More Oscar News: The Winners’ Circle is Back!

by Cláudio Alves

On the heels of yesterday's presenters announcement, AMPAS has revealed that it'll be reviving the winners circle presentation of the 81st Academy Awards. That means five past victors will present the acting categories, each presenter dedicating a little speech to one of the year's nominees. As someone who's yearned for its return since 2009, I can't begin to tell you how over the moon I am about this news. And judging by social media, I'm not alone. Oscar obsessives everywhere are rejoicing in anticipation while also theorizing about what stars the Oscar producers will pair together. Judging by the previous list of names, we can make some assumptions, but why not share one's own ideas instead?

If it was up to me, here's who I'd choose to present the acting nominees…

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Brendan Fraser has the Girth

by Cláudio Alves

As one of the world's foremost The Whale haters, I was ready to despise whatever Brendan Fraser was up to in Killers of the Flower Moon. Indeed, part of me relishes how many have turned against our current Best Actor champion, eviscerating him for going ridiculously over-the-top in his brief scenes as William Hale's attorney. And yet, some of the criticism feels unfair, failing to recognize the character's purpose within the film's sprawling canvas and bizarre tonal twists into dark humor. After despising his lauded work under Aronofsky, I now find myself an unlikely Fraser apologist. 

I'm not alone in this, of course. Apple defends him with an appeal to literary authority, and Martin Scorsese has recently said that what the actor did with the role was perfect. In the master's own words, he had that girth...

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Is "Elvis" going to win the Makeup and Hair Oscar?

by Nathaniel R

Austin & Elvis. Image via YouTube comparison

The Makeup and Hair Stylist Guild (MUAHS) gives out prizes in multiple categories and this weekend at their ceremony three Oscar-nominated films in the Makeup category emerged as winners: Black Panther Wakanda Forever, The Whale, and Elvis.

 Only one of them can win at the Oscars. So which might it be? The last five Oscar winners  Darkest Hour, Vice, Bombshell, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and The Eyes of Tammy Faye only have have one thing in common: they all featured at least one famous actor, sometimes multiple famous actors, remade to look like another famous person via prosthetics. This bodes well for Elvis but it's not over till it's over and it has at least one formidable competitor, probably two. The MUAHS awards ceremony and complete list of winners is after the jump...

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Split Decision: "The Whale"

No two people feel the same exact way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of each of the big awards season movies this year. Here’s Abe Friedtanzer & Eric Blume on The Whale

ABE:  Eric, I distinctly remember last year when I mentioned that my favorite movie was CODA that you wanted to start a series where you just kept telling me how bad it was. Well, fortunately or unfortunately, I hear you detest my favorite movie of 2022 just as much, so now you get that chance! I was recently a guest on The Rolling Tape podcast where we had five panelists discussing The Whale and expected someone to be in the "hate it" camp, but it turns out we all loved it. For me, the experience of seeing it in a completely packed press and industry screening at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September was an astounding one, and I left feeling entirely impressed with pretty much everything about it. I soon read about the issues some people had with it, but rather than guess what rubbed you the wrong way, I'll invite you to say your piece before I get to defending my top film of the year.

ERIC:  Abe!  It's a good thing we genuinely like each other enough to dive into this all in good fun.  It's not my fault you like badly-written films! 

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PGA nominates the usual suspects plus "Wakanda Forever" and "The Whale"

by Nathaniel R

The Producers Guild of America has announced their nominations for 2022 entertainment. Their 34th annual awards will be held on Febuary 25th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Nominations and comments and some things to consider while making Oscar predictions are after the jump...

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