Almost There: Emma Thompson in "Love Actually"

by Cláudio Alves

With the holiday season upon us, a festive Almost There entry feels appropriate. Love Actually, Richard Curtis' 2003 mosaic narrative full of Christmastime romance, is one of the few notable examples of holiday movies that vied for Oscar gold. With a cast like that, it's easy to see why. There's also the movie's commercial success and lasting popularity to consider. All that being said, it's with great sorrow that I confess myself a Grinch when it comes to this particular brand of Yuletide cheer. Between sexist tropes and tired romcom mechanisms, the movie comes off more like a lump of coal than a present.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining, and plenty of the movie's actors are up to some excellent work.  Emma Thompson, in particular, delivers one of the best performances of her career. As if acting a Bergman-esque marital drama against a backdrop of Christmas schmaltz, her supporting turn is as disarmingly funny as it is devastating…

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Oscar Trivia: Winning the Oscar for playing a famous actor? How common is it.

by Christopher James

The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be… "MANK!"

Just kidding, people don’t really seem to be talking about the titular (and often-referenced) character, played by Gary Oldman. Love or hate the movie, everyone seems to agree that Amanda Seyfried is best in show as Marion Davies. A Supporting Actress nomination for Seyfried feels secure. The real question is: Can Seyfried win the Oscar?

While the role is prominent, the one downside from an Oscar perspective is that it is not a typical “showy” performance...

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In defense of Glenn Close as "Maw-Maw"

by Juan Carlos Ojano

Adapted from J.D. Vance’s controversial memoir about his family in the Appalachians, Hillbilly Elegy opened to harshly negative reviews from critics, but the film is not really out of the awards conversation. What was seemingly a slam dunk Oscar contender given the pedigree of its cast is now caught in the critics/audience divide, something that has become a commonality these past few years (Green Book, Bohemian Rhapsody, Joker, etc). Just look at the critics and audience scores the film got in Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.

ROTTENTOMATOES: Tomatometer: 26% / Audience Score: 85%
METACRITIC Metascore: 39 (generally unfavorable) / User Score: 7.9 (generally favorable)

The most significant Oscar push for the film will undoubtedly be seven-time oscar nominee Glenn Close for Best Supporting Actress. She plays Mamaw, J.D.’s grandmother and de facto guardian when his mother Bev (Amy Adams) spirals into heroin addiction. This role comes after a surprising Best Actress loss at the 91st Academy Awards for her performance in The Wife.  Absurdly overdue for a win, Close came to this particular Supporting Actress race as a preordained frontrunner. However, the dismal critical reception of the film immediately cast doubt on her chances. Some now feel she won't be nominated at all. Or, that she doesn't deserve to be which is unfair on Close’s part, in my humble opinion...

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Almost There: Joan Allen in "Pleasantville"

by Cláudio Alves

You guys really love Joan Allen. Once again, this three-time Academy Award nominee has won the readers' vote in the Almost There polls. When choosing from a selection of 10 non-Oscar-nominated performances in new to streaming movies, you picked Allen's turn in Gary Ross' Pleasantville. It's a 1998 fantasy about two modern teenagers who find themselves teleported inside a 1950s black-and-white sitcom. As their influence humanizes the neighborhood, sexual autonomy blossoms as do other desires, wills. Even color starts to appear in the monochrome universe. Odious prejudice is soon to follow.

Between metaphors about sexual liberation, racism, and midcentury conservativism, one cast member shines brighter than all the others, rises above the picture's relative shortcomings. As the kids' televisual mother, Joan Allen is a miracle of stilted cheeriness melting into delicate gradations of humanity…

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Almost There: Faye Dunaway in "Barfly"

by Cláudio Alves

I confess myself surprised by the reader's choice in this last round of voting for the Almost There series. When it came time for you to select what 1987 performance should be explored this week, your votes decidedly indicate a preference for Faye Dunaway's post-Mommie Dearest Oscar bid, Barfly. This under-discussed Barbet Schroeder flick was made from a semiautobiographical script by the bonafide poet of the gutter, Charles Bukowski. It competed in Cannes but it didn't cause much fanfare, mainly valued as an acting showcase for its cast, led by Mickey Rourke as a tic-ridden sing-songy facsimile of Bukowski himself.

As for Faye Dunaway, she takes around 22 minutes to enter this picture about alcoholism and the addicts who scuttle from the light like bugs. Haggard-looking and sitting lonesome at the end of a bar, she's quite distant from the image of a glamourous diva many might associate with the actress' screen persona…

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