Almost There: Amy Adams in "Arrival"

by Cláudio Alves

With Hillbilly Elegy upon us, two of Oscar's perennial bridesmaids are back on the hunt for gold. Most of the movie's buzz has centered on Glenn Close's latest attempt at enshrining her career in the glory of Hollywood's most coveted trophy. However, one shouldn't ignore Amy Adams, an Oscar-hungry actress who's only one winless nomination away from tying her costar's record of seven nods and no victory. She'd have already tied Close if not for her infamous snub in 2016.

Despite starring in a Best Picture contender with eight overall nominations, earning citations from the Globes, BAFTA, SAG, and the BFCA, Amy Adams failed to conquer a place in AMPAS' Best Actress lineup for her performance in Arrival…

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Podcast: Hillbilly Elegy, The Life Ahead, and Gotham nominations

with Nathaniel R & Murtada Elfadl

We're back !

Index (60 minutes)
00:01 Gotham Award Nominations. There is lots to discuss including First Cow, The Assistant, Nicole Beharie, Riz Ahmed, and longshots in Oscar races
28:00 Sophia Loren's star vehicle The Life Ahead
35:10 Ron Howard's Hillbilly Elegy. Amy Adams stars. We still think Glenn Close as "Mamaw" has a good shot at a nomination despite the rough reviews
54:30 Randomness to wrap up + Nathaniel finally saw Mulan 

Related Reading:
• Complete Gotham nominations
• Murtada's review of Miss Juneteenth
• Jason's review of First Cow
• Time interview
• Claudio's review of The Life Ahead

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? 

Hillbilly, Gothams, Life Ahead

Yes No Maybe So: Hillbilly Elegy

Can the movie world please slow down? After months of nothing much happening, everything is happening at once. Three more festivals start today and the trailers keep hitting. It's as if we're in a typical year's mid October even though Oscar nomination battles are not two months away (as they'd usually be) but four months away. Early buzz on Hillbilly Elegy has been a bit hard to read. Is it going to be bad? Is it going to be good? Is it going to be so bad it's good camp classic. Is it going to wow and compete for all the Oscars or none after face-planting? 

Glenn Close and Amy Adams Arguing About Who is Going to Win the Oscar First: The Movie (2020) pic.twitter.com/VDZgSVjQze

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) October 15, 2020

We'd argue that the trailer does not answer these questions although there is a lot of capital A acting (which is always hard to judge out of context though lord knows everyone does when they see trailers) So we invite you to contribute your own Yes No and Maybe So in the comments as we're at a loss.

P.S. We've adjusted the Best Actress (Amy) and Best Supporting Actress (Glenn) charts to reflect the confirmed campaigns. 

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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Links: An Amy Adams Double, Nolan Rankings, and Homosexual Erasure

Must Reads
• Vulture Rachel Handler hilariously ranks Christopher Nolan's movies by how willing she would be to die for the privilege of seeing them in movie theaters.
• The Hollywood Report looks back at the making of X-Men (2000) and how it created a monster with young director Bryan Singer

More after the jump including Amy Adams-centric news, "Do You Have the Antibodies?" a hit waiting to happen, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof's failures, a new Brad Pitt project and more...

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