Oscar Volley: Two locks for Supporting Actor... and then it's wide open?

Here are Chris James and Eric Blume to discuss one of Oscar's trickiest categories, Best Supporting Actor:

ERIC:  Chris, so happy to be reunited with you, this time to discuss the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.  This category is always one of the weirdest and often the worst... I'm still not done being angry that arguably-bad Troy Kotsur beat the genius work of Kodi Smit-McPhee last year.  But that's how this award often goes.  

Let's start with our "locks".  I think we have two:  Brendan Gleeson and Ke Huy Quan.  And that's great news, because they're both splendid performances and either would be one of the best winners in this category for the last decade.  Gleeson is the embodiment of tragicomedy, and Quan finds that perfect note between farce and realism in an incredibly playful piece of acting.  How do you feel about Gleeson and Quan personally, and would you agree they're locks? 

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Tweetweek

Some fun tweets from the past week or two, curated for you after the jump...

Dear 2023, be good, or these guys …#Apuntandoal2023 pic.twitter.com/hGGTeX70Uo

— Agustín Almodóvar (@AgustinAlmo) December 17, 2022

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Colman Domingo, Taiki Waititi, and Idris Elba give starpower to the Best Animated Short Oscar race

by Nathaniel R

Colman Domingo in "New Moon" based on one of his plays

This year's Best Animated Short Oscar finalists come from about a dozen countries and feature a pleasing variety of animation strategies. The shorts feature talking animals, naturally, as well as plenty of heightened surreal adventures. All of this is to be expected in this always intriguing category (provided you are able to find the films!).  Less expected: this year the race has more than a little star power via voice casts. We'll review all the films here as we screen them.

Read on for brief run downs of the finalists and if and where you can watch the films right now (if you can). Links go to official sites if we could find them...

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Doc Corner: 'The Super 8 Years'

By Glenn Dunks

At one point early on in The Super 8 Years (Les années Super 8), Annie Ernaux notes in her soothing, authorial voice that a trip to the countryside—all tall grass, wildflowers, and mud—was like experiencing nostalgia for something she had never even experienced before. A sort of primal part of the human existence that wishes for the calm, the peace, and the relative relaxation of existing within nature without the extravagancies of modern life. It’s an amusing bon mot from the Nobel Prize winner, since this documentary feeds into that very concept:

I have never experienced the world that Ernaux embeds us in, but she welcomes the viewer through narration and the intuitive editing of Clément Pinteaux in such a manner that it feels like reliving a memory that I have never experienced. I was transported. A brisk dream of 65-minutes built entirely out of her family’s super 8 camera home movies that is all fleeting memories stung with melancholy and bliss.

Come to think of it, a more fitting double-feature with Charlotte Wells’ Aftersun I could not imagine.

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The 95th Oscars Shortlists Are Here!

by Cláudio Alves

"All Quiet on the Western Front" | © Netflix

Like in the last few seasons, the Academy has announced shortlists in 10 Oscar categories – Documentary Feature, International Film, Original Score, Song, Sound, Visual Effects, and the three Shorts races. As always, there are surprises along with expected honors and the domination of certain frontrunners. One imagines this is an especially sweet batch of finalists for fans of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and All Quiet on the Western Front, who rule over all other contenders with mentions in five different categories. Not far behind, we find Avatar: The Way of Water with four categories.

Expect more commentary at a later time, but for now, let's look over the complete lists and fire off some instant reactions…

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