Don’t worry, Chalamaniacs, Timmy will be fine!

by Cláudio Alves

First look at Timothée Chalamet in DUNE: PART THREE | © Warner Bros.

The period between the Oscar nominations announcement and the actual 98th Academy Awards ceremony hasn’t been easy for Timothée Chalamet’s most ardent fans. From presumed Best Actor frontrunner, he became an also-ran. Honestly, considering what we saw of the final results, he may not have been the second-placer either. Anyway, more than losing the prize, he was the butt of half a dozen jokes throughout the ceremony, with the winning team from Two Strangers Exchanging Saliva going as far as alluding to the opera and ballet comments that set social media and the world of performing arts aflame in the week after Oscar voting closed. However, the situation can and has been a tad overblown.

So, as the title suggests, I’m here to ask Chalamaniacs not to worry, not to panic, calm down. Timmy will be just fine…

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Oscar Volley: “Best Actor” will be a nail-biter to the bitter end

The Oscar Volleys continue. Today, CLÁUDIO ALVES and EUROCHEESE discuss the Oscar race for Best Actor.

Timothée Chalamet in MARTY SUPREME | © A24

CLÁUDIO: Last year in movies turned out to be an odd one for me. Mostly because, when I looked at my spreadsheets and lists to make up a ballot, the male acting categories felt markedly richer than their female counterparts. This never happens, not to me, at least. Yet, here we are. And while the supporting acting races don't necessarily show this - the Supporting Actress quintet AMPAS chose is one of the strongest we've had in years, mayhap decades - the leads bear the truth of the matter quite starkly.

In other words, I'm surprisingly happy to be discussing Best Actor rather than Best Actress in this year's volleys. I'm even happier to be doing it with you, Eurocheese! Are you similarly enthused?

EUROCHEESE: Same! I could have easily filled ten Actress slots the prior year, but last year saw a slew of brilliant male leads, making the limit to five a difficult choice. I can't complain about the choices the Academy made here - all five deserve their names in this lineup...

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Oscar Volley: Can the world's biggest movie star win the Best Actor race? Surely not!

The Oscar Volleys are back! Tonight, it's time for Eric Blume and Nathaniel Rogers to discuss the Best Actor race...

Leonardo DiCaprio in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER | © Warner Bros.

ERIC: Nathaniel, I feel so lucky getting you all to myself to discuss this year's Best Actor race. There are probably several candidates we have yet to see this season, but let's dive in.  

It seems to me that the one actor most guaranteed a nomination also has zero chance of actually winning: Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another. The film will have a big nomination haul, and because his performance seems to be universally beloved (as opposed to his work in Killers of the Flower Moon, where he was may be objectively bad?), I think he's in. But there's no way he's winning. Too many other candidates with overdue narratives or even flashier parts…

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Oscar Volleys: Brody vs. Chalamet in Best Actor

The Oscar Volleys are back for some post-nomination talks. Today, Eric Blume and Eurocheese discuss the Best Actor race...

SING SING | © A24

ERIC:  Hi Euro, I'm thrilled for this one-on-one with you to discuss our five Best Actor candidates.  While I'm eager to discuss the actual race, because I think we have a real race here with several possible outcomes...what are your thoughts on the nominees themselves?  How do you feel about the five?  I think one is a little weaker than the rest (and that's Colman Domingo, more to come), but all in all a wonderful quintet full of talented actors doing very fine work.  What is your take?

EUROCHEESE:  That's funny - of the five here, Colman Domingo would actually have my vote…

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Split Decision: "A Complete Unknown"

In the Split Decision series, two of our writers face off on an Oscar-nominated movie one loves and the other doesn't. Today, Eric Blume and Ben Miller discuss A Complete Unknown...

ERIC:  Hey Ben!  It's cool to be able to discuss A Complete Unknown with you.  I didn't love the movie, but I did find it very entertaining until its final reel, and it kind of felt like the kind of sturdy Hollywood films they don't make very often nowadays.  I have lots of thoughts about it, but where do you stand on the movie overall? 

BEN:  This is where we diverge, because outside of some of the supporting performances, I found it dreadful.  I wasn't even entertained.  The entire film felt like an anti-musical biopic, but the more it tried to get away from the formula, the more it leaned into it...

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