Oscar Charts: Best Actor & Best Actress

by Nathaniel R

Stewart and Cumberbatch have hogged the lion's share of critics awards. Will gold statues follow?

Both lead acting charts have been updated so take a look at BEST ACTOR and BEST ACTRESS. Both categories are giving off the vibes of being set in stone already before SAG has even announced their nominations so we'll soon see if that's an illusion or the truth. I've made one big adjustment in Best Actor, having Leonardo DiCaprio in Don't Look Up vault over rising but minor critical darling Nicolas Cage in Pig and knocking out Peter Dinklage in Cyrano. Cage maybe could have happened had critics really rallied but they were too busy praising Benedict Cumberbatch to really take a Pig stand. As for Dinklage, though the role is an awards magnet,  MGM/UA just didn't seem to know what to do with that film even though it's a) easy to market b) well liked by most people who see it... and kept pushing back its release. Better to have just saved it for 2022 at this point we think. And for Best Actress, there are no major changes, just a bit of order shuffling. I'm sticking with the five women who keep getting cited everywhere. Yes, there is a lot of PERFORMANCE and PASSION happening in the second tier of Best Actress hopefuls but it's getting harder and harder to see a path for any of them, even previous Oscar darlings like Penelope Cruz (Parallel Mothers) and buzzy newcomers like Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza). Unless SAG honors one of them, it's this five until Oscar night. 

Revised Oscar Charts

• Director
• Lead Actress
• Lead Actor
• Supporting Actress
• Supporting Actor
• Cinematography
• Production Design
• Film Editing
• Visual Effects
• Makeup and Hairstyling
• International Feature Film
• Animated Feature
• Documentary Feature

Some Thoughts on the Best Actor Race

by Eric Blume

While Nathaniel updates the Oscar charts over the next two days, I thought I'd chime on with some thoughts on one of the year's most packed-with-candidates categories, Best Actor.  It's always good for TFE readers to talk about the big races, and I'm here to offer a perhaps unpopular take. Since the debut of King Richard at TIFF in September, many have crowned Will Smith as the runaway winner of this year's Oscar.  Smith is a well-liked, bona fide movie star with twenty years of box office hits and solid performances.  He may indeed be our victor.  But after finally catching up with the film this past weekend, I'm going to put it out there that I don't think his victory as assured as so many do.

Sure, Smith gives a charismatic and spirited performance in the film, and his megawatt charm holds the picture together despite its weaknesses and cliches.  But there's not much of an arc to this character, who finishes the picture right where he starts it...

Click to read more ...

FYC: Simon Rex for Best Actor

by Cláudio Alves

Ever since the project premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, Red Rocket's leading man has been praised by critics and spotlighted as a potential Best Actor contender. Perhaps more accurately, Simon Rex has been described as one of those cases where a performance should be in contention even if their chances are null. Indeed, Rex seems to have been forgotten by awards voters as the season progresses, even though reviews still sing his praises. Now that Sean Baker's latest movie is hitting theaters, maybe the actor can get his moment in the sun. While the man's turn as a washed-up porn star could have been nothing more than stunt casting, Rex transcends such pitfalls. His take on one of the year's most loathsome characters is Oscar-worthy…

Click to read more ...

Will Smith is the Best Actor frontrunner. But who else is coming to that party?

by Nathaniel R

While the Best Supporting Actress race, discussed yesterday (and chart updated), is a little fuzzy and possibly volatile with major performances still left to screen, Best Actor is feeling more or less concrete in terms of available possibilities. Mind you, the cement is still wet.

THE FRONTRUNNERS
Two time nominee Will Smith (King Richard) and one-time nominee Benedict Cumberbatch (Power of the Dog) have the early lead. Both films are widely screened and well liked and both roles are actorly showcases.  Major stardom does a lot of footwork in building Oscar traction; they both have that advantage, too. But who will join them?

Click to read more ...

Almost There: Robert Mitchum in "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison" and "The Sundowners"

by Cláudio Alves

This month, the Criterion Channel has programmed a collection called "Robert Mitchum: Playing It Cool," dedicated to the star of classics like Out of the Past and The Night of the Hunter. This movie star wasn't always the easiest person to work with – he was even declared the Least Cooperative Actor by the Golden Apple Awards – but his talent was undeniable, as was his screen presence. That quality would make him an iconic face of postwar film noir and, consequently, a perfect fit for 'Noirvember'. However, we're not here to discuss that part of his filmography. Unfortunately, those flicks seldom got awards traction, and the Almost There series is about performances with Oscar buzz but no nomination. 

Instead, the focus shall be on a couple of Deborah Kerr vehicles that costarred Mitchum and resulted in multiple Oscar nods. They were John Huston's Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, and Fred Zinnemann's The Sundowners…

Click to read more ...