Review: Vanessa Kirby is a tour de force in "Pieces of a Woman"

by Matt St Clair

British thespian Vanessa Kirby has been on a steady rise, having earned an Emmy nomination for playing Princess Margaret on The Crown while kicking action ass in both Mission Impossible: Fallout and Hobbs & Shaw. With Pieces of a Woman, Kirby is finally given a project where she takes center stage and she emerges as the shining star of a picture that’s drenched in darkness due to its distressing subject matter.

The first major sequence in Pieces of a Woman involving Martha's (Kirby) home birth will be a deal-breaker for some viewers...

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Almost There: Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally..."

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, we examined a Christmas movie performance that came close to Oscar glory to celebrate the holidays. Now that we're coming to the end of this cursed 2020, it seems appropriate to choose a New Year's Eve film. When it came time to pick such a picture, my mind immediately went to f Rob Reiner's 1989 When Harry Met Sally…, a perfect rom-com whose Nora Ephron-penned screenplay earned a much-deserved Academy Award nomination. Our focus shall be on the Sally of the title, Meg Ryan giving a comedienne's masterclass…

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Dead Man Walking @ 25: Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar

by Cláudio Alves

25 years ago, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking opened in theatres. The film dramatizes the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, the close relationship she forged, as a spiritual adviser, with convicted murderers on death row. Here, they are made into the composite fictional figure of Matthew Poncelet. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn take on the lead roles, delivering two of the best performances of their respective careers. He received his first Oscar nomination out of it. She was honored with her fifth nod and, presently, her last. And she finally won the Best Actress trophy. 

The actress may be a controversial figure, but I'm not here to litigate her politics or the way she chooses to express them. Instead, I'd like to look at her achievements as a performer, specifically the five works that paved the way to that triumph on the night of the 67th Academy Awards. Join me – won't you? – as we explore Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar… 

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Frances McDormand, Vogue Cover Girl!

by Nathaniel R

Whoa. Frances McDormand is the cover star of Vogue's January issue (the profile is up now). It's not every day you see a 60something woman on the cover of a legendary fashion magazine! But Frances McDormand is hardly an every day kind of woman. She's more of the 'only a few times a generation' sort. The only other 60something woman to make Vogue's cover in the past twenties year was Meryl Streep...

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Almost There: Saoirse Ronan in "The Lovely Bones"

by Cláudio Alves

Oscar-wise, Saoirse Ronan is an interesting case study. The Irish actress was only thirteen when she got her first nomination for her supporting turn in 2007's Atonement. From the start, she was seen as a prodigy, a young performer of uncommon talent and even rarer maturity whose characterizations seemed wise beyond their years. Still, one could have easily believed Ronan would go the way of other Oscar-honored child actors, fading into obscurity or just falling off AMPAS' radar. As luck would have it, things turned out differently. 

Ronan shares with Jodie Foster (nominated at 14), Sal Mineo and Natalie Wood (both nominated at 17) the honor of being the only underage Oscar nominees to be nominated again in adulthood. This year, Saoirse is back in the conversation thanks to Francis Lee's introspective Ammonite, though the picture's somewhat cold reception and austere nature might repel the Academy. In the past, Ronan's been lucky, conquering nods nearly every time she was in contention – Atonement, Brooklyn, Lady Bird, Little Women. Still, no lucky streak is perfectly continuous and without bumps. Just look at 2009's The Lovely Bones…

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