Brokeback Mountain @ 20

by Patrick Ball

Brokeback Mountain, I’ll never wish I knew how to quit you. I turned 17 in 2005, the year I came out to my parents, and the quiet revolution that was Brokeback Mountain was the first movie I took them to. We saw it on a misty winter afternoon at The Pruneyard in Campbell, CA. It was the first movie I took them to and said “this is me”.

It’s hard to grapple with the fact that 2005 was 20 years ago. That this film, this miracle of cinematic craftsmanship wrapped around a  soul aching romantic drama, was met with both snickers and scorn upon release. Though critically acclaimed, and championed by those willing to embrace “the love that dare not say its neigh-me”, its immediate legacy was riddled with jokes. “The gay cowboy movie”, “I wish I knew how to quit you”, Michelle Williams’ immortal utterance of “Jack Nasty”...

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Paul Newman @ 100: "Road to Perdition"

by Cláudio Alves

When was the first time you saw Paul Newman on the screen? It might be hard to remember for some, but I can pinpoint it exactly. It was a summer holiday in those early years of teenhood, when my parents liked to drive across the border into Southern Spain for the afternoon. I loved those day trips for many reasons, and one of them was this big store in town where they sold movies that I couldn't ever find in Portugal. They were cheap, too, the perfect fit for a young cinephile looking to spend his allowance. At the time, I was just starting to get into the Oscars, so I always looked for films I knew AMPAS had honored.

One of them was Road to Perdition. 

When we got home, I remember waiting for nightfall to watch my new treasures in darkness. And then, there he was, Paul Newman. At the time, I was becoming aware of who he and many other Old Hollywood stars were, though I knew very little. Yet, there was a weight to my discovery of Newman. You see, my mom had pointed him out on the DVD case when she saw me with my new picture and waxed rhapsodic about the fellow who happened to be her favorite actor. She called him a legend, one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen, his eyes piercing, intense, BLUE like nothing else in the world. She wasn't wrong…

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Relitigating Best Actress '04

by Cláudio Alves

Are you a fan of And the Runner-Up Is? Kevin Jacobsen's podcast started as a way to look at past Best Picture races, going down Oscar history one lineup at a time. However, when every year was covered, it came time to change strategy. Going beyond the biggest category of them all, he refocused his attention on the Academy Award for Best Actress and revitalized the format along the way. Three years ago, I had the honor of guesting in the 1933 episode where we discussed Katharine Hepburn's first victory, May Robson's sentimental loveliness, and Diane Wynyard's short-lived Hollywood success story. This week, it was time to return to And the Runner-Up Is and relitigate one of the greatest Best Actress races ever. It's Swank vs Bening round two, 2004 electric boogaloo…

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Nicole Kidman Tribute: The Hours (2002)

by Cláudio Alves

Nicole Kidman's career moves in cyclical repetitions, always coming back to the Australian star having to prove herself and then re-emerge with a revitalized surge of prestige and popularity. It happened back home, when Kidman found early success in popcorn cinema, leading to bigger roles that let her prove her mettle. At the end of the 1980s, she was on her way to securing the respect afforded a serious actress. But, as she traveled to Hollywood, Kidman had to start over. For a while, she was Tom Cruise's starlet girlfriend first and foremost, before a string of more challenging roles set the stage for widespread acclaim, culminating with an Oscar win. We'd see the cycle come back around after a slew of commercial and critical flops besmirched her image, making her the butt of many a plastic surgery joke. And then, there was her 2010s resurgence and the "rediscovery" of her talents in a new era of prestige TV. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Today, we arrive at that Academy Award victory, the first great peak of Kidman's Hollywood journey. It was when she donned a prosthetic nose and delivered the specter of Virginia Woolf for Stephen Daldry's adaptation of The Hours…

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Bernard Hill (1944-2024)

by Cláudio Alves

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003) Peter Jackson

Today, sad news comes from England. Actor Bernard Hill has passed away at the age of 79, comforted by his family to the end. 

Among Oscar obsessives, Hill is best known for his appearances in Titanic and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. For James Cameron, he played the stalwart captain of the doomed ship, while Peter Jackson saw him embody Théoden, King of Rohan. Both roles share a touch of quiet authority, power laced with the deep sorrow of someone responsible for countless other lives. Hill's very presence seemed to project these qualities, making him a dream character actor, able to shape a movie's tonalities with little more than a glance, a shift of posture, a sigh. To this day, he's the only actor to star in two of the Academy's all-time champions, pictures with eleven Oscars each…

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