Pt 3 Reader's Ranking: Who should be the next Amy Madigan?

Pt 1 - Team Experience Votes 
Pt 2 - Team Experience Winners 
Pt 3 - AT LONG LAST THE RESULTS OF THE READERS POLL...

WHO SHOULD BE THE NEXT AMY MADIGAN?

ELISABETH SHUE in Leaving Las Vegas (1995). What would it take to get her a comeback role?

We've spent the last couple of weeks bsessing over a question from a reader (thanks, Brian!) and we got so into discussing it at TFE HQ that we asked all of you to vote on the same question. The Team and Readers were unaware of each others vote totals during voting so nobody was influencing anyone. We've poured over the ballots that came in to suss out your passions and determine rankings.  In honor of this new film year, 2026, we'll share the  twenty-six actresses you're collectively rooting hardest for in terms of an Oscar comeback after just one nomination twenty or more years ago. We've included some quotes from your ballots too and hope you enjoy and continue the discussion. After the list, some fun stats. God, we love actresses!

YOUR TOP TWENTY-SIX

just-missed: Lena Olin & Candice Bergen were on as many or more ballots than Elisabeth Shue but weren't as highly ranked on the ballots they did appear on. They almost made it.

And a reader quote I just love to kick things off...

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Relitigating Best Actress '04

by Cláudio Alves

Are you a fan of And the Runner-Up Is? Kevin Jacobsen's podcast started as a way to look at past Best Picture races, going down Oscar history one lineup at a time. However, when every year was covered, it came time to change strategy. Going beyond the biggest category of them all, he refocused his attention on the Academy Award for Best Actress and revitalized the format along the way. Three years ago, I had the honor of guesting in the 1933 episode where we discussed Katharine Hepburn's first victory, May Robson's sentimental loveliness, and Diane Wynyard's short-lived Hollywood success story. This week, it was time to return to And the Runner-Up Is and relitigate one of the greatest Best Actress races ever. It's Swank vs Bening round two, 2004 electric boogaloo…

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The Crown: A great cast saves a middling season 5

by Cláudio Alves

The Crown | © Netflix

I've long believed that The Crown is primarily valuable as an acting showcase. In previous years, the third and fourth seasons were examined by this prism here on The Film Experience, so it seems fitting to perpetuate the tradition. It's only appropriate for, if nothing else, the Netflix show is a staunch defender of doing the same over and over again, with as little change as possible - tradition upheld for eternity. And yet, to focus solely on the acting would be a false reading of what is a disappointing fifth chapter. As much as the cast succeeds, the series' foray into the 90s brings about a striking imbalance. Melodrama takes such precedence over History that the results cannot help but lack the grandeur of seasons past…

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To Take Umbrage / Umbridge

Gay Best Friend: Peter (Stephen Fry) in "Peter's Friends" (1992)

A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

Who wouldn't want a 10 year college reunion in their rich friend's new mansion?I love a good Big Chill type set-up.

Yes, I do love the actual 1983 movie The Big Chill. However, the hit film has itself spawned an entire genre of movies and TV. How many movies have you seen where an attractive ensemble of longtime friends spend a weekend away and come to terms with central truths within the friendship. There’s always as many laughs as there are tears. The uptight people finally get drunk or stoned and loosen up. Party animals gain new depth. A collection of the greatest hits of decades past are played throughout, usually with an accompanying singalong. I eat all of it up, no matter how predictable it may be.

One of the finer entries in the genre is Kenneth Branagh’s 1992 film Peter’s Friends. It’s more than just the English re-telling of The Big Chill. The film is simultaneously a pricklier and warmer examination of what friends do and don’t tell each other... 

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