Oscar Volley: Who knew that Best Original Screenplay would so divide us?

Our Oscar Volleys continue with  Eric Blume, Baby Clyde, and Gabriel Mayora with surprising confessions, hot takes, and unexpected sentiment.

Eric Blume:  I suspect we have three locks for nominations in this category: Paul Thomas Anderson for Licorice Pizza, Kenneth Branagh for Belfast, and Adam McKay for Don't Look Up!  I am a colossal fan of PTA, but it makes me sad to think he could finally win his Oscar for one of his weaker pictures.  I am mystified by the rave reaction to Licorice Pizza, which is wonderful in patches, but the screenplay is so meandering and fails to culminate in anything dramatically. Plus, it's a genre we've seen hundreds of times. PTA is able to bring his directorial dazzle to it, but as a script, it's severely undercooked.  I do think Don't Look Up! has a magnificent setup for a comedy, but the jokes are flabby and tepid, and it's not exactly razor sharp in terms of structure or dialogue.  The script just kind of lays there.  Of the three, I think Branagh's script is the strongest: it indeed does culminate in something dramatically, plus it's tight and contained, and captures the Irish humor dead-on. 

Belfast is no masterpiece, but it feels true, has some vivid characterizations, and Branagh finds a good balance between how the personal and political flow over each other.  What are your feelings on these three contenders?

Baby Clyde: I disliked Licorice Pizza immensely...

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Cláudio's 2021 Top Ten

by Cláudio Alves

Ever since late 2019, there's seldom been a week when I didn't write for The Film Experience. Being part of the blog's team is a dream come true in many regards, having followed it since I was a baby cinephile back in the mid-aughts. Considering how much The Film Experience has become part of my life, it's with great delight that I'm now sharing my year-end personal top 10 in these hallowed pages. While I love to read everything my fellow Team Experience colleagues write, we all have distinctive tastes. Indeed, many are the movies where many disagree – just look at the polarizing reactions to Spencer. This means that it's unlikely there's much overlap in any list of favorites, including that of our beloved editor, Nathaniel. Our heterogeneous opinions are part of what makes The Film Experience so special. 

With that in mind, here are my ten favorites features released in 2021. (First, though, some honorable mentions)…

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Year in Review: Best Movie Posters

by Nathaniel R

Movie posters may be an endangered artform since movies are seldom chosen from lobby posters or slapped on DVD covers anymore. Most people see only those interchangeable rectangles of movie star faces deployed by Netflix or Hulu in scroll bars. Nevertheless we still love the way posters at their best can brand or encapsulate a movie, become iconic pieces of art in their own right (rare), or cleverly tease or suggest the kind of experience you'll be having when you watch the movie.

Movie posters are often lazy so we want to cheer the good ones. Some titles that missed the following list but remain noteworthy are:  Benedetta which arranged the text in an invisible crucifix frame, Annette, which memorably placed its romantics underneath a tidal wave, the teasers for The Matrix Resurrection and Black Widow  which went minimalist and flat but impactful, Swan Song and The Eyes of Tammy Faye for the way they presented the main character's face while also obscuring it emotionally, and the graphic whatsthis? boldness of both Titane and Tragedy of Macbeth.

The best movie posters of the year after after the jump...

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FYC: Penélope Cruz for Best Actress

by Cláudio Alves

Since they started working together, Penélope Cruz has always been a mother figure in Pedro Almodóvar's cinema. He calls her the epitome of Spanish motherhood, resilient and sensual. It's an archetype she has represented, in some way, in all their collaborations – from 1997's Live Flesh to this year's Parallel Mothers. Indeed, their latest partnership feels like a culmination, the maximum manifestation of the auteur's ideas on motherhood. It's also the most complicated role he's ever given his current muse, an extreme of melodrama paralleled by political reflections. The actress is asked to go to extremes of emotion while also holding back. She must be outwardly demonstrative, crystalline clear, naked in sentiment and expression. However, the part also demands internalization, reticence, secrets that burn. All in all, it's a monumental challenge…

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Goya Nominations: "The Good Boss" sets a record and Javier Bardem vies for a 7th win.

by Nathaniel R

Spain's Oscar submission, The Good Boss, starring Javier Bardem has set an all time record, securing a huge 20 nominations (!) at the 36th annual Goya Awards including 75% of the nominees in the Best Supporting Actor category. Pedro Almodóvar's new feature Parallel Mothers, which also has Oscar dreams, was in a distant third place with 8 nominations at Spain's own Oscars-like event.

All the nominations, the two you can see in the US this month, and a little commentary after the jump...

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