"Introducing" The film debuts of your Best Actress nominees

by Nathaniel R

Nicole Kidman's first dramatic closeup in a movie. Her mother has just told her no in Bush Christmas (1983)This season's best actress race is a quintet of considerable fame. We have three previous Oscar winners (Nicole Kidman, Olivia Colman, Penélope Cruz), a multiple nominee (Jessica Chastain) and a first timer though she's been globally famous for over a decade (Kristen Stewart). All five are in demand and oft-celebrated. We thought it would be fun to look at their very first movies long before superstardom happened which was the impetus for this four part "introducing" series (you've already witnessed Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress).

How were these now acclaimed actresses introduced to audiences? Let's take them in chronological order of their official debuts after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Linko

• Vulture Jackson McHenry surveys the current scam artists on TV dramas
• The Grio Ruth E Carter to be honored with an NAACP "Vanguard" Award
• BuzzFeed Reliving the Lizzo vs Melissa MCCarthy Little Mermaid casting drama, now with fresh quotes
• Vox Emily VanDerWerff on the rise of art about evangelicals from Midnight Mass to The Righteous Gemstones to current novels, too

More after the jump including Jessica Chastain, The Northman, Sean Penn, Peter Sarsgaard, and the shirtless dancers from Euphoria...

Click to read more ...

Best Actress - How'd she get nominated?

by Nathaniel R

If you fused all the nominated lead actresses into one, given the stats, you'd have a 44 year old American goddess who is probably an Aries and has made around 40 films and been nominated 3 times, winning once. Which... ohmygod almost describes Jessica Chastain! The Best Actress page has been fully updated with detailed stats, trivia, a daily poll, and our "how'd they get nominated?" theorizing...

Click to read more ...

Film Bitch Awards ~ Oscar Parallel Categories Complete!

by Nathaniel R

The Oscar-adjacent portion of our annual Film Bitch Awards is complete (i.e. if Nathaniel had a ballot)... 

Click to read more ...

Oscar Volley: Can Penelope Cruz or Kristen Stewart land in Best Actress?

Our Oscar Volley series is almost at an end. Here are Matt St Clair, Josh Bierman, and Baby Clyde to talk Best Actress

Matt St Clair: Even though Best Actress has a pretty clear frontrunner, the rest of the category seems mostly up for grabs. Do you guys agree and also, besides Olivia Colman in The Lost Daughter, do you think there's hope for another non-biopic performance to make the cut?

Josh Bierman: Interesting. I don’t agree that there's a clear frontrunner! I assume you mean Nicole Kidman who is the most solid lock for a nomination. This is a category where I think I have to wait to see who’s nominated before I can declare a winner...

Click to read more ...