1991: Judy Davis in "Barton Fink" and "Naked Lunch"

Before each Smackdown, Nick Taylor looks at possibilities for an alternate ballot...

Barton Fink and Naked Lunch are two 1991 films with more in common than you'd expect. Both follow writers - one a lifelong devotee of the trade, one quite new to it - who are suddenly plucked from their old lives and dropped into entirely alien worlds, with few reliable sources to guide them. Both tackle the incredibly mundane ache of loneliness and toil of their work, albeit against obstacles like axe murderers and global drug conspiracies. Both are directed by major auteurs and styled to the fucking nines, making their settings as accessible as they need to be while fulfilling some impenetrably strange narrative conceits. And both serve as vivid showcases for the talents of Judy Davis, 1991’s NYFCC winner for Best Supporting Actress, who unfussily acquits herself to two very different, aesthetically demanding milieus. Her brainy, abrasive persona and preternatural expressiveness are cannily utilized in both films, and Davis emerges as an essential element of their respective successes despite her minimal screen time...

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1994's Unsatisfying Best Actress Race

1994 was our year of the month for June so before the month closes, a couple of more forays into that year. Here's Nathaniel R responding to a reader request during the Supporting Actress Smackdown to discuss the actual leading nominees.

It's an age old question and the answer is (nearly) always the same. 

Q: What happens when all the best stuff in a film year is within genres Oscar doesn't care for?
A: The Academy sticks to their traditional loves even if it means providing history with a weak shortlist that they'll judge harshly!  

Some recent years have suggested that Oscar is loosening up in this regard. The swell of new members might be helping along with the increased visibility of critical passion (the plethora of precursor awards constantly saying "but this is great! won't you please look at it?" seems to have shifted Oscar voters a bit more towards critical passion and away from "Oscar Bait"). But overall they stick to what they love (dramas, message movies, epics, biopics, etcetera). This is especially true of the Acting branch which rarely met a teary face it didn't fall for and continually sticks up its nose at laughing or screaming or unusual faces given their aversion to comic genius, horror films, and auteur experimental or sci-fi/fantasy work. Which brings us to 1994's BEST ACTRESS LIST...

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Box Office Three-Way and Dependable Dame Dench

by Nathaniel R

Weekend Box Office (Sept 29th-October 1st)
W I D E 800+ screens	L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide
1. KINGSMAN 2  $16.9 (cum. $66.6)	1.🔺 TIL DEATH DO US PART $1.5 on 562 screens
2. IT $16.9 (cum. $290.7) REVIEW | 5 TAKEAWAYS	2.🔺 VICTORIA AND ABDUL $1 on 77 screens (cum. $1.3)
3. 🔺 AMERICAN MADE $16.7	3.🔺 A QUESTION OF FAITH $1 on 661 screens
4. LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE $11.6 (cum. $35.2)	4. 🔺 STRONGER $922k on 645 screens (cum. $3.1) REVIEW
5. 🔺  FLATLINERS $6.5	5. 🔺 JUDWAA 2 $638k on 192 screens
6. 🔺 BATTLE OF THE SEXES $3.4 (cum. $4)	6. BRAD'S STATUS $400k on 453 screens (cum. $1.7) REVIEW
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo

A bit late on the quickie box office chart this week but for a good reason. The race for #1 was so tight between three films that it took til Monday to clear it up with the Kingsman sequel topping and the new Tom Cruise actioner American Made on bottom....

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Feud: Bette and Joan. "Pilot"

by Nathaniel R

The title sequence for Feud, really couldn't be better. The Saul Bass inspired graphics cut-outs act out both the iconic beats in hagsploitation classic Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) and Joan Crawford and Bette Davis's own rivalry as stars while alluding to their embattled natures (the hearts as tears is a particular fine move) within Hollywood where both had been wildly successful but not without their backs up and claws out, as it were.

When the action kicks off in Feud though we're in 1961 and both were now "has been" at least in terms of A list leading lady roles at 55 (Crawford) and 53 (Davis). Feud: Bette and Joan casts much older actresses to play them with Jessica Lange (67) and Susan Sarandon (70) which is maybe the most unintentionally positive takeaway of the show; it takes much longer to be considered "old" in Hollywood now!

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Mad Max, Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett Win Big at the Australian Academy

Glenn here. As expected, it was a big night for Oscar hopeful Mad Max: Fury Road at the AACTA Awards last night, while Cate Blanchett gave yet another wonderful speech upon winning the Longford Lyell Award for outstanding achievement to Australian screen. Split over two ceremonies in Sydney, this year’s “Australian Oscars” were honouring the most successful year for Australian film on record – yes, that means of all time (inflation not included) – as well as television. Miller’s film picked up eight trophies all up, bringing the total number of AFI/AACTA Awards won by the franchise to 16, while Miller has now amassed 8 career statues. Yes, eight!!

Jocelyn Moorhouse’s homegrown phenomenon The Dressmaker was also a hit winning five including for actors Kate Winslet, Judy Davis, and Hugo Weaving as well as the audience choice award, which goes to show just how popular that period western has been here and how much it's captured the public's attention (it has come within mere millions of Mad Max’s box office). The most sentimental win of the night was for lead actor Michael Caton, the industry legend whose first win finally came at age 72 in Last Cab to Darwin about a dying man driving cross-country. AIDS-era gay romance Holding the Man sadly went home empty-handed despite being one of the finest dramas this country has ever produced.

Best Film: Mad Max: Fury Road
People's Choice Award: The Dressmaker
Best Direction: George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Lead Actor: Michael Caton, Last Cab to Darwin
Best Lead Actress: Kate Winslet, The Dressmaker
Best Supporting Actor: Hugo Weaving, The Dressmaker
Best Supporting Actress: Judy Davis, The Dressmaker
Best Original Screenplay: Robert Connolly and Steve Worland, Paper Planes
Best Adapted Screenplay: Reg Cribb and Jeremy Sims, Last Cab to Darwin
Best Documentary Feature: That Sugar Film

More winners + Cate Blanchett (!) after the jump...

No, we won't stop using this gif!

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