Monday, November 28, 2022 at 11:00AM We'll be polling Team Experience biweekly to get their (collective) take on the Oscar race. This week, the 'Big Six' categories and Screenplay prizes.
THE FABELMANS
;)
Click to get expanded view.It’s a dangerous business to be an early frontrunner. However, if anyone can handle that title, it’s Steven Spielberg...
Sunday, November 27, 2022 at 10:31AM by Nathaniel R
Danielle Deadwyler in "Till"
Often times Oscar buzz arrives before a performance seen on the basis that the role will be a) meaty b) important-feeling and c) feature typically awards-friendly elements. There's a reason this happens frequently. Voters of all awards bodies, not just the Academy, are sometimes guilty of awarding the role in question rather than thinking about what the actor actually did with their big opportunity. The unfortunate byproduct of this is that sometimes, no matter how much an actor elevates it, people might assume "well, it was the role". In these scenarios even the enthusiasm around the performance can feel a little rote because it's expected. It arguably happens with most biopic roles now. The role of Mamie Till-Mobely, the mother of Emmett Till who channeled her grief at her son's murder into Civil Rights activism, meets all those pre-release requirements for buzz and a likely nomination even if Danielle Deadwyler hadn't been incredible. The very good news is that she most definitely is...
Tuesday, November 15, 2022 at 9:30PM 
With The Crown's fifth season comes a new opportunity for the world to bask in the glory of Lesley Manville. As Princess Margaret, she's a charismatic scene-stealer, indulging in all the melodrama thrown at her whilst brandishing a cigarette holder like a conductor's baton. Though a fair share of high-class glamour characterizes both her new Netflix gig and the role that earned her an Oscar nomination, that's not always the register within which Manville moves. You could even argue that she built her career on playing the opposite sort of people, working-class characters like the titular Mrs. Harris in this year's Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris – another outstanding performance.
Another example is Mary in Mike Leigh's Another Year. Prior to Phantom Thread, that 2010 drama surely marked the closest the actress had ever come to Oscar gold…
Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 4:47PM by Nathaniel R
While it would be foolish to consider any Oscar race locked up before any mainstream precursor nominations have been announced, Best Actress sure feels like it's solidifying as a race between Cate Blanchett, Michelle Yeoh, Danielle Deadwyler, and Michelle Williams. Any of them (except Cate of course) could be a surprise snub if precursor season throw us curveballs. If it's true that the race has narrowed down to these four (again that's only the assumption) than the fifth slot is where the drama is at the moment. Former Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Viola Davis remain distinct possibilities (when Oscar loves you, they love you) and people will start seeing Margot Robbie's performance in Babylon this week. If her star turn is as juicy and fun and focus-seizing as the trailer suggests, it's hard to picture her not being in the hunt for that third nomination. Perhaps she'll emerge from the first reviews as a genuine threat for a win if the first audience raves as much as her co-star Eric Roberts is raving about her. We know that the internet likes to "solve" categories long before the first mainstream precursor announces but it's important to keep an open mind before films are screened. If she seizes the imagination of the audience with her drug-addled wild-child movie star, the sky might be the limit. For now, on the updated chart, we'll place her fifth.
What does your hunch say about who the nominees will be and who might have a true shot at the win?
Babylon, Best Actress, Margot Robbie, Oscars (22), Punditry Wednesday, November 9, 2022 at 9:00AM Team Experience is revisiting a few Dorothy Dandridge movies for her centennial
by Baby Clyde
Groucho Marks famously described Grace Kelly’s Best Actress win at the 1954 Oscars as ‘The greatest robbery since Brinks’. I think we can all agree that a terrible crime was committed, but Judy Garland wasn’t the only victim on the night of March 30th, 1955. Dorothy Dandridge was a sensation in Carmen Jones becoming the first Black woman to receive a Best Actress nomination. In any other year, her loss would be seen as a huge scandal but because of Judy’s legendary star turn in A Star Is Born the fact that Ms Dandridge was also deserving has been almost entirely overshadowed...
