Nathaniel's Final Oscar Nomination Predictions

by Nathaniel R

It's that time to finally stop over-analyzing and just share it! Long time readers might say "what over-analyzing? you've barely spoken!" but please know that I've still been over-analyzing in my head if not out loud. But let's do this quickly and move on that strange long deadspace between nominations and Hollywood's High Holy Night, the time period in which we hope to be more active and really dive into the Oscar contenders and our own personal awards. But before we get there: FINAL OSCAR NOMINATION PREDICTIONS...

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Tom Wilkinson (1948-2023)

by Cláudio Alves

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014) Wes Anderson

True character actors often feel like a thing of the past, one of those artifacts of bygone eras lost in our collective trudge forward. And yet, some performers keep the idea alive into the 21st century, shining brightly as something other than an all-consuming star. Such was the case of Tom Wilkinson, the two-time Academy Award-nominated actor who died suddenly last Saturday, surrounded by family. He was 75 years old. 

I concede that it might feel wrong to start the new year with an obituary. Still, one must pay respect to the fallen titan, an artist of integrity and craft whose filmography contains over a hundred credits, from minor indies to awards juggernauts, chamber dramas, blockbusters, animation, and the whole shebang. On this sad occasion, let's remember the greatness of Tom Wilkinson…

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Oscar Volley - Best Actor

For today's Oscar volley, Lynn Lee and Glenn Dunks discuss the Best Actor race.

LYNN: Glenn, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this strongly about the Best Actor race, so I’ll just lay my cards on the table: I really, really want both Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) to be nominated, would love Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) to join them --though I think he’s a long shot-- and really DON’T want Leonardo DiCaprio to get in for Killers of the Flower Moon.

It’s extra personal for me because I saw American Fiction, All of Us Strangers, and The Holdovers back to back at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this year and loved all of them. More to the point, while all three films have their flaws, each one worked like gangbusters largely because of the fantastic acting --especially the outstanding male lead performance...

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Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, Scorsese – Who's Next?

by Cláudio Alves

Barbra Streisand in FUNNY GIRL was the last performance William Wyler directed to an Oscar win.

As stated in the Scorsese at the Oscars write-up, the Killers of the Flower Moon auteur is one of only four directors to have helmed Academy Award-winning performances in all acting categories. The others are William Wyler, Elia Kazan, and Hal Ashby, with the former having the record to end all records. Across 32 years, Wyler directed fourteen victorious turns, including multiple champions in the four races. Such a feat won't likely be equaled, but that doesn't mean the quartet is bound to stay put forever. Some directors are on the cusp of joining the ranks of Wyler, Kazan, Ashby, and Scorsese…

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The Apology Nomination

by Cláudio Alves

Sometimes, even the Academy thinks they messed up. That's how you get what I like to call "apology nominations," crucially different from "career nominations" because they come in response to one or more specific slights in the recent past. They are the honors that resound with an echoing sorry if you ring them just right, and there's no better example than Paul Giamatti's 2005 Best Supporting Actor nomination for Cinderella Man. After his shocking Sideways snub, one feels he would have been included for anything remotely Oscar-friendly.

It doesn't mean this reliable character actor didn't deserve it, of course, but there's a narrative quirk to how he got there, a faint sense that AMPAS was making up for a mistake. Now that Giamatti's back in the race with The Holdovers, it got me thinking about other cases of the phenomenon in the years since Cinderella Man…

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