Smackdown '05: Amy, Catherine, Frances, Michelle, and Rachel Weisz

The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage -- 2005 this time -- and explores. 

THE NOMINEES 
A pregnant meercat obsessive, a gaslit housewife, a reckless activist, a tough union rep, and the perceptive companion to a famous writer.  For the Best Supporting Actress slate of 2005, the Academy went with two then fresh faces (Amy Adams in Junebug, Michelle Williams in Brokeback Mountain), and one mid-career actress stepping up her game (Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener). They filled out the remainder of the field with familiar players, an Oscar regular (Frances McDormand in North Country) and a previous nominee (Catherine Keener in Capote)

THE PANEL  
Here to discuss these actresses and films of 2005 are from left to right: cinephile and actress obsessive Ali Benzekri, Los Angeles Times' Justin Chang, Awards Daily's Joey Moser, the actress Kerry O'Malley (Snowpiercer, Boardwalk Empire, Strange Angel) and your host at the The Film Experience, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

2005
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

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Podcast: Emmy Nods & Oscar Worries

with Nathaniel R and Murtada Elfadl

Hey, it's a wee break from our smackdowning for an old school podcast of rambling conversation!

Index (68 minutes)
00:01 We're back talking about what we've been watching
08:13 Emmy nomination theories and viewing habits. The Mandalorian and more
19:13 Comedy series nominees: Insecure, What We Do in the Shadows, etc...
27:20 Limited Series is what we're both most invested in: Little Fires Everywhere, Unorthodox, Normal People, Mrs America and various acting categories
49:00 Emmy's "creative arts" - why not televised? 
53:00 What kind of an awards season and Oscar race are we heading into? Fall festivals are announcing but not really happening. The movie calendar is in disarray
01:05:00 Critics groups will also postpone their awards

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Emmy Reactions and Oscar Worries

Podcast (ICYMI) at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Have you had a chance to really bite in to the delicious Smackdown 1991 podcast yet? We know you read the article given the plentiful comments but there's so much to chat about within the podcast conversation. Nikki M James, Rory O'Malley, Nick Westrate, Mark Harris, and Katey Rich were all terrific guests, don'cha think? Dying to hear your thoughts on the specific things we discussed, but especially...

- Fried Green Tomatoes' 'food fight as lesbian sex' metaphor (!), the confusion over Ninny's identity, and its rose-colored lensing of race relations
- Whether Cape Fear's ending is confusingly botched or confusing on purpose... "my reminiscence"?
- Rambling Rose's Laura Dern / Lukas Haas sex scene driving mothers and spouses from the room!
- The camp of all the Barbra scenes in Prince of Tides. What word was Dr Lowenstein looking up in her Pocket Oxford Dictionary? 
- Michael Jeter's "sprinkling for fairy dust" ("Sprinking?!") in The Fisher King and the AIDS crisis just beginning to hit the movies

download right here or hit iTunes

Smackdown at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Peyton Place.... Never Forget!

by Nathaniel R

Three afterthoughts about the 1957 Smackdown.

1. The reader ballots were quite interestingly divided though they were sparser than usual  - are we doing too many Smackdowns or is it just that the films were harder to find this time?  I was shocked to see that TFE readers who had seen The Bachelor Party weren't particularly fond of Carolyn Jones who, in my estimation, was the best of the nominees. Overall it was the lowest rated field of nominees I've ever seen for reader polling.

2. My own ballot for '57 would go like so...

• Marlene Dietrich, Witness for the Prosecution
• Carolyn Jones, The Bachelor Party
• Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution
• Kay Thompson, Funny Face
• Isuzu Yamada, Throne of Blood

Though I reserve the right to ditch Lanchester and/or Thompson should I see something better. The speed of this summer's Smackdown schedule has made catching up or revisiting 'extra' films impossible. I definitely need to see Ruby Dee in Edge of the City as Nick suggested we all do. If you missed the 1957 podcast, it's right here at the bottom of this post for you listening pleasure or you can head to iTunes.

3. What was your 1957 takeaway? Mine was that I could probably watch Peyton Place again right this minute. It's not, maybe "good", but it's sooo watchable. And that ad campaign is a particular kitsch pleasure that I can't stop staring at.

Smackdown '57

Smackdown '57: Sayonara, Peyton Place, and Witness for the Prosecution

In the Supporting Actress Smackdown series we take a particular Oscar vintage and explore it with a panel of artists and journalists. This time we're talking 1957

THE ACTRESSES & CHARACTERS
In 1957 Oscar voters were in the mood for fresh faces. Four rising stars (Hope Lange, Carolyn Jones, Miyoshi Umeki, and Diane Varsi) were honored along with one Old Hollywood mainstay, the Bride of Frankenstein herself (Elsa Lanchester). The shortlisted characters were a counter culture partygoer, an exasperated nurse, a Japanese newlywed, and two 18 year-old besties in a small town with both love and grief on their minds.

THE PANELISTS
Here to talk about these performances and movies are filmmaker Q Allan Brocka, theater and film critic Kenji Fujishima, Be Kind Reward's Izzy, film critic Kimberly Pierce, writer/ director/ archivist Brett Wood and your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1957
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

 

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