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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2019's Class of First Time Nominees

by Murtada Elfadl

With one day to Oscar, let’s salute 2019’s class of first time nominees in the four acting categories. So many great actors never get nominated, and many just get that one nomination. So it must be so exciting for these lucky 5: Antonio Banderas, Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Pryce and Florence Pugh...

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Joan Castleman got there first

by Cláudio Alves

Joan Castleman might have had to watch her husband win her rightful Nobel, but she got to the Oscars before him. She lost the film award to Queen Anne of the United Kingdom while her dishonest spouse failed to launch a campaign for Best Supporting Actor. This year, John Castleman finally followed in his wife’s footsteps even if his chances at winning are much slimmer than hers were. We can only guess this is a bit of karmic justice for that eternally bereaved wife whose ghostwriting went so horribly uncredited throughout her life.

Silliness aside, Jonathan Pryce is finally an Oscar nominee and, whatever one might think about The Two Popes, that honor is still worth celebrating…

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An "Evita" Reunion

by Camila Henriques

One thing I love to do each award season is to scan through the connections between the films and nominees.  That sighting of Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix at the Golden Globes  transported me immediately back to 2005's Walk the Line. Amongst this year’s Oscar nominees, though, the connection that has me most nostalgic is one between two category mates: Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce, competing with each other in Best Actor, are finally Academy Award nominees.

They have a past together in Argentina, the same country that gave us Pope Francis, played so delightfully by Pryce. More than two decades ago, Pryce played another famous Argentinian, former president Juan Peron in the Alan Parker/Andrew Lloyd Webber/Madonna extravaganza that was Evita. That movie also featured Spanish heartthrob Banderas, fresh off a successful transition from being the quintessential Almodóvar man to Hollywood player, with talked about turns in Philadelphia and Desperado. He'd become an even bigger international star with Evita... 

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TIFF: "The Two Popes" is a Gentle Giant

by Chris Feil

Late in Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes, Jonathan Pryce’s Cardinal Bergoglio (who would eventually become the current Pope Francis) throws up his arms in befuddlement and spouts “Two popes?!” That kind of winning self-aware wit flows throughout the film, an unexpectedly comedic chamber piece that thrusts Pryce opposite Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI. Theirs is a gentle battle of minds as the film plays out mostly through several meetings between the two, with Bergoglio the somewhat progressive mind pushing for change in the Catholic church and Benedict adhering to stasis and tradition.

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