Ellen Burstyn's Oscar history

by Cláudio Alves

At 88 years of age, Ellen Burstyn is back on the hunt for gold and she might just become the oldest acting Oscar nominee of all-time for her work in Kornél Mundruczó's Pieces of a Woman. (The record is currently held by Christopher Plummer in All the Money in the World, who had just turned 88 at the time but Burstyn would be just a bit older). Burstyn's film, now streaming on Netflix, concerns Vanessa Kirby's Martha, a woman dealing with the unimaginable pain of having lost her newborn daughter. Burstyn plays the protagonist's mother, a severe matriarch whose disapproval of her daughter's life choices is an incandescent force, blinding in its intensity.

The actress breathes life into this supporting role, illuminating the brittleness, the scars of past woes, and the terror brought upon by the first signs of dementia. It's a showy performance, complete with an Oscar clip-ready monologue that unspools from Burstyn like a torrent of misdirected fervor. As we ponder if AMPAS will grace the thespian with another honor, let's look at her record with the Academy. Ellen Burstyn has been nominated six times and won once… 

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Review: Vanessa Kirby is a tour de force in "Pieces of a Woman"

by Matt St Clair

British thespian Vanessa Kirby has been on a steady rise, having earned an Emmy nomination for playing Princess Margaret on The Crown while kicking action ass in both Mission Impossible: Fallout and Hobbs & Shaw. With Pieces of a Woman, Kirby is finally given a project where she takes center stage and she emerges as the shining star of a picture that’s drenched in darkness due to its distressing subject matter.

The first major sequence in Pieces of a Woman involving Martha's (Kirby) home birth will be a deal-breaker for some viewers...

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Almost There: Meg Ryan in "When Harry Met Sally..."

by Cláudio Alves

Last week, we examined a Christmas movie performance that came close to Oscar glory to celebrate the holidays. Now that we're coming to the end of this cursed 2020, it seems appropriate to choose a New Year's Eve film. When it came time to pick such a picture, my mind immediately went to f Rob Reiner's 1989 When Harry Met Sally…, a perfect rom-com whose Nora Ephron-penned screenplay earned a much-deserved Academy Award nomination. Our focus shall be on the Sally of the title, Meg Ryan giving a comedienne's masterclass…

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Dead Man Walking @ 25: Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar

by Cláudio Alves

25 years ago, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking opened in theatres. The film dramatizes the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, the close relationship she forged, as a spiritual adviser, with convicted murderers on death row. Here, they are made into the composite fictional figure of Matthew Poncelet. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn take on the lead roles, delivering two of the best performances of their respective careers. He received his first Oscar nomination out of it. She was honored with her fifth nod and, presently, her last. And she finally won the Best Actress trophy. 

The actress may be a controversial figure, but I'm not here to litigate her politics or the way she chooses to express them. Instead, I'd like to look at her achievements as a performer, specifically the five works that paved the way to that triumph on the night of the 67th Academy Awards. Join me – won't you? – as we explore Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar… 

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Frances McDormand, Vogue Cover Girl!

by Nathaniel R

Whoa. Frances McDormand is the cover star of Vogue's January issue (the profile is up now). It's not every day you see a 60something woman on the cover of a legendary fashion magazine! But Frances McDormand is hardly an every day kind of woman. She's more of the 'only a few times a generation' sort. The only other 60something woman to make Vogue's cover in the past twenties year was Meryl Streep...

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