Posterized: Glenn Close

by Nathaniel R

Glenn at the UK premiere of The Wife earlier this monthWith The Wife expanding to 78 movie theaters today, more of you will now have the chance to see the performance that's won Glenn Close so many raves. So let's consider this weekend the kick-off to what we hope will be a competitive but satisfying Best Actress race since Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) and Emma Stone (The Favourite) are in the process of making big splashes at Venice as we type this. To celebrate the Oscar campaign for Glenn Close, let's look back on her filmography, shall we? Balder & Dash beat us to a very fine essay about her whole career and we're glad they did because plans to do a whole Glenn Close Week here failed; weirdly  I discovered that a lot of members of Team Experience are agnostic about her! I have had an up and down relationship with this Connecticut-born Oscar favorite, myself, but I am most definitely not agnostic about her performance in The Wife. I think it's the best she's been in 20 years and I'm thrilled (and surprised) to be quoted on the poster for the movie.

Here is her entire feature film career via movie posters. We've mixed in a few key TV projects so that this will feel more comprehensive, since Close has spent major time there, as well. How many of these 51 Glenn Close performances have you seen?

Click to read more ...

Who will win the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Drama?

By Spencer Coile 

Emmy voting is currently underway (ballots are due on the 27th), so it’s time to start digging into some of the more exciting categories this year has to offer. The Supporting Actress in a Drama field is always tricky to navigate – we hope for inspired wins, but end up with repeat winners, such as Anna Gunn for Breaking Bad or Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey. 

That’s why it is exhilarating when an unexpected name is called on Emmy night, for instance: Archie Panjabi on The Good Wife or Ann Dowd last year for The Handmaid’s Tale. This year, Dowd is back. Will she repeat or will someone else be victorious? 

Click to read more ...

Tues Top 10: Oscar's All Time Favorite Supporting Actresses

Let's discuss Oscar hiearchies. This one is ultra specific and could be argued that it doesn't exist since actors can be nominated in leading categories, too. But we love ultra niche rankings and trivial Oscar Trivia, and you do too! So who are Oscar's 10 favorite supporting actresses of all time? We'll work the ranking like so: Supporting nominations count most, and wins act like half a nomination to help determine rank. The tiebreaker is the spread of time of nominations which can denote either long term fandom on the Academy's part or more shortlived enthusiasms. If a final tiebreaker is still required (and it is in the case of the second place ranking on this list), that's the only time activity in the Leading Actress category is factored in. READY?

The Ten Most Oscar-Lauded Supporting Women

RUNNER UP: 
AMY ADAMS (4 nominations across a 7 year period)
Her leading miss for Arrival (2016) despite its Best Picture nomination could mean her Oscar time is up (it ends for most performers at some point, no matter how beloved they are). On the other hand that might have just been the actors branch bias against science fiction throwing a tight race. If she's nominated for the political drama Backseat this year, she might be impossible to beat given the decade plus of momentum. Currently in Sharp Objects on HBO.

Click to read more ...

Supporting Actress Smackdowns, All Episodes

by Nathaniel R

The Supporting Actress Smackdown began at StinkyLulu's dearly departed blogspot many years ago. We revived the series here for summertime airings with his blessing a few years ago, and get this, there are only 25 years that haven't been visited. If you axe the years that are too recent for retrospectives and remove the years that have a missing film (neither streaming nor available on DVD) than we're down to only 12 years that we can visit!

In total 56 years have been reviewed. In those Smackdowns, the rotating panel has agreed with Oscar 48% of the time (if you count ties that included the Oscar winner as agreement. Though Oscar has never had a tie in a Supporting category there have been six ties at the Smackdown.) Herewith an index of where we've been and where we might go next...

Click to read more ...

Yes No Maybe So: If Beale Street Could Talk

by Nathaniel R

James Baldwin's "If Beale Street Could Talk" was published in the summer of 1974, forty-four years ago. It feels like we've waited about that many years for any hint of what Barry Jenkins film adaptation might look like since he announced his intention to film it, a year or so ago. The trailer has finally arrived, temporarily satiating our curiousity. Temporarily. It's the type of trailer that relies extensively on moodiness rather than what-the-film-is-actually-like reveal. Let's break it down after the jump with our Yes, No, Maybe So system...

Click to read more ...