Happy 50, Leonardo DiCaprio!

by Cláudio Alves

ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD earned DiCaprio his seventh and, to this day, final Oscar nomination. Do you think he’ll be back in the race anytime soon?

Former teenage heartthrob turned Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio just hit the half-century mark. Happy birthday to the superstar who has been entertaining audiences since his youth and has, in recent years, expanded his work to producing movies and fighting the good fight in the name of our crumbling environment. Over time, many of his performances and most iconic movies have been explored at The Film Experience by various team members. It seems logical to revisit some of those posts, like we did to celebrate Jessica Lange's 75th birthday and Maggie Smith's passing. It's time to go down the blogging rabbit hole and share some love for the man immortalized on screen through roles like Shakespeare's Romeo, Jack Dawson, a handful of Scorsese leads, and more – the list goes on and on…

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Split Decision: "Killers of the Flower Moon"

No two people feel the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here's Juan Carlos Ojano and Nathaniel Rogers on Killers of the Flower Moon...

CARLOS: Hi, Nathaniel! So excited to talk to you about this film. Confession time: this is the first time I've seen a Martin Scorsese film on the big screen, even though his works (Taxi Driver, Casino, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence, The Irishman) usually end up in my favorite films of their respective years. Maybe he is one of my favorite directors? But my respect for him goes beyond 'favorite'. This is also my first time seeing Leonardo DiCaprio (one of my favorite actors) on the big screen, with my "relationship" with him now spanning from Titanic to this. And my gosh, after months of buzz after its Cannes premiere, I can say I was floored and destroyed. Just in awe. I think it is one of the most powerful films I've seen from last year… 

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On Gladstone and Scorsese's Mollie Kyle

by Cláudio Alves

Oscar voting opens today, and, for once, some of my favorites are poised to thrive on the nomination ballot. Because of that, it might seem overkill to write FYC pieces, those love letters by another name. Even so, as it's a time for advocacy, I shall articulate why some of the year's best cinematic achievements deserve to be recognized as such. Today, I find myself inspired to make the case for Lily Gladstone, a virtual lock for a Best Actress nomination who might win it all. And to think some said going lead would ruin her Oscar hopes. 

As Mollie Kyle in Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon, she breathes life into a dark chapter of American history. Gladstone illuminates the tragedy of a woman and people betrayed, forsaken by individuals who claimed to love them and systems who exploited them under the guise of protection, brutalized by greed and white supremacy…

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Oscar Volley - Best Actor

For today's Oscar volley, Lynn Lee and Glenn Dunks discuss the Best Actor race.

LYNN: Glenn, it’s been a while since I’ve felt this strongly about the Best Actor race, so I’ll just lay my cards on the table: I really, really want both Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers) and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) to be nominated, would love Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers) to join them --though I think he’s a long shot-- and really DON’T want Leonardo DiCaprio to get in for Killers of the Flower Moon.

It’s extra personal for me because I saw American Fiction, All of Us Strangers, and The Holdovers back to back at the Middleburg Film Festival earlier this year and loved all of them. More to the point, while all three films have their flaws, each one worked like gangbusters largely because of the fantastic acting --especially the outstanding male lead performance...

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Scorsese at the Oscars: The Complete Tally

by Cláudio Alves

With Killers of the Flower Moon still in theaters, conversation on the film has drifted from first impressions to Oscar prognostication. Amid these talks, Martin Scorsese's golden record has been heavily debated. Some say he's been severely under-rewarded, while others regard such talking points with disdain usually reserved for teenaged pop stans. Wherever you fall in this spectrum, knowing the director's exact Oscar stats will be helpful, if not enlightening. None of his short or documentary work has ever been recognized by AMPAS, and out of 25 narrative features, 17 have received at least one nomination – or 68%. Seven of those won an Oscar – or roughly 41% of his nominated work.

For a more in-depth analysis, let's consider the complete tally, sorted by category…

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