Hello, Gorgeous: Best Actress of 2022

A new series by Juan Carlos Ojano

“WHO IS SHE?”, a philosopher named RuPaul once asked.

As with that question, character introductions are vital in storytelling. First impressions are usually given importance right from the page, as those will establish our relationship with said characters. Screenwriters strategize on how they describe a character when they enter the story. Likewise, directors pay attention to how characters enter the story for the first time. Whether those entrances become consistent with the rest of the character or are ultimately subverted as the narrative unfolds even further, they matter a lot. 

Since it is a truth universally acknowledged that Best Actress is perhaps the single most important category in the long history of the Academy Awards, particularly in the lives of its (mostly gay) fans who worship actresses to the ends of the earth, this new series will be focusing on how each of the five Best Actress-nominated performances were introduced in their respective films. Narrative functions, filmmaking decisions, emotional implications, and stray observations included...

Click to read more ...

What's next for the recently Oscar-nominated: Pt 2- Actresses

With the 95th Academy Awards wrapped, it's time to look to the future. We already talked about what's next for last season's most honored directors so let's turn to our favourite subject: Actresses. What's in store for the recently nominated? Read on...

Click to read more ...

Vote on Best Actress. (Plus 'How'd they get nominated?')

The Best Actress chart is fully updated for your viewing pleasure with details, stats, and trivia. Here's one curio trivia bit. We believe that this is only the second time in history when all five Best Actress nominees are from different countries! (Usually it's some combo of Americans, Brits, and Aussies). All that plus our semi-annual "How'd They Get Nominated?" breakdown. Before anyone takes offense at the guesstimate percentages (it's all in good fun) please note that these are NOT performance critiques. A truth: You can give the most brilliant performance of all time and still be nominated for other reasons entirely. Awards races, Oscar and otherwise, are meritocracies only in the utopian ideal sense; People are people (including, thus, all voting bodies be they fans, high brow critics, or Academy members) and their reasons for voting in any given way are multiple and varied and heavily influenced by all sorts of things. Plus, it's all subjective too!

Adrien Brody & Ana de Armas in "Blonde" (Netflix)

Let's start with Ana de Armas in Blonde for an example. How'd she get nominated?

67% Role. Awards bodies have always loved Marilyn portrayals which have led to Emmy, Oscar, and Tony nods for various actresses across multiple decades (though not wins curiously enough).
20% Performance. Even people who didn't love the movie admired her work in it.
6% Globe nomination / ceremony shout-outs revived interest in a crowded race.
5% Knives Out + No Time To Die = rapidly ascending stardom (Big stars have a built in advantage in popularity contests) 
2% Early traction! That September release struck while the iron was hot from Venice festival buzz. Blonde was widely seen (via Netflix) before all but one of the major competitors for the nomination arrived (Michelle Yeoh was the exception).

The other four breakdowns are on the Best Actress page where you can vote daily in the "Who SHOULD win?" poll. 

Nom Reactions Pt 2: Lovely Craft, Headscratching Honors, Default Diane, and Sexiest Shortlist

We polled the team plus some friends of the site about their Oscar nomination reactions and wanted to share those little blurbs with you! (Here's the first four of eight questions if you missed those). Today's questions are...

1. What was your favourite non-acting nomination?
2. Which nomination was the biggest headscratcher?
3. Can anything be done about Diane Warren?
4. The sexiest category is ______

Our answers are after the jump and yours go in the comments...

Click to read more ...

Awards Season Catchup: "Blonde" on Netflix

By Abe Friedtanzer

It’s hard to wait to watch a film months after its release and not be at least somewhat affected by what the public thinks about it. To say that the Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde has not received favorable mentions is an understatement. Still everyone has opinions so it seemed possible that there might be something worthwhile about it, like Ana de Armas’ Golden Globe-nominated performance or the Oscar-shortlisted makeup and hairstyling. Seeing the NC-17 rating and the daunting 2-hour-and-47-minute runtime at the start of the film sets up certain expectations, and, somehow, this film still manages to surprise, and not in a good way.

Blonde opens in black-and-white on a young Norma Jeane Mortensen (Lily Fisher) and her mother Gladys (Julianne Nicholson), who shows Norma a photo of a celebrity she claims is her father. Gladys quickly descends into a manic state, driving her young daughter straight towards a fire while everyone else is running the other way...

Click to read more ...