Paul Newman @ 100: "The Verdict"

by Nick Taylor

First thing’s first: HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY PAUL NEWMAN!!!! Everyone say “Happy Birthday Paul!!” in the comments. As I said when giving backstory on my first Newman installment, Sidney Lumet's The Verdict was one of my first encounters with the actor’s filmography. Even admitting my many, many blind spots, I think it’s fair to say The Verdict stands apart in his retinue of troubled men.

So many of Paul Newman’s characters storm into their films as men to be reckoned with, men capable of announcing themselves as singularly indomitable without saying a word. This is not the case for Frank Galvin, a washed-up, alcoholic lawyer on his last legs. Frank is shorn of the charismatic showmanship Newman wielded so adroitly throughout his career. Instead we’re asked to see him as a failure, a man gunked onto the bottom of the barrel and finally fighting to get out after wasting years wallowing in pity and booze . . . .

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Paul Newman @ 100: "Cool Hand Luke"

by Nick Taylor

I'm not sure when I first became aware of Paul Newman. Much like how Nathaniel described in his write-up of The Hustler, he's been a ubiquitous figure without a clear entry point into my consciousness. My big introductions to him as an actor came with the one-two punch of Hud - which Juan Carlos paid great tribute to - and Cool Hand Luke (on referral from Nick Davis's excellent write-up of both films). I also went springboarding from my love of Law & Order reruns straight to The Verdict and was completely awed by the whole film, but that's for later. Newman's career is so impressive that even with so much time to catch up with his filmography, try his sauces, learn more about his activism, and read his incredible biography from last year, I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface of what he contributed to the world.

But today, we're here for one man. A cool man with a cool hand. A man working hard to retain his individuality against folks determined to flatten him into whatever paragon best serves them. Set in the post-war Florida of the early 1950s, our next dive into Paul Newman's decorated career is his rebellious, discontent war veteran in Stuart Rosenberg's Cool Hand Luke...

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Paul Newman @ 100: "The Hustler"

by Nathaniel R

Paul Newman's second Oscar nomination came for THE HUSTLER (1961). All screenshots sourced from FilmGrab.

A smiling illustration on salad dressing bottles, a serious visage on movie posters, a guest on television talk shows? I can't recall when I first became aware of Paul Newman. He was always there, an unmoving fixture of popular culture. When I was a kid he'd already been in the movie business for 30 years. For most stars, two back-to-back lead Oscar nominations in your late 50s (Absence of Malice and The Verdict) would be a winding down or a swan song but Paul Newman was the definition of "enduring". When I started hitting movie theaters on the regular he was just 30 years into a career but there was still tank in the gas. He'd be back to the Oscars as a nominee thrice more, four if you count the Honorary statue.

For today's celebration, we're travelling way back to his second Oscar nomination to meet "Fast Eddie" Felson in The Hustler (1961)...

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Team Experience Oscar Predictions: Pre-Globe Jitters

by Cláudio Alves

Wake up, Ani. The Team Experience sees lots of gold in your near future!Mere hours before the Golden Globes kickstart the televised part of the season and crown the first big precursor winners, let's unveil the Team Experience Oscar predictions. As in years past, various members of The Film Experience's writing team were asked to deliver their Academy Award predictions, contributing to some collective punditry. This season, you can count on my best guesses and those of Eric Blume, baby Clyde, Eurocheese, Abe Friedtanzer, Christopher James, Ben Miller, Nick Taylor, plus the one and only Nathaniel Rogers. For this first set of team predictions, we've focused on the so-called "above the line" categories, plus Animated and International Film for good measure. In other words, the races that tonight's ceremony might shake up…

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Oscar Volley: Best Actor - locked and loaded?

Lynn Lee and Ben Miller discuss the Best Actor race.

Ralph Fiennes in CONCLAVE. Will it *finally* be his time?

LYNN: First, a double disclaimer: 1. I haven’t yet seen some of the likely Oscar contenders this year, including in this category.  2. I’m also generally pretty meh on this year’s contenders (and movies) as a whole, especially compared with last year’s embarrassment of riches.  This also extends to the best actor category, which was overflowing with worthy candidates last year, whereas this year I’m not sure I could even pick a top five I have strong feelings about, at least based on what I've seen so far.  

All that said, my one bright hope for this season is that Ralph Fiennes finally gets his Oscar...

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