Who’s our next three-peat champion?

by Cláudio Alves

And just like that, Sean Penn became the eighth actor to win three Oscars.

With One Battle After Another, Sean Penn became the eighth person in Academy Award history to win a third acting Oscar. He follows Supporting Actor king Walter Brennan, most honored thespian ever Katharine Hepburn, Swedish superstar Ingrid Bergman, New Hollywood enfant terrible Jack Nicholson, nomination queen Meryl Streep, method actor extraordinaire Daniel Day-Lewis, and too-cool-for-school Oscar favorite Frances McDormand. This honor comes after a period when Penn was fairly removed from the awards conversation, regularly panned at Cannes for his directorial work while winning the favor of a few critics for underseen performances like those in Daddio and Asphalt City. Indeed, he seems so uninterested in playing the game that he barely campaigned and didn’t even show up to collect his prize.

Disregarding whether he deserves it or not, Penn’s victory leads me to wonder who’s next? Who is closest to joining this exclusive club? There are currently 19 two-time acting Oscar winners alive, each a different case, with some landing in the “just a matter of time” field, while others are surely “not happening.” Join me as I go over these possibilities…

Click to read more ...

Triple Crown of Acting: Who's Next?

by Eric Blume

Kieran Culkin will have to wait a bit longer before he can add a Tony to his SUCCESSION Emmy and A REAL PAIN Oscar. | © Searchlight Pictures

Back in 2016, I wrote an article here when one of my favorite actresses, Jessica Lange, won a Tony for Long Day’s Journey into Night, thereby joining the club of elite actors who had achieved the Triple Crown of Acting (competitive Oscar, Emmy, and Tony). Only 24 actors have ever achieved this, and since Lange eight years ago, only two people have joined that list (Viola Davis in 2017 with her Emmy; Glenda Jackson in 2018 with her Tony).

I thought it would be fun to take a look at who is a realistic possibility to join that club.  I’m reminded of it because, until just a few days ago, there was a chance that person was going to be Kieran Culkin!  Culkin had been largely predicted to be nominated for a Tony Award (and possibly win!) for his performance in the revival of Glengarry Glen Ross.  Alas, Culkin was shut out of the nominations on May 1.  Had he won, he would be the first person to win all three awards in such tight timing (he just won his Emmy for Succession and Oscar for A Real Pain within the last three  years).   It took Jessica 33 years and Glenda 47 years!

So since it's not going to be Kieran Culkin, let’s take a look at who might be next.  I’m working on probability here, not possibility:  meaning that I’m not counting likelihood for actors who rarely or never work in that given medium.  Here are some thoughts…

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Denzel Washington in "Gladiator II"

by Cláudio Alves

The 97th Academy Award nominations weren't marked by many high-profile snubs. Sure, a few critical darlings failed to secure AMPAS' approval, but their absence didn't come off as a shock. Even so, as in every year, some folks came close to a nomination but likely ended up as sixth or seventh on the ballot. For the next few weeks, the Almost There series is making a comeback to celebrate those very contenders. Like last season, I'll pick one performance from each acting category, starting with Best Supporting Actor. And though Clarence Maclin probably came close to the Oscar nod with Sing Sing, let's consider another alternative – Denzel Washington's villainous turn in Gladiator II…

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Best Supporting Actor suffers from "Succession" nostalgia

...after a brief holiday break, the Oscar Volleys continue with Elisa Giudici and Abe Friedtanzer on Best Supporting Actor...

Denzel Washington in GLADIATOR II | © Paramount Pictures

ELISA: This year’s Oscar race seems wide open for surprises, which, after years of things being more or less decided in advance, is pretty exciting, right? Unfortunately, due to local release schedules, I haven’t seen a few of the candidates, but I wouldn’t bet on anyone being "locked" exactly.

Take Denzel Washington, for example. He’s been widely praised for his performance in Gladiator II—arguably the only part of the film that everyone agrees is of high quality. It’s the classic, showy, theatrical role that could easily land an actor like Washington yet another nomination, especially given the respect and fame he commands...

Click to read more ...

10 Questions about the Oscar race

by Nathaniel R

Every Oscar chart has been updated. Late October is always a strange time in the awards race. It's a time when most of the major players have surfaced (at festivals or screenings) but nobody has yet seen everything and no awards groups (beyond festival juries) have sorted and sifted through the abundance. Which means anything is still possible until the critics groups and awards org begin to narrow the focus of Academy voters in ways that tend to be both interesting and disheartening. They'll boost a couple of unexpected but worthy contenders into the conversation but at the same time their hive mind choices will pour abundant love on too few titles and starve other beauties of sunlight and water.

So as you peruse the charts, answer these ten questions in the comments...

Click to read more ...