Almost There: Paul Bettany in "Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World"

by Cláudio Alves

Paul Bettany's one of those actors who feels like an Oscar nominee despite having never received love from the Academy. Since the late 90s, the British thespian has starred in various awards-friendly titles, including a Best Picture winner, and is regularly praised by critics even when his projects disappoint. Nonetheless, AMPAS always ignores him. His best shot came in 2003 when his supporting turn in Peter Weir's Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World earned him some well-deserved buzz. Since the actor just celebrated his 50th birthday, I chose to celebrate the occasion by looking back at that performance in a special entry to the Almost There series…

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2000: The year of Joaquin Phoenix's ascension

In preparation for the next Smackdown Team Experience is traveling back to 2000.

by Cláudio Alves

More than two decades after the fact, it's interesting to look back at a specific artist's career and denote the exact moment when their trajectory changed. In the moment you can sometimes see that a turning point is happening, but it's only when looking retroactively that the true magnitude of some events becomes apparent. In 2000 one actor's meteoric rise to stardom shines brighter than all others. It's fair to say that it was the year of Joaquin Phoenix's ascension…

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93rd Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (aka Best Lead Actor Overfill)

by Christopher James

(from left, clockwise) Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Paul Raci, Leslie Odom Jr. and Sacha Baron Cohen make up the 2020 Supporting Actor race.Category fraud has been talked about extensively at The Film Experience. Yet, year after year the supporting categories are filled with leading performances. This year, one could argue that four-fifths of the Supporting Actor field is made up of leading performances. How is a true supporting actor supposed to compete with a lead performance that has been strategically "demoted."

Bad blood aside, the field is filled with many interesting performances from a diverse group of nominees. Even better, four of the five nominees are celebrating their first acting nomination this year. The Oscars can often be accused of repeatedly nominating their favorite actors, whether or not they deserve it, so it's nice to see fresh blood...

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The Oscars' real people problem

by Cláudio Alves

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired of the biopic domination of the acting Oscar categories. Admittedly, such distaste comes from my general dislike of prestige cinema's biographical genre, but the situation is truly glaring. This year, 45% of the nominated performances are of real people whose lives were dramatized on-screen, exercises in actorly mimicry, and direct emulation. It's not that these achievements aren't impressive or worthy of awards, but that they're over-represented a great deal. Most narrative films aren't dramatizations of actual events or the lives of celebrities no matter how much AMPAS' selection might make us think otherwise. It's a pity that other kinds of character construction tend to be underappreciated while biopic roles become frontrunners before anyone has even seen the movie…

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Interview: Colman Domingo on "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and his slow burn career

This interview was originally published in an abridged version at Towleroad

a recent image from Colman's instagram

by Nathaniel R

Colman Domingo’s laugh is everything you hope it could be. Big, throaty, warm. It’s probably a little disarming for those who haven’t seen the full estimable range of his work and only know him from one of his tougher roles, like AMC’s zombie series  Fear the Walking Dead.  I first met him off the clock at a bar during the Toronto Film Festival a few years ago. Though I don’t usually approach celebrities in non-work circumstances I risked it if only to express appreciation (actors who’ve always been out of the closet deserve our respect). We ended up chatting over a drink. When I bring this chance meeting up, rather than shrugging off the awkward familiarity Colman begins to laugh. “We sure did!” he says enthusiastically before drifting into a familiar conversation — as so many of us have now — about how much he misses meeting and hugging people in person.

We spoke over Zoom in February, almost a year into the pandemic...

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