Relitigating Best Actress '04

by Cláudio Alves

Are you a fan of And the Runner-Up Is? Kevin Jacobsen's podcast started as a way to look at past Best Picture races, going down Oscar history one lineup at a time. However, when every year was covered, it came time to change strategy. Going beyond the biggest category of them all, he refocused his attention on the Academy Award for Best Actress and revitalized the format along the way. Three years ago, I had the honor of guesting in the 1933 episode where we discussed Katharine Hepburn's first victory, May Robson's sentimental loveliness, and Diane Wynyard's short-lived Hollywood success story. This week, it was time to return to And the Runner-Up Is and relitigate one of the greatest Best Actress races ever. It's Swank vs Bening round two, 2004 electric boogaloo…

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Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2023

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

Hello, dear readers! It’s been a while since the last time I posted an entry to this series. I was busy completing my theater class, resulting in a final showcase open to the public. Let me start with that because our current nominees for Best Actress have all done theater in different points of their respective careers, something we do not always get to say about most groups of acting nominees in a category. Truth is that’s the only connective tissue I could find with these nominees because their character introductions are vastly different from each other.

Are you ready? The year is 2023...

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"Ode to a Snub". Plus nominations that had us reeling on Tuesday

While Oscar nomination morning (this past Tuesday) brought its share of happiness -- which we'll get to soon. It also brings small shockwaves (never large, really) at unexpected nominations and sadness in the form of beloved favourites missing from the "Best" conversation, however unthinkable that may be in the moment. So we polled Team Experience asking them for their saddest snub* and nominations that had them reeling for various reasons.

"Past Lives"

Their answers are after the jump and we hope yours are in the comments shortly...

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Oscars: The Five Club

by Eric Blume

It’s always fun when “the conversation” starts to brew for Oscar nominations every year, seeing which actors are gaining traction for a potential nomination. What’s interesting this year is that there are an unusually high number of actors (six, in fact!) who currently have four acting nominations under their belt who all stand good-to-great chances of joining The Five Club with nods this year. Five Oscar nominations is a big deal. Only 22 actors currently have five, and the names are among some of our best from older Hollywood (Olivia de Havilland, James Stewart), to the modern age (Albert Finney, Anne Bancroft, Susan Sarandon) to contemporary (Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams). It’s very nice company to be in. 

Let’s take a look at the actors who stand a very real shot of being a part of The Five Club this year…

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An Annette Bening Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

Remember that week when Taylor Swift's concert film phenomenon and Martin Scorsese's elegiac latest dominated the conversation? It's hard to believe, but more pictures hit theaters along with those big titles. Indeed, some came full of Oscar hopes – look at NYAD. Directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chain, the sports biopic enjoyed a qualifying theatrical run before hitting Netflix today, hoping to guarantee its entrance into the awards race. Above all other categories, Best Actress should be the primary objective, with Annette Bening vying for Hollywood's favorite golden trophy once more. Will she secure her fifth Academy Award nomination? Time will tell.

Let's recall some of her best work of yesteryear to celebrate a great actress's return to the race. Here are my top ten favorite Annette Bening performances…

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