Smackdown 2018: Amy, Emma, Rachel, Marina, "and..." Regina King

Presenting Oscar's Chosen 'Supporting' Actresses of the Films of 2018.

Two warring ladies of the royal court, two desperate mothers, and an amoral ambitious politician's wife. That's the 'supporting' actress roll call for the 91st Oscars, though two of the characters are leading ladies. Still, we're here to talk performances, first and foremost. Who wowed us, whose take on their characters left us wanting, and are these actresses making the most of what's in their screenplays? [Sad Disclaimer: Unfortunately since we did not receive screeners this season (moving/address problems) we were unable to do the normal screentime count portion of the Smackdown though we're just as curious as you surely are about how the screentime in The Favourite actually measures up from actress-to-actress. We won't trust any report till we do our own because we've heard conflicting statements, so we will eventually do the count.]

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS   

Here to talk about these five nominated turns are actress Ginny O'Keefe, blogger Robin Write (Filmotomy), two senior Film Experience contributors Murtada Elfadl, Chris Feil, and your host Nathaniel R.  The final collective panelist is the Readers (hey, that means you!!!) who took the time to send us their votes. Okay, let's go!

2018
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN  

 

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Why *None* of the Nominees Can Win Best Picture This Year

by Abe Fried-Tanzer

For those of us who live within the world of Oscar history and statistics, every year brings with it the proclamation that certain benchmarks need to be achieved in order to merit a Best Picture win. In just the past decade, multiple insurmountable obstacles have been bypassed, with Argo triumphing without a Best Director nomination, Birdman winning without a film editing mention, and The Shape of Water managing a win even after it didn’t make the SAG list for its ensemble. All eight films nominated this year have a variable number of impediments standing in their way this year – here’s a breakdown of the top limitations for each nominee.

BlacKkKlansman
This incredible tale of a black cop who infiltrated the KKK has actually checked most of the boxes. It has nominations for directing, writing, and editing, and earned bids from all the relevant guilds. The problem is that it hasn’t won anything, suggesting that it doesn’t have the momentum it needs to garner first-place votes. If anything, it will be Lee who upsets to win the Best Director prize or the film’s screenplay that takes home an award. Being everyone’s third choice won’t help it win the top prize.

Black Panther
As if being the first comic book movie to contend in this race wasn’t enough, the seven-nomination haul for this Marvel blockbuster is actually pretty disappointing...

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12 days til Oscar - a dozen wishes as Oscar voting begins

Though we're dreading the Oscars for the first time in our lives that we can recall (it's that damn gnawing off of their own limbs while in ABC's trap that they're doing) we'll still be watching and hoping for the best. With Oscars just twelve days away and voting beginning here are

12 WISHES FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON...

1. For voters to watch one or two more screeners before they vote. Better, or at least fairer choices will be made if they have seen every option within a category. Particularly in the lower profile categories like Animated Short or Documentaryl don't just vote for Bao or RBG because they're the ones you've seen -- vote for them only if you think they're the actual best.

2. That John Bailey and the Board of Governors realize their disgusting mistake and reverse course yet again restoring the cut categories to the Broadcast. Giving out awards during commercial breaks is shameful and also, as we've heard from people who've attended, extra disrespectful because in the room there is tons of noise during commercial breaks as everyone runs for drinks, bathroom breaks, to visit friends in other seats, etc...

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Beauty vs Beast: Who's the Boss

Happy Monday, Jason from MNPP here with this week's "Beauty vs Beast" poll -- this week we're tackling the two Oscar-moninated performances at the heart of my favorite film of 2018, Alfonso Cuarón's ROMA. Yalitza Aparicio is Cleo, whose pregnancy via local ne'er-do-well charts the course of the film; Marina de Tavira plays Senora Sofia, Cleo's boss whose own relationship is faltering. Two women ghosted, but which is your tops?

online polls

PREVIOUSLY Rachel Weisz won a BAFTA yesterday for The Favourite but even more importantly today she officially won last week's Disobedience poll against her fellow Rachel, McAdams -- might as well toss that BAFTA in the trash, Rach! Said David S:

"Rachel Weisz... love her forever, and I never foresaw her career picking up now instead of ten years ago. I love how proud she is of the love scene, which is one of the best and most specific I've ever seen. I would nominate her for Best Actress and Best Supporting this year, if I had the power! The performance even improves on the second viewing. So does McAdams's. It's all just very subtle... I noticed on Letterboxd that almost no one I follow actually saw this. I hope it gets more viewers over time."

It's BAFTA Time

As per usual the BAFTAs aren't broadcasting live but tape delayed but we'll be watching the arrivals and sharing the winners as we hear about them after the jump...

Right now we're watching clips from the nominee party yesterday and we learned that Melissa McCarthy is a huge fan of The Favourite, saying:

The Favourite broke my brain in the best possible way.

Ours too, Melissa, ours too...

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