Almost There: Mike Faist in "West Side Story"

by Cláudio Alves

While the role has been shortened compared to the 1961 Best Picture winner, Mike Faist's Riff feels exponentially more complex than Russ Tamblin's take on the same character. So much so that he became one of the standouts of West Side Story '21 and won our Almost There poll, trumping the likes of Lady Gaga and Cate Blanchett. As it was the reader's choice, I'm obliged to explore the performance in an appropriate deep-dive. Though, truth be told, it's less obligation than plasure. Maybe the great surprise of the season, Mike Faist steals the musical remake from his co-stars, running away with the picture. 

From innate charisma to a cornucopia of curious acting choices, Mike Faist's Riff is worthy of gold, regardless of the Academy's indifference…

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Fantasy Cast: Which Former Acting Winners Should Present For Each Oscar Nominee?

By: Christopher James

Screw the MCU, this is the greatest crossover event in history.

In a quest to get to three hours, the Academy has attempted to shave off so many things that make the Oscars great, including eight categories. As Nathaniel eloquently noted, the Oscars are best when they embrace the excess, full of clips, montages and moments to celebrate the nominees and the art of moviemaking in general. One of the best examples of this came during the 2008 Oscars, hosted by Hugh Jackman. Yes, Jackman was a great host with multiple fantastic dance numbers, including a bit about how “he didn’t see The Reader” and declaring the musical is back. There was one other major thing that was incredible about that particular Oscar ceremony: the presentation of the acting awards. Murtada also looked back on this wonderful moment a couple years back as well. These Oscars were not afraid of taking their time. In addition to clips, a different winner from a previous year introduced each acting nominee. The producers for that year didn’t just pick former winner names out of a hat, they found some thematic connection between the nominee and the former winner, as if to say that everyone has a chance. It was an exciting way to accentuate the legacy of the Oscars, honor each nominee and make the event even more star studded than normal. 

Let's fantasize about that happening again...

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Jesse Plemons is an Oscar lucky charm

by Cláudio Alves

Mr. Kirsten Dunst is a lucky guy, wouldn't you say? The past decade has seen him rise in prominence, acting in movies by some of today's greatest directors – Spielberg! Scorsese! Campion! – while also delivering a slew of memorable performances in supporting roles. After earning TV awards glory, he finally transferred that same acclaim to big screen prizes, winning his first Academy Award nomination in the same movie that got his wife an overdue recognition. For awards aficionados, his turn as George Burbank in The Power of the Dog holds even more Oscar trivia goodness. You see, when Jane Campion's latest scored a Best Picture nomination, it marked the fifth consecutive year of Plemons starring in a movie up for the Academy's greatest trophy…

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Best Supporting Actor - "How'd he get nominated?"

by Nathaniel R

The Best Supporting Actor Chart now contains a ton more information and a poll which you can vote on daily. If you fused all these men into one Oscar-Nominee they'd be a 6' tall 49 year-old veteran character actor with 41 films under their belt and experiencing their first career nomination thanks to the help of a female director. Incredibly the majority of this acting lineup was directed by a woman -- an Oscar first...

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Film Bitch Awards ~ Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, and more are up!

With the arrival of that Top Ten List you knew this was coming. The 22nd (gulp) annual Film Bitch Awards have commenced. We'll try to get all the Oscar-adjacent nominees up before Tuesday...

Page 1 - BEST PICTURE, DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAYS, ANIMATED FEATURE
Various honors for C'mon C'mon, Flee, In the Heights, Mass, Passing, Power of the Dog, West Side Story, The Worst Person in the World (finally in theaters!), and Zola

Page 2 - BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR & BEST ACTOR
You might have deduced these first five acting nominees (Colman Domingo, Mike Faist, Troy Kotsur, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Kodi Smit McPhee) given our noisy enthusiams! The lead actors are also up. Guess who!

Page 3 - CINEMATOGRAPHY, MAKEUP 
Page 4 - ORIGINAL SONG, SOUND
Honors for Annette, Cruella, Dune, Encanto, French Dispatch, Green Knight, Tragedy of Macbeth etcetera with more to come...