Women of a Certain Age and the Best Actress Race

This list/trivia article is revamped from a 2014 article...

 

With Sophia Loren (86), Meryl Streep (71 if she campaigns in lead), Frances McDormand (63), Michelle Pfeiffer (62), Viola Davis (55), Amy Adams (46), and Kate Winslet (45) all looking like viable discussion points for the upcoming Best Actress race, it's time to look at one of our favourite research areas: Age and Oscar Trivia. If any combo of five from those seven women make it (unlikely of course) we'll have our oldest Best Actress lineup of all time by a big margin. If only three or four of them make it we're still likely to have the oldest line up of all time though younger contenders like Andra Day, Vanessa Kirby, Elisabeth Moss, Jennifer Hudson, and Carey Mulligan (all in their 30s) are surely hoping to spoil this 'most mature' trivia party. 

Good news: The Academy is getting less ageist. We know because we've researched this for years. In fact as you can see in the "top ten most mature Best Actress lineups" after the jump, a good deal of the top ten is from recent years. When this first started happening we chalked it up to an anomaly due to Meryl Streep, but she's hardly the only senior citizen actress that they've nominated in the last 20 years. Ready for the list? 

The Top Ten Most Mature Best Actress Shortlists

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Which film will be Germany's Oscar submission?

Germany will reportedly decide between these ten films for their Oscar submission this year which they'll announce near the end of this month. If you've seen any of these pictures, do share your opinion!

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Monty @ 100: Oscar nominated again for "Judgment at Nuremberg"

by Baby Clyde

1961 Monty was a shadow of his former self. Long gone were days of matinee idol status and teeny boppers swooning over his dreamboat looks. As has already been expertly detailed by my colleagues Montgomery Clift’s career is one of two halves. By this point he was deep into the second half and the eventual outcome seemed inevitable, but that didn’t mean he was unable to still produce the goods...

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The 'Cancel the Oscars' thing is just plain bulls***t. Here's why

by Juan Carlos

I’ve been itching to discuss this for quite a while now. Ever since the pandemic, the way we watch films has dramatically shifted. Cinemas are now either closed down or maintained with stringent health safety measures. Drive-in cinemas have experienced a resurgence in popularity due to their safer conditions. Meanwhile, we have seen films dropping on streaming platforms, VOD, and virtual cinemas at such a rapid rate that it is quite hard to even keep track of what is being released. 

Meanwhile, AMPAS made several changes in its rules to adjust to the current world we are living in. So for the first time, the Academy allowed streaming-only films in as long as there was an intention to exhibit them theatrically (I still don’t know how they would prove intention, but that's another discussion). Also, they have extended the eligibility period: from January 1 to December 31, 2020, it will now extend until February 28, 2021, a move that seemed hastily done months ago and now makes even less sense since majority of the films that were supposed to screen in the last months of the year in cinemas have now moved to late 2021 anyway. 

And then this opinion piece from the Washington Post happened.

In an article that adds itself to the chorus of people saying that the Oscars should be cancelled in its entirety, the writer asserts that the Oscars should be cancelled because...

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Review: "A Rainy Day in New York"

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s easy to forget just how formidable Woody Allen’s Oscar history is. Not only is he the most-nominated screenwriter, with sixteen bids, he’s also tied for fourth place in the directing category with seven. He won three prizes for Best Original Screenplay, for the three films that earned Best Picture nominations: Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Midnight in Paris. Annie Hall of course won the top prize for 1977.

Allen has made nearly fifty films, and by my count, I’ve seen a third of those. A good portion of them are from the last two decades, which is hardly considered his golden period. Of his contemporary pictures, I was most wowed by Match Point, which was a dramatic departure from his typical tone as well as a geographical departure from his beloved New York City. But his most recent, Wonder Wheel, was a dud as the closing night selection for the New York Film Festival back in 2017. Interestingly, Allen has two films premiering this month...

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