Category Confusion '24: LEAD or SUPPORTING – Part Two

by Cláudio Alves

As promised, the debate about category placement shall continue to encompass new releases as we all head into the awards season proper. This year seems especially ripe with category fraud, so there's a lot for us to discuss – there's a world of possibility where no supporting performance gets nominated at the 97th Academy Awards. In any case, let's think back to the first round of voting. Last time, when deciding if a given performance was lead or supporting, you deliberated on various titles that have become more widely available since. So, feel free to go back and cast your vote if you have just now seen such pictures as Emilia Pérez, Blitz, and A Real Pain. I also have some campaign updates from my purview as a Golden Globe voter. It turns out that at least one of these category fraud cases changed to lead…

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Best Supporting Actor in the 80s: An Alternative Oscar History

by Cláudio Alves

As in real life, Jack Nicholson takes a Best Supporting Actor prize during the 1980s. But not for TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, however.

November is coming to an end and so is our 80s throwback celebration. That means I have to wrap-up these alternative Oscars posts. After sharing personal ballots for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, it’s time for the other acting categories, starting with the thespians who enrich their films from the sidelines. As ever, the ballots presented follow Oscar eligibility rules, all its quirks and oddities. There are also honorable mentions, some ineligible gems who weren’t up for the Oscar due to release date shenanigans or a lack of submission on their distributors’ part. Finally, I also added a number of titles on my watchlist and would appreciate all your recommendations to enrich these dream Oscars of mine…

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Happy 50, Leonardo DiCaprio!

by Cláudio Alves

ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD earned DiCaprio his seventh and, to this day, final Oscar nomination. Do you think he’ll be back in the race anytime soon?

Former teenage heartthrob turned Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio just hit the half-century mark. Happy birthday to the superstar who has been entertaining audiences since his youth and has, in recent years, expanded his work to producing movies and fighting the good fight in the name of our crumbling environment. Over time, many of his performances and most iconic movies have been explored at The Film Experience by various team members. It seems logical to revisit some of those posts, like we did to celebrate Jessica Lange's 75th birthday and Maggie Smith's passing. It's time to go down the blogging rabbit hole and share some love for the man immortalized on screen through roles like Shakespeare's Romeo, Jack Dawson, a handful of Scorsese leads, and more – the list goes on and on…

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Category Confusion '24: LEAD or SUPPORTING – Part One

by Cláudio Alves

With the first batch of awards season honors coming in hot, questions of category fraud are bound to come up. And this year will be a doozy in that regard, with various leading actors campaigning as supporting for convenience's sake. It's a tried and true strategy that tends to block actual supporting and character actors from getting their flowers, forever living in the shadow of big stars in the wrong category. Well, if you're a regular at The Film Experience, you probably have read all this before, so let's not belabor the point. Instead, let's have some fun with polls like we did last year. This is just part one, of course, since many contenders still haven't been released beyond the festival circuit...

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AFI Fest: “The Fire Inside” Packs a Surprising Punch

by Eurocheese

I have to admit that on the last day of AFI Fest, I was not particularly excited to see a boxing film. Oscar seems to have an affinity for the topic, but sports films in general don't resonate with me. Shame on me for underestimating Barry Jenkins as a screenwriter and for not having higher hopes for cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut. The Fire Inside, much like its protagonist, proves itself again and again: It’s a compelling, smart drama with a scope that stretches far beyond the game.

The film is based on the true story of Claressa Shields who overcame obstacles all her life in Flint, Michigan on her way to becoming an Olympian...

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