Introducing the Smackdown Panel for '81

We're so excited to bring you a new super-sized season of the Supporting Actress Smackdown. First up in early May is the year 1981. We'll be talking about Reds, On Golden Pond, Only When I Laugh, Ragtime, and Absence of Malice... so watch those flicks, won'cha? We've gathered a panel of actors, critics and industry cinephiles for you.

Ready to dive into 1981? Let's meet the people who will be talking about the Oscars of 1981 with us. 

PLEASE WELCOME ...

SEAN MAGUIRE
Originally from London, Sean started his career at age five starring alongside Sir Laurence Olivier in his final film, A Voyage around my Father. He then rose to fame at age ten when he was cast in the BBC drama "Grange Hill." He was cast as the lead in US number one box office feature Meet the Spartans. Sean has also starred in the TV comedies Off-Centre, Eve, The Class and took the title role in the Comedy Central series Krod Mandoon opposite Kevin Hart. Sean has also appeared in shows such as BBC series Scott & Bailey, the hit series Criminal Minds, and Timeless as James Bond creator Ian Flemming. Sean is best known for playing "Robin Hood" on the hit ABC series Once Upon A Time.  Sean just completed the 5th series of The Magicians on SyFy where he played two separate characters. Sean is an ambassador for the charity Oxfam. Sean resides in Los Angeles with his wife Tanya and two sons Flynn and Leo. [Twitter | Instagram ]

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Performing Spectatorship

by Cláudio Alves

As people who love cinema, I think we can all understand the power art can yield over those who experience it. Whether finding refuge in an escapist dream or seeing an ugly truth reflected at us, the act of being an audience has the potential to startle and surprise, to devastate and entertain. I can often recall those moments when a film overwhelmed me in such ways that I ended up making a spectacle of myself. There were my sobbed laughs at a Whitney Houston karaoke in Toni Erdmann, the breathless shock at Hereditary's peanut panic, the miraculous tears when faced with Parasite's perfect montage and so much more. Those memories are like precious jewels, bright reminders of why I love cinema.

Because of this, I have a special fondness for films that try to capture that inchoate ecstasy that happens when an audience is similarly enraptured…

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"The New Classics" Returns

Exciting news! Michael Cusamano's engaging series "The New Classics," which focuses on top-notch 21st century films by dissecting a single scene, begins its second season April 28th --weekly editions Tuesdays at 1 PM! Here's what's been covered previously if you'd like to catch up. Any suggestions for season two? 

Season 1 of The New Classics

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
• Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
• Sexy Beast (2001)
• Master and Commander (2003)
• Shattered Glass (2003)
• Before Sunset (2004)
• Collateral (2004)
• Eastern Promises (2007)
• Michael Clayton (2007)
• No Country For Old Men (2007)
• Happy-Go-Lucky (2008) 
• The Hurt Locker (2009)
• Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• In the Loop (2009)
• I Am Love (2010)
• Meek's Cutoff (2010)
• A Separation (2011)
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
• It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
• Blue Ruin (2013)
• 20th Century Women (2016)
• The Florida Project (2017)

Review: True History of the Kelly Gang

by Chris Feil

For director Justin Kurzel, folklore goes hand in hand with with gorgeous brutality. After emerging with the true crime saga The Snowtown Murders and then the Fassbender double of Macbeth and Assassin’s Creed, Kurzel has established himself through a fascination with grisly legend, rending violence with stoic sheen and brooding male personas. His latest, True History of the Kelly Gang, is no different but somewhat more accomplished.

The film follows the rise of the infamous Ned Kelly, a tale you might have seen in the many, many cinematic retellings. Here George MacKay plays the historical figure with crumbling psychosis. Instead of a detailed account of the actions of his band of outlaws, this version (adapted from Peter Carey’s novel by Snowtown’s screenwriter Shaun Grant) charts Kelly’s exploits from adolescence to execution, delivering more of a character study of Kelly as a psychological victim of British imperialism. Along the way is an ensemble of characters that oppose him in ways big and small, from The Babadook’s Essie Davis as his bitter mother, to Russell as Harry Power showing the preteen Ned his first brushes with violence, to Nicholas Hoult as the film’s dandy police officer villain Fitzpatrick.

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1981 Retrospective: Jessica Harper in "Pennies From Heaven"

Please welcome new contributor Nick Taylor. He's been sharing insightful comments on his reader ballots for years so he now joins the team to talk about Supporting Actresses who weren't nominated to coincide with our upcoming Smackdown events.

The 54th Academy Awards celebrated an insular group for 1981. Only nine films were represented between all four acting categories. If you expand that circle to include the nominations for Picture, Director, and Screenplay it's only a whopping twelve films hogging forty above-the-line slots. Every Supporting Actress nominee (to be discussed soon) had a co-star recognized in a different category. But when you look to performances outside of the nominated shortlist, like Kate Reid in Atlantic City or Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it’s hard not to wonder why things shook out the way they did.  

Or consider Jessica Harper’s perfectly controlled performance in Pennies From Heaven. Adapted from a 1978 British miniseries, Pennies follows song salesman Arthur Parker (Steve Martin, aces as a total cad), who views life through the rose-colored tint of the music he peddles but can’t see the damage he wrecks on others, and whose affair with lovelorn schoolteacher Eileen (Bernadette Peters, winning a Golden Globe for her delicate, nuanced turn) sends both their lives spiraling towards tragedy...

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