By Alan Hurst John’s recent look at the Oscar snubs of Nicole Kidman and Tom Hanks got me thinking. They’re both winners and multiple nominees, but they also have a resume of performances that somehow Oscar overlooked. Coming from another generation of stars, Shirley MacLaine is another one who can be listed with Kidman and…
By John H. Foote With four Academy Award nominations and one win for Best Actress in The Hours (2002), Nicole Kidman appears headed for her fifth nomination this year as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. Her win for her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours left many cold. Much was made of the…
By John H. Foote Tom Hanks is often hailed as America’s most beloved actor. Despite this, the ever-fickle Academy seems to take every opportunity it can to bring him down a notch. The Academy has a long history of ignoring talent once they have received a few nominations. Case in point, Mr. Hanks. Yes, he…
By John H. Foote With the major film festivals winding down, the candidates for the Academy Awards are becoming much clearer than they were at the end of August. More than 20 films are now being touted by the critics as good Oscar bets. Here is my look at the frontrunners and the categories they…
By John H. Foote My two favourite categories have always been the supporting actor and actress awards. One can quite literally watch a star be born within this category, often moving on to the Best Actress award. Among the actresses who have made this leap have been Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée…
By John H. Foote Now that two women have won Oscars for direction, expect more to come. Along with the ladies, expect more Black nominees, Asian, all ethnicities including foreign language film directors. Quite often a wildcard nominee like an out-of-the-blue foreign language director will burst into the party. Expect more of this as the…
By John H. Foote Could Frances McDormand make history and tie Katherine Hepburn with her fourth Academy Award for Best Actress this year? Yes, she could, but should she? For my money, the only actress deserving of four or more Oscars is Meryl Streep, and she sits stalled at two for Best Actress and a…
By John H. Foote Usually by this time of year the races for the major Academy Awards are shaping up and this year is no different. Best Actor is a crowded race already, while Best Actress, not so much, at least not yet. The race for the coveted little gold man is becoming a tight…
By John H. Foote He really did become a full-blown movie star portraying one of the most repellant, terrifying movie characters to ever grace the silver screen. Dr. Hannibal Lecter was brilliant beyond any known human measurement, his IQ soaring into the stratosphere too high to be measured. He was elegant, well read, possessed with…
By John H. Foote Who knows what to expect tonight? Diversity for sure, but beyond that? The second Oscar winning female director seems a given, Chadwick Boseman a shoo-in, but the Best Actress category? Who knows? Tonight brings to an end of the longest Oscar season in memory, eight long months since TIFF, so let…