Almost There: Delroy Lindo in "Da 5 Bloods"

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, in the aftermath of the Oscar nominations, I asked you, dear readers, to vote on which performance should get an "Almost There" treatment. Of the fifteen possibilities, your choice was clear – Delroy Lindo in Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods. He got nearly a quarter of the votes, and so, here we are, ready to dissect an achievement that, months ago, seemed like a sure bet in the Best Actor race. The role in question is that of Paul, a war veteran who, along with his brothers in arms, returns to Vietnam in search of a lost treasure and the remains of a mentor…

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Almost There: Class of 2020

by Cláudio Alves

In this odd awards season, predicting the acting categories with accuracy was a difficult task. Many contenders seemed to vie for the limited spots and several actors garnered support from important precursors. The amount of legitimate "Almost There" cases is truly immense, especially when one considers such unexpected nods as that Supporting Actor citation for Lakeith Stanfield. In any case, with such a wealth of potential case studies, here goes an unusual entry in this series, one focused on multiple actors…

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Congratulations to the SAG Cast Nominees... but please raise a glass to those who were left out!

by Nathaniel R

Taylour Paige and Dusan Brown aren't included in "Ma Rainey's" nomination

Each year when the SAG nominations for Outstanding Cast is named, we bemoan the rules which cause unneccessary exclusions. To be an official nominee you need to have your own title card. Having your own title card generally requires that you either already have a degree of fame, a strong agent if you don't, or a large role... so sometimes it excludes really crucial contributions to a movie. Everyone who doesn't get their own title card gets a certificate but they aren't officially "nominees" based on SAG's rules. This year, only Trial of the Chicago 7 (which has a giant cast) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (which has a very intimate cast) have really unfortunate exclusions...

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FYC: Best Actor

by Nathaniel R

Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods and Mads Mikkelsen in Another RoundWith the top ten list finally filed (please read and comment), the annual Film Bitch Awards are in progress. With that comes lots of hair-pulling (figuratively speaking of course as I have none) because it's hard to make decisions around what is "best" in art. At least it is if you're doing it right and care. "The Man Who Loved Movies Awards Too Much" might be the title of my biography because you can't love movies too much.  So whenever I announce my favourites, I immediately feel bad about what I didn't honor because in (grateful) truth there are far more than five worthy things in any category in any given year.

But awards are and should be a time capsule. It doesn't mean you will always feel that way but it's what you valued most at that juncture. Same is true for the big Hollywood awards shows which is why so many of their choices look so weird. Time changes people and art and public opinion...

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National Board of Review names 'Da 5 Bloods" da best.

by Nathaniel R

Big awards day, huh?!

Spike Lee's latest joint Da 5 Bloods has won both Best Film and Best Director (as well as Best Ensemble) from the National Board of Review. We must quickly point out that this does not mean that Chloe Zhao's remarkable critics-award complete sweep is broken. As I always have to remind everyone each year -- even those who should know better -- the NBR is not a "critics award". The National Board of Review, founded in 1909, is an anonymous collection of film enthusiasts, industry professionals, academics, students, and presumably a few critics though they never release the names of their organization. So they would be more accurately called an "industry honor" or a "juried prize" rather than lumped in with the 'what do film critics like?' discussion.

Minari and Sound of Metal were the only other films with multiple prizes. The NBR wins and top ten lists AND LOADS OF TRIVIA/STATS are after the jump...

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