Best Ensemble, Casting, Stunts, and More...

by Nathaniel R

EEAAO an easy choice for "Best Ensemble" discussions.

With the SAG Awards airing tonight -- we expect to see encore speeches from Blanchett, Fraser, Bassett, and Quan since the acting winners tend to get set in stone once televised ceremonies begin -- let's talk acting categories that Oscar doesn't have. Here are my personal favourites for Casting, Ensemble, Stunts, and Juvenile Performances, a couple of prizes which SAG has and two that they don't...

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Film Bitch Awards: Best Supporting Actor Ballot

by Nathaniel R

Brian Tyree Henry in "Causeway"

Historically among the main acting categories, Best Supporting Actor is where the Film Bitch Awards diverge most strongly from Oscar's path. Oscar tends to use the category for co-leads (anathema to us!) or for career achievements (that's fine when the performance is excellent but otherwise, no thanks!) or for star turns that are fine but don't do much for your host here. So imagine my surprise when Oscar exhibited mostly good taste in this category this year robbing us of a superiority complex in our exceptional taste in this category (haha). During awards season it was a pleasant surprise to see Barry Keoghan pick up steam (despite internal competition from a co-lead, which often ruins the chances for honors for supporting actors) for Banshees of Inisherin. And he even won the BAFTA this weekend!

On nomination morning my biggest inclusion thrill was the long shot triumph of Brian Tyree Henry in Causeway...

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Year in Review: Best Music and Soundscapes

by Nathaniel R

Are all cinephiles "visual" people or are some more sonically attuned? I ask this because in order to draw up my own lists of "bests" in the aural categories, I have to really focus to note the soundscapes. In some cases, as with the sinuous alien creepiness of Nope and the haunted bold swings of TAR, the genius is hard to miss even for those of us who are more visually oriented. If any of you have theories as to how Oscar's sound branch didn't include either in even their finalist lists, I'm all ears... no pun intended.

For the most part it's the images I remember which may explain why I am so allergic to end credit songs over a dark screen being hailed the "Best" of any given season in Original Song. Marry the images and sound and it's far more memorable and valuable to the overall film experience...

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Halfway Mark 1: Fav Films & Miscellaneous Achievements of 2022 (thus far)

by Nathaniel R

The following list honors films released between January 1st, 2022 and June 30th, 2022. Obviously studios save the bulk of their perceived "prestige" pictures until the back half of the year but we always hope that lists like this will remind them they don't need to and to remind audiences that there's good stuff all year round. These are not official nominees for our own film bitch awards but they do function as reminder lists as we compile year-end stuff later on. If every Academy member and critic did this, awards season would be far more varied and film culture would be more robust because people would be seeing movies all year round and not cramming in only a small heap of them at year's end. 

Okay off of the soapbox and on to the favourites of 2022 (thus far) in alpha order by category. The pictures do not indicate winners as they're all winners. This is just an appreciation for these artists and movies...  

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That's a wrap on the 2021/2022 film awards season!

Another film year has wrapped up here at The Film Experience. Though we go by the calendar year for all awards purposes, when it comes to the film year, we think of it as as running from the day after the Oscars through to the next Oscar night. So Happy 2022 to all of you. We're about to start all over again.

THE BIG SHOW
• The Ceremony Reviewed
• The Slap
• Best Dressed Polls
• 5 Best Speeches
• Top 10 Fashions
• On the 3 Hosts: Amy, Regina, and Wanda
• Ranking the Clips
• Appeal to the Academy re: Lady Gaga
• Podcast Discussion

EXTRAS
• Chris James' Fabulous Annual Oscar Party
• The Help as Good Luck Charm
• Records & Trivia
• What's Next for the Directors
• What's Next for the Actors
• What's Next for the Actresses
• Winners List & Charts

And of course there was a lot before that as well if you click on any tag for various actors and films!

Best of 2021 - Off-Oscar

• Nathaniel's Top 12 - from Flee to The Power of the Dog
• 22nd Annual Film Bitch Awards - Our annual celebratory medals party in 40 categories from the Oscar parallels to Diva of the Year, Best Cameos, Musical Sequences, and more.
• 10th Annual Team Experience Awards - Voted on by all of our contributors
• Year in Review Lists - Entertainer of the Year, etc...

Previous Highlights
May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Feb 2022

WHAT'S NEXT?
If you've ever considered subscribing (see right hand sidebar --> ) now would be a perfect time. The site operates on the barest of shoestrings and it's been really tough for a few years now. We'd like to keep going until our 25th anniversary but we need help. 

COMING THIS SUMMER IF YOU'LL BE HERE TO SUPPORT US

✅ Supporting Actress Smackdown Season (and companion 'year of the month' festivities for 1951, 1997, 2004) - dates TBA

✅ Emmy Coverage - we're hoping to do more than we've ever done (the budget thing again -- gotta sell more advertisements!) so let us know what series you'd to see more on right here. Which are 'most cinematic' to you?

✅ CINEMA: Cannes Film Festival, Elvis, The Northman, Fiddler's Journey to the Big Screen, BROS, Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and Mrs Harris Goes to Paris among others.

✅ "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" weekly film club -- join in!

✅ Centennial Parties: Doris Day (early April), Judy Garland (early June), and Eleanor Parker (late June)

✅ And much randomness. You know how we do 'off season'