Oscar Volley: Let's dig into that Best Director field... who should win?

Team Experience is discussing the various Oscar categories. Here's Eric Blume and Nick Taylor discussing Best Director.

Portrait of a young director via THE FABELMANS

ERIC BLUME: Hi Nick! I'm excited to talk Best Director with you.  This year's line-up, while I'd swap out a name or two in there personally, is extraordinarily strong, perhaps one of our best ever?  Before we get to each one, who were personal favorites of yours that didn't make the ballot?

NICK TAYLOR: It’s a very strong lineup! Only one of the names Oscar picked would be close to my own ballot, but I see plenty of strengths in the work the Academy nominated, and the competitiveness of this field leading up to nomination morning means nobody coasted to their slots...

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Film Bitch Awards - Best Actor (and more)

by Nathaniel R

Though all of us have our differences of opinion with Oscar, but sometimes the stars align and we get an Oscar lineup we adore. I'm quite fond of Oscar's Best Actor list this year (have you voted today?) to the extent that my own ballot is 80% similar. That happens about once a decade (the last time was 2016). The one difference is my inclusion of Franz Rogowski, one of Europe's greatest actors, for the Austrian prison drama Great Freedom. It was an Oscar finalist last Oscar season in Best International Feature but wasn't nominated and then got a small US theatrical release in 2022. So while the film is now "old" (haha) it's been impossible to shake for over a year now. Thanks in large part to Rogowski's work. He outdoes himself with this portrait of a man so implacably committed to his own desires that you begin to wonder where the prison walls truly are. In short: he sells that alarming challenge of an ending.

Click on over to the awards to see the reasoning behind the rest of the ballot and the list of finalists and semi-finalists  which includes a lot of performance that Oscar would not have deigned to look twice at. It was a strong year for rising actors but Oscar generally likes their contenders already famous and well into their leading man years.

As a bonus, the "Best Actor in a Limited Role or Cameo" is also posted for your pleasure or scorn depending on your feelings for these performances. This time there's an actual Oscar nominee present since Judd Hirsch took a spot in Supporting Actor with the Academy. Love that for him as he packs such a punch in his two scenes. The other honorees are Tyler Merritt, David Lynch, Louis-do de Lencquesaing, and Julian Glover.

Doc Corner: The Best Documentaries of 2022

By Glenn Dunks

There’s only so much one can watch! A recurring refrain inside my brain as I attempt to cram as many more films into my watch pile in order to offer myself, and you dear readers, the best chance at a definitive list of the best documentaries of 2022. It’s always doomed to failure of course. There are many films that I was unable to watch that I wanted to before hitting publish. Some were simply too long to fit in (Mr. Bachmann and His Class) and others were unavailable in my location (Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power), while others make it difficult to even know if they should be eligible. Again, there’s only so much one can watch. I’m already falling behind on 2023!

But here today are my top 15 documentaries of 2022. And because I watched a lot of stuff, a few little extras up top. Are you ready?

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Oscar Volley: Adapted Screenplay... weak list or weak field?

The team is pairing off to discuss each Oscar race. Here's Eurocheese and Eric Blume...

ERIC:   Euro, I'm so happy to be discussing the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay with you.  Personally, I feel like it's one of our weakest years in this category.  Before we get into each nominee and the race, do you have any candidates you personally loved that didn't make the slate?

EUROCHEESE:  It is strange how all the top contenders, and frankly most of the great films of the year, were original storylines. Even Glass Onion, sneaks into this category thanks to its lead detective but it's really an Original Screenplay...

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Almost There: Barbara Stanwyck in "The Lady Eve"

by Cláudio Alves

Since its inception, the Academy has shown a certain reluctance to awarding great acting within the comedy genre. It often feels that the sillier the role, the less likely it is to win plaudits for the performer who fleshes it out on screen. That's not to say that comedy is wholly absent from the acting races – it's just rarer, more prone to reductive judgment and dismissal. Considering all this, the recent SAG results feel even more miraculous. They point us toward a scenario where a wild genre riff might win over half of the acting prizes. So with that mind, a comedic episode of "Almost There".

Let's reflect upon an achievement that might be justly named the pinnacle of screen comedy – Barbara Stanwyck's stunning turn in 1941's The Lady Eve…

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