, Roger Deakins is one of a kind.

To celebrate the master, let's look back at his many Oscar nominations, ranking them along the way. After all, in times of awards fever, everyone loves a good list…

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Oscar Stat Fun - No Sweeps in the Modern Era but can "EEAAO" change that?

by Nathaniel R

That complete sweep at the Spirits and SAG has us wondering now whether or not Everything Everywhere All At Once will win Best Picture but how many statues in total can actually win. We haven't seen a sweeper at the Oscars in a long long time. Yes some films have won all their categories but they aren't true "sweepers" i.e. thoroughly dominant movies. It would be technically accurate, for example, to say that CODA performed a clean sweep last season. It did win all of its categories but it wasn't a sweeper in any meaningful sense since it was only up for 3 Oscars.

In fact, a big sweep hasn't yet happened in the expanded Best Picture era!  Can Everything Everywhere All At Once change that? Let's look at the history and stats after the jump...

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Drag Race RuCap: "50/50's Most Gagworthy Stars"

NATHANIEL R: Hello queens, I'm crashing your party this week for the RuCap because I have opinions too. (Shocker, I know).  In fact, I came in with every intention of stirring the pot and having a completely different take but after this 10th episode "50/50's Most Gagworthy Stars"... perhaps I won't be able too, since my some of my favourites didn't do that well. But... did anyone? This interview challenge with special guests Charo, Frankie Grande, and Love Connie was an excellent one. The challenge offered up multiple interview formats (walk and talk, seated intimate, cooking or other 'action')  and whatever you think of the three interviewees, none of them are lacking in personality (the hardest interviews are with introverts!). In short there was ample opportunity for all remaining queens to blind us with their charisma, but there was seriously little shining... the best we got was a bit of luster. 

Which is not to say that it wasn't an enjoyable episode! Anyway I'm happy to be popping in...

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