Us (2019)

Film: Us (2019)
Stars: Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, Elisabeth Moss
Director: Jordan Peele
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Two years ago Jordan Peele changed the game of horror with his Oscar-winning Get Out, a movie that combined mainstream horror filmmaking with a genuine conversation about race in America.  Horror has been taking this sort of prestige detour for decades, but I can't think of another director that did so in such a successful, commercial way while also maintaining prestige (it was nominated for Best Picture, one of only six horror films to ever gain such a distinction).  With Us, Peele had the seemingly impossible task of trying to followup a zeitgeist film that some declared a landmark, and pretty much everyone proclaimed a cut-above.  Could he find a recipe to craft together an equally impressive film, or was this destined for sophomore slump?

(Spoilers Ahead...and I mean it) The film unfolds in a few different patterns, and it's hard to discuss without getting into clear spoilers, so we're just going to dive right in.  Essentially the film tells the story of Adelaide, a young girl who as a child was briefly lost and supposedly met a girl who looked just like her in a mirror funhouse.  This caused her to be traumatized and not be able to talk for a while.  As an adult (Nyong'o), she's going back to the cabin and the beach where this happened with her husband Gabe (Duke) and their two children Zora (Joseph) and Jason (Alex).  That night, doppelgängers of the family show up on their doorstep in creepy red outfits, and begin to terrorize the family, essentially trying to kill and replace them.  These doppelgängers, referred to as tethereds, don't speak save for Adelaide's, whom the credits refer to as Red, but tell of a story where they lived in underground tunnels and spent their lives mirroring exactly what was happening above ground (a heinous thought if you think about it for longer than two seconds, not least of which because all they had to eat was raw rabbit).  Eventually each of the tethereds are destroyed by their above-ground counterparts, but not before we understand that Adelaide, the adult Adelaide, is not in fact the little girl who was in the funhouse but her tethered, who broke free and replaced Adelaide, something Jason discovers on the ride away, as the tethereds begin to recreate Hands Across America.

There's a lot more there (I skipped over the entire subplot of a boozy Elisabeth Moss, who plays the couple's friend, being terrorized and completely acing her work as the tethered), but that's enough for us to discuss.  The big question here is how you judge a film like Us when it comes to its screenplay, which is taut and well-executed, but super easy to guess.  In an era that prizes the shocks and jumps (not just in horror or film-look at a TV show like Game of Thrones or Westworld and most of the conversation is about the shocking twists that are about to emerge), is it a debit against the film that you can see the entire story coming a mile away?  I figured out almost within the opening scenes that the Adelaides would swap...but ultimately didn't really think it mattered since the film was finely structured.  I had this same problem with Get Out, but I actually liked Us better because it feels more confident in damning the players, and freer to give us a richer background to the characters themselves.  Still, one has to wonder what Peele could do with a screenplay that was genuinely a guessing game.  That might not be the point for Peele (the film is a clear & sharp metaphor for classism in modern society), but I think his best film might still be to come if he sticks to the horror genre, as one that's a genuine guessing game AND well-executed could be more interesting.

The two best attributes of the movie are the acting and the score.  Duke is hilarious as a "hot, but very much 'dad joke' dad," and as I said above Moss is terrific in her small part.  Best of all is Nyong'o, who gives her finest performance to date as Adelaide (but more so as Red), altering her voice, clearly finding physicality as a former dancer, and creating two very distinct journeys for her characters.  The scene in the underground classroom, where she faces off against herself, two different women shaped by their own desire to live, is staggeringly good.  It's aided by a mesmerizing score from Michael Abels, instantly iconic in a way few musical scores are able to achieve.  It's hard to tell what kind of Oscar history a sophomore effort will do (it's still a horror film), but if anyone gets cited it's likely to be either Nyong'o or Abels come next January.

OVP: The Jungle Book (2016)

Film: The Jungle Book (2016)
Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken
Director: Jon Favreau
Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Visual Effects*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

Disney is not shy in recent years about restarting its animated properties and bringing them to life as real-life movies, having us rediscover our beloved childhood classics (and yet they can continue to reinvest in stuffed animals and toys from the animated films that are now popular).  All-in-all, it's a lucrative racket, one that, if you're a parent, you've probably already been suckered into at this point.  That doesn't, however, mean that the end product is any good.  Indeed, one of the things I've noticed with these live-action Disney films is that they are deeply hit-or-miss.  They all look good initially (OMG-how do you think they'll handle X scene...it's happening!), but at the end of the day you can't just rely upon a classic story to carry you across the finish line.

(Really-you need a Spoiler Alert on The Jungle Book?) That's what happens in this adaptation of Kipling's classic tales.  The story of Mowgli, the young boy raised by wolves, has been seen by almost all of you (with $1 billion box office, I was clearly behind the curve here), but it felt pretty played out even early on in the film.  It hurts that Kipling's least interesting character is, in fact, the chief protagonist in the film-Mowgli is not interesting, and utterly predictable (gee, I'm going to haphazardly go off into the jungle and hope that Bagheera will save me when I inevitably get caught doing the thing he specifically told me not to do), and Neel Seethi doesn't really add anything exciting or revolutionary to the character.  As a result, we're already saddled with one of the duller protagonists in the Disney canon.

Of course, the point of The Jungle Book is the side characters, but even here we're stuck by some people I wasn't wild about, to be honest.  Some of the casting choices felt uninspired-let's just get this out there, this is a boring movie.  I found it dull.  I think if you'd put the characters of Bagheera, Baloo, and King Louie in front of me and told me to cast them in the most generic way possible, I'd have gone with Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, and Christopher Walken.  They're all men who have put in terrific performances before and have created iconic movie moments, but if you give them a chance to coast because it's a "kid's movie," they'll take it, and they rely almost entirely upon the earlier Disney film, rarely adding much to the live-action aspect of the film.  Idris Elba is better, though the only person that I think is truly adding something special to this film is Scarlett Johansson, who makes Kaa sexy and dangerous, going in a different direction from the animated feature and it pays off-the Kaa scene is easily the best of the movie.

The film will surely be nominated for its special effects, but even here I quibble.  You may say "it's better on the big screen" but everything's better on a big screen, and I thought that the lighting in the film was so poorly done (the cinematography was difficult to focus upon, as the shadows were unnatural), that it took away from the special effects.  Yes, I'm not blind so there are moments of wow (King Louie in particular stands out to me), but watching essentially an animated movie, it frequently felt odd compared to the rest of the picture-you could tell you were watching a visual effect, which is never the point, and then I felt somewhat cheated because all of that green-screen started to grate after a while, taking away the few special moments that came out of the picture.

So all-in-all, I was not impressed here-I wanted to like it (the reviews were solid, and with that box office I wouldn't totally discount a sequel), but I didn't.  This is a dud, and our classic film moments deserve to be better reimagined than this.  Hopefully Beauty and the Beast can find a way to overcome these obstacles next year.  In the meantime, agree or disagree in the comments-don't pretend you haven't seen this yet.

Queen of Katwe (2016)

Film: Queen of Katwe (2016)
Stars: David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, Madina Nalwanga
Director: Mira Nair
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Live-action Disney movies are, at this point, a part of all of our youths, at least if you're under 70.  Since 1950's Treasure Island, Disney has been adding to their family-friendly image with decades worth of live-action films.  Though the studio's iconography and bread-and-butter remains its iconic animated features (where it doesn't have to pay licensing fees to specific actors, hence why Giselle isn't part of the Disney Princess line), it's actual output is more inline with live-action movies.  Queen of Katwe, for example, is the sixth live-action film to be released from the studio this year, and it falls inline with the most beloved of Disney movie tropes: the sports film.  Unfortunately for me, I generally don't like sports films and really don't love Disney's live-action films.  I find them too formulaic, too personality-driven rather than based on story or making something interesting rather than just pleasant.  The film is also mired in my other pet peeve about movies, the true story (fiction is more interesting than real life...it's just not always as terrifying, as we've witnessed for the past year's worth of election coverage).  As a result, I went into Queen of Katwe not really expecting much, other than crossing off a potential Oscar nominee off of my "to watch" list.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is about Phiona (Nalwanga), a young girl growing up in the slums of Uganda who, by circumstance, meets Robert (Oyelowo), a missionary who has an excellent penchant for chess.  While teaching Phiona, he realizes that she has an extraordinary ability in the sport, and begins to tutor her, all-the-while troubling her mother Nakku (Nyong'o), who has to deal with a girl that is pondering dreams that seem outside of her realm to deliver.  As the film moves on, it hits familiar beats like Phiona realizing hubris, but then overcoming her adversity to become a true champion of the sport and move her mother into a house all her own.

It's the sort of story you read in a magazine and are incredibly moved, or watch in a special on ESPN and tear up a bit at the end, but it's also the sort of movie that, when confined to a movie theater, you're sort of pondering and thinking "this is nice, but was it really worth spending $12 on a ticket?"  I know that's not really the point here, and perhaps I'm being a scrooge.  After all, this is very watchable and Disney does a terrific job at growing the personalities of side characters, even if they usually remain pretty one-dimensional (but they're distinctive).  And it's good-this is a good movie, but it's not special, it's not particularly interesting, and it's not really adding anything complicated or fascinating to the cinematic experience.  I guess my problem here is that this is the same movie Disney has made dozens upon dozens of times.  The names and places have changed, but Disney has made this movie over and over again with little change to the formula.  It's kind of a bummer that they can't at least create something inventive like Bedknobs and Broomsticks where we invest in a new world.

The film is getting some Oscar buzz for Nyong'o.  It's relatively criminal that in the wake of her Oscar win she has worked so little (aside from a bit part in a Liam Neeson thriller, this is her first live-action role in three years, which is eyebrow-raising, particularly when you compare her to the amount or work and opportunity the non-nominated Margot Robbie got after her breakout in 2013), and she's probably the best part about the movie, but even there she's only able to elevate a character that is drawn two-dimensionally so much.  Her mother emotes, but doesn't really feel like someone other than a character who is there to reflect on others, and we get little sense (even in her shopping scene) of what she dreams about for herself.  Lupita's a real talent, but I'd love to see her work with a role that isn't as deeply defined or played to our sympathies as she's already received-anyone else wish someone like Jonathan Glazer would hire her for his next movie?  I think it'd be fascinating to see the Yale-trained actress invest in something a bit more ambiguous.

I am going with three out of five stars because the film is not a bad movie, but I leave it frustrated that we so oftentimes get (especially from Disney, but increasingly from other studios) movies that are technically good but rarely interesting.  I'd prefer to have the latter at this point more than the former.

2016 Tony Predictions

Is anyone else really excited for this Sunday's Tony Awards?  I genuinely am-this is the first time in a few seasons I've actually seen some of the nominees (no, not that nominee-I don't have a kidney that needs selling), the ratings should be good due to that nominee, though, and if James Corden's brilliant and wonderful Broadway Carpool Karaoke is any indication he'll have a kind and warm nature as the host that will be refreshing after a certain snarky host has worn out his bit a little in recent years (not naming names, but we both know who I'm talking about).  With the Tony Awards on Sunday, though, it's time for me to dive into my predictions on who will win, and we'll do just that.

Best Musical

Bright Star
Hamilton
School of Rock
Shuffle Along
Waitress

The Lowdown: It'll be Hamilton, come on guys.  We don't even need to discuss.

Best Play

Eclipsed
The Father
The Humans
King Charles III

The Lowdown: This one, though certainly not as splashy and pop culture-y, also seems largely wrapped up.  King Charles III or Eclipsed might score in an acting category, but it seems likely that the critically-acclaimed The Humans is the show to beat.

Best Revival of a Musical

The Color Purple
Fiddler on the Roof
She Loves Me
Spring Awakening

The Lowdown: With Shuffle Along competing in the best original musical category, that leaves room for Oprah Winfrey to get the third leg of her EGOT (anyone else surprised she's never won a Spoken Word Grammy-she should get that memoir out and land this plane) as The Color Purple is surely going to trump She Loves Me.

Best Revival of a Play

Blackbird
The Crucible
Long Day's Journey into Night
Noises Off
A View from the Bridge

The Lowdown: Our first genuinely competitive race of the bunch.  If it were still on Broadway, I think it would go without saying that A View from the Bridge would be taking this one, considering its overwhelming support from critics earlier in the season, but it's difficult for a show that has shuttered to take this trophy, which is why I'm going with an upset of sorts and picking Long Day's Journey Into Night.

Best Actor in a Musical

Alex Brightman, School of Rock
Danny Burstein, Fiddler on the Roof
Zachary Levi, She Loves Me
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton
Leslie Odom, Hamilton

The Lowdown: One of the few categories that Hamilton isn't guaranteed a victory is oddly the one with the man himself.  If it were just Odom or Miranda, this would be an easy victory, but with both of them in the contest, this could be ripe for an upset with Danny Burstein, a 5-time Tony Award bride hoping to pull a Kelli O'Hara this year, poised for an upset.  Because I can't quite get there, I'm going with Odom (since Miranda will be taking the Best Musical prize and has kind of been hinting that people should vote for Odom), but don't be surprised to see Broadway stalwart Burstein as a shock victor.

Best Actress in a Musical

Laura Benanti, She Loves Me
Carmen Cusack, Bright Star
Cynthia Erivo, The Color Purple
Jessie Mueller, Waitress
Phillipa Soo, Hamilton

The Lowdown: With perennial Tony winner Audra McDonald out of the running this year for only the second time ever in her Broadway career, this seems to be the category where Hamilton will have the most trouble in breaking rather than just tying The Producers record, as Cynthia Erivo has to be considered the heavy favorite over Phillipa Soo.  Erivo's earned raves for The Color Purple, and this role a decade ago was the ticket for LaChanze.

Best Featured Actor in a Musical

Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Brandon Victor Dixon, Shuffle Along
Christopher Fitzgerald, Waitress
Jonathan Groff, Hamilton
Christopher Jackson, Hamilton

The Lowdown: Splitting the vote only works as a theory at an awards show when there is no consensus over who is the standout amongst a cast of nominated actors.  With all due respect to Jackson and Groff, that's not the case, and Diggs' Lafayette is most definitely going to be taking this trophy in a walk.

Best Featured Actress in a Musical

Danielle Brooks, The Color Purple
Renee Elise Goldsberry, Hamilton
Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me
Jennifer Simard, Disaster!
Adrienne Warren, Shuffle Along

The Lowdown: Proving that there is still room for a soap opera to launch a star into the stratosphere, Renee Elise Goldsberry will surely help Hamilton's awards count as Angela, picking up at least one of the female acting trophies over Danielle Brooks and Jane Krakowski, the likely second places.

Best Actor in a Play

Gabriel Byrne, Long Day's Journey into Night
Jeff Daniels, Blackbird
Frank Langella, The Father
Tim Pigott-Smith, King Charles III
Mark Strong, A View from the Bridge

The Lowdown: Much like the Best Actor in a Musical category, this is a genuine horse-race between three men: Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, and Tim Pigott-Smith.  Pigott-Smith had arguably the most original creation but I can never tell if Broadway looks a bit down on actors who start their run across the pond, and Daniels has had a relatively robust career on the stage but has never won a Tony.  However, depite having three already, my gut is telling me that this is one of those swan song seasons for Frank Langella, who will probably pick up a fourth statue for his lauded work in The Father.

Best Actress in a Play

Jessica Lange, Long Day's Journey into Night
Laurie Metcalf, Misery
Lupita Nyong'o, Eclipsed
Sophie Okonedo, The Crucible
Michelle Williams, Blackbird

The Lowdown: Wow, what a lineup!  Four Oscar nominees and one of television's finest (seriously-when is someone going to give Laurie Metcalf her Frozen River?).  I know at the beginning of the season it felt like Nyong'o was the one to beat, but her precursor support has been a little dicey and part of me thinks the play may be too serious to win this trophy.  As a result, I'm going to pronounce that Jessica Lange, fresh off of her Drama Desk victory, finds a Tony Award to go with her two Oscars and three Emmys (time to start reading Shakespeare on Tape to grab that Grammy, Jes).

Best Featured Actor in a Play

Reed Birney, The Humans
Bill Camp, The Crucible
David Furr, Noises Off
Richard Goulding, King Charles III
Michael Shannon, Long Day's Journey into Night

The Lowdown: A two-horse race between Shannon, the Oscar-nominated film star, and Birney, an actor so character he doesn't even have a Wikipedia page.  Occasionally the Tony Awards play the part of the HFPA (remember the year that Catherine Zeta-Jones and Scarlett Johansson both won?), but as a rule they tend to stick to the boards so my gut says that Birney is the favorite here.

Best Featured Actress in a Play

Pascale Armand, Ecplised
Megan Hilty, Noises Off
Jayne Houdyshell, The Humans
Andrea Martin, Noises Off
Saycon Sengbloh, Eclipsed

The Lowdown: While it's never wise to count out Two-Time Tony Winner Andrea Martin, and Gay Twitter would have a conniption if Megan Hilty echoed the moment her Smash counterpart had a few years ago and pulled off the victory, this seems to be the time for longtime stage vet Jayne Houdyshell to transform from Tony bridesmaid to Tony champion.

There are my predictions-how about yours?  Are you excited for this Sunday's show?  Who are you rooting for?  Share your thoughts in the comments!

Thoughts on the Tony Nominations

Yesterday's election news was hardly good for me, but I couldn't let that deter me from getting to the Tony nominations (I would have had this article out last night, but I'm on a strict "watch a movie a day and watch The Real O'Neals live in order to help keep it on the air" plan this week-you should most definitely join me on the latter, as it's a marvelous show and I'm now on a tangent but WATCH IT).  I did very well with my predictions, so I only have three things that I really want to call out, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to discuss the theater just a wee bit:

1. Hamilton Breaks the Record...Can It Do It Twice?

Yesterday Hamilton officially made history again (the puns just write themselves this afternoon, don't they?) when it took sixteen nominations, one more than either Billy Elliot or The Producers, taking a nomination in literally every category that it was eligible for and likely setting up a mind-numbing sweep at this year's Tony Awards.  The question now is around whether or not it can break the other major Tony record: that of 12 Tony wins, which is currently held by The Producers.  It's nominated in thirteen categories, so it would have to win all of them (The Producers won in every category it was nominated for, but didn't have a female lead actress so Hamilton has the chance to break that tie up).  It seems relatively likely it could tie, but both Best Actress in a Musical (where Cynthia Erivo has to be considered a slight favorite for The Color Purple) and Choreography (where Savion Glover's magic work in Shuffle Along is going to be a fierce competitor) are both tossups at this point.  If it can take both, it seems near-certain that it would be able to be the first Broadway show ever to sweep all categories.

2. Audra McDonald and Jennifer Hudson Get Snubbed

In a seismic moment that threw most of Twitter off-guard, Audra McDonald (for the first time in her career for a musical) wasn't nominated for a Tony Award-in fact, even counting in plays the only time she's ever missed was for Henry IV.  While the Meryl Streep of Broadway took the snub with class, it's still a shock not to see McDonald's name amongst the five women nominated for Best Actress in a Musical, and kind of leaves a vacuum (that could, as I mentioned above, benefit both Erivo and Soo).  McDonald has missed a number of performances and isn't going to be with Shuffle Along for very long so the snub is understandable, but this is almost certainly the biggest shock of Tony nominations morning.

Coupling alongside that is Jennifer Hudson, who took on the Margaret Avery role in the recent revival of The Color Purple.  Hudson's name is plastered all over the poster and marquee, and it was expected by many that while her reviews weren't superb that she would end up gaining the nomination on celebrity alone.  Hudson was also making waves on Twitter yesterday with a surprise amount of candor about her lack of a nomination.  Though she quickly deleted the tweet (likely because it erupted a firestorm), celebrities should know better than to assume screenshots don't live forever, and she basically said she was only hired because of her fame, not because of her talent.  It feels like there's a lot of story there, but this does end Hudson's impressive EGOT-style debut series, where she won an Oscar for her film debut and Grammy for her first album.  She could still EGOT, of course, but she's going to need to give the boards another run in order to do it (perhaps she'll revive Effie White?).

3. Best Actress in a Play is Crazy

Four Oscar nominees litter the lineup for Best Actress in a Play, one of the most talented lineups for an award I've ever seen.  Jessica Lange, Sophie Okonedo, Michelle Williams, and Lupita Nyong'o all make up the list of women competing for the prize, and you would be forgiven for assuming that this was a lineup at the Golden Globes rather than the Tony Awards, though both Okonedo and Lange have had long careers on the stage.  Joining them is TV and theater legend Laurie Metcalf, who is one of my favorite performers (when is she going to get her own Frozen River/The Visiter?), and I suspect that while this is probably going to Nyong'o that there's room for Lange or even Williams to sneak in and take the trophy considering their name recognition and that they are both still on Broadway as well (and neither have won this letter in their EGOT).  Either way, I wish that all actressing lineups were this sensational, as I genuinely love all of these women.

Those are my thoughts-how about yours?  What stood out to you about yesterday's Tony nominations?

Tony Predictions 2016

Next Tuesday we'll officially get one of my favorite announcements of the season: the Tony Awards!  I recently got back from a trip to New York City, and while I don't think I did as well in advance of the awards in terms of what I'm seeing getting nominated (I wanted to keep both of my kidneys so getting Hamilton tickets was off the table), I did have a marvelous time and am excited to see what musicals, plays, and actors are about to have their Broadway dreams come true.  We'll kick it off with the category everyone is excited for...

Best Musical

So, umm, Hamilton.  That's it right?  It kind of sucks for the also-rans, but there's almost no point in mentioning them if you're just concerned about the winner as not since The Book of Mormon has there been such a lock for a nomination and win.  It'll be, likely like The Producers, almost comical how quickly they stack up every statue.

There will, of course, be other contenders in the lineup, as there are three other nominations.  Waitress (which I did catch) has a leg-up both because its star is getting hugely successful reviews and because it seems to be a hit with audiences; the same could be said for Bright Star and School of Rock, the first major hit for Andrew Lloyd Webber since Sunset Boulevard, which is saying something.  While other plays like American Psycho or Tuck Everlasting could also compete (and with their film origins the Broadway community might want to back them to help push a touring company), they don't have the Box Office or reviews that normally associate with this category, even if it's harder to tell the final slots when the winner is so obvious.

Finally, it's hard to tell whether or not Shuffle Along will be nominated.  A star-studded musical, it's very original in its book and script, but for some reason wants to be considered a revival (wait, the reason is simple-it wants to win and not compete against Hamilton while doing so).  I have trouble believing the Tony committee classifies it as such, so I'm sticking with it here, and with Scott Rudin on board it's likely to be included wherever it ends up being eligible.

My Predictions: Hamilton, School of Rock, Shuffle Along, Waitress

Best Play

Unlike Best Musical, the winner here hasn't been preordained in granite for months now.  I suspect, though, that you can take at least Danai Gurira's Eclipsed and Stephan Karam's The Humans to the bank-both have dominated the conversation and have been major players in recent weeks on Broadway, and in a rare twist are actually from American playwrights, which isn't usually the case for the Tony Awards.  On the flip side is Mike Bartlett's King Charles III, which is about Prince Charles taking the throne and already had a successful run in the West End.

The remaining contenders are a bit of a hodgepodge.  Our Mother's Brief Affair got strong reviews, but is it too small to make it here?  On the flip side, you have plays like Misery and An Act of God coasting off of major celebrity/name recognition that will look a bit down-the-nose to Tony voters.  As a result I'm going to finish off the list with a longtime Tony favorite Frank Langella, whose The Father is probably a safe, reliable pick to be included (though likely not to win).

My Predictions: Eclipsed, The Father, The Humans, King Charles III

Best Revival of a Musical

As I stated above, it's quite likely that Shuffle Along could be included here, but if they aren't stretching the truth, this is a battle between five musicals, in which case only three slots are a possibility.  The top choice, in my opinion, will be The Color Purple, which has gotten solid buzz and has a likely play in the Best Actress field.  Name recognition makes me think the final two spots will be Fiddler on the Roof and She Loves Me, though Spring Awakening, which is recent enough that it makes me feel old that it's already being revived (same for The Color Purple), could make it, though the show is closed while the other two aren't, and Tony voters have notoriously short memories.

(Side Note: Though I'm not predicting featured actors here, I am genuinely curious if Jennifer Hudson makes it into that lineup-I doubt she wins, but I think she is bound-and-determined to make a play at least for an EGOT nomination collection, and between this and Confirmation she could soon be much closer to achieving the dream).

My Predictions: The Color Purple, Fiddler on the Roof, She Loves Me

Best Revival of a Play

The reality is that it's almost always easier to be nominated here if you are still on Broadway, and that's true for three of the contenders right now, all of which are handsomely-produced, feature major movie star talent, and seem like strong shots at nominations: Blackbird, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

However, occasionally the Tony Awards have longer memories, so other shows could make it despite having a closure sign on the door.  Hughie starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker was a gigantic bomb, Noises Off feels like it was just done, though the Times wasn't awful to it.  Honestly, the best shots are probably Old Times, which has the benefit of Oscar nominee Clive Owen, and A View from the Bridge, which stars a shirtless Russell Tovey (which is, admittedly, all I'm really looking for in a play), and perhaps more of a draw for Tony voters (though this is Broadway, so not that much more of a draw), got rave reviews.  Your guess is as as good as mine, but I'm going with...

My Predictions: Arthur Miller's The Crucible, Blackbird, Long Day's Journey Into Night, A View from the Bridge

Best Actor in a Musical

Here we are back a little bit in territory I can understand, as it appears that three men are going to be sure things.  Both of the Hamilton stars Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom, Jr. are assured nominations, as is most of the Hamilton cast, let's be honest, and the real question is which one of them takes this trophy.  Joining them in the winner's circle will be perpetually unlucky Danny Burstein, who is assured a sixth loss at the Tony Awards (he and wife Rebecca Luker, another eternal bridesmaid, can console each other through song).

The final two slots are a harder prediction.  Alex Brightman's position as the lead of School of Rock is an ostentatious enough part that he should be able to make it even if he's not in a spot to win, but the fifth spot could be anyone's guess. Brian Stokes Mitchell and Billy Porter are both Tony favorites, but neither stands apart in an obvious way in Shuffle Along, and I suspect they'll split the votes.   That should help out either Benjamin Walker, who somehow has never been nominated for a Tony despite continual spots on Broadway (near unheard of for a man his age) in American Psycho, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger in Tuck Everlasting, who needs to start catching up with his sister soon to avoid a major sibling rivalry.

My Predictions: Alex Brightman, Danny Burstein, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., Benjamin Walker

Best Actress in a Musical

First off, let's get the Hamilton out of the way: though she's not a guarantee to win, Phillipa Soo is assured a spot in the final five.  The same can be said for Jessie Mueller, coming off a recent win for Beautiful who is starting to turn into a perpetual nominee for Waitress.  Finally, I think that Cynthia Erivo has gotten too many plaudits and accolades to not make it for The Color Purple.

The final two spots are a bit hazy.  Laura Benanti is always a Tony contender, and she hasn't been on the boards in a while so the Broadway community might be feeling nostalgic.  If they go bigger for Bright Star than I'm expecting, Carmen Cusack would be a potential surprise.  Lea Salonga would be a lock (she's a Tony winner from way back), but Allegiance closed early and it's hard to tell if the Tony winners will have a long enough memory.  And finally there's Audra McDonald.  She's been sick for a number of performances in Shuffle Along and is only going to be in the show for a few weeks before jetting off to London.  However, she's Audra McDonald, six-time Tony winner, who has never missed when she was eligible for a musical.  That's a lot of star power to deny even when any mere mortal would miss under those circumstances.

My Predictions: Laura Benanti, Cynthia Erivo, Audra McDonald, Jessie Mueller, Phillipa Soo

Best Actor in a Play

The dramatic races are almost always a balance between movie star and stage star, as depending on the year the Tony Awards may be feeling particularly-inclined to Hollywood (lest we forget Scarlett Johansson has a Tony but no Oscar nomination) or completely abandon it (despite boffo box office and critical raves Bradley Cooper ended up empty-handed last year).  As a result, when those two collide with someone like Frank Langella in The Father, you take notice as the longtime star of both the movies and Shubert Alley is a near certain contender for a nomination.

The rest of the list is harder to tell.  You have Clive Owen (Old Times), Al Pacino (China Doll), and James Earl Jones (The Gin Game) all as major headliners whose plays have long ago closed, but their cache is still strong if they want the celebrity quotient to be high (it's worth noting that Pacino and Jones, in particular, have had a long Broadway career to go along with their celebrated work in the motion pictures).  On the flip side you have lesser-known Mark Strong (A View from the Bridge) and Tim Pigott-Smith (King Charles III) who could make it based on solid reviews and coattails from their plays.  Gabriel Byrne (Long Day's Journey Into Night), Jeff Daniels (Blackbird), and Ben Whishaw (The Crucible) all are in the unique position where their shows are still on Broadway (always helps if you're nominating a show people can actually seek out), while a nod to Jim Parsons (An Act of God) would be a way of welcoming a major television star who has been hitting the boards like mad (this is his third Broadway play since 2011).  The one name you won't see, though it's probably the most famous on this list?  Bruce Willis, whose work in Misery may have been a way to stretch the longtime cinema icon, but even if it'd be fun to see him at the CBS broadcast, movie star quotient will only get you so far.

My Predictions: Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, Al Pacino, Tim Pigott-Smith, Mark Strong

Best Actress in a Play

Despite somehow missing out at the Drama Desk Awards, it's hard to imagine recent Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o, who is getting absolute raves and is the frontrunner for the trophy, missing out when it comes to Eclipsed.  The play is a major critical player and after Hollywood has repeatedly been chastised for denying her roles despite a recent major debut, I suspect that Broadway will self-congratulate in this situation.  Alongside her will surely be Jessica Lange, whose work in Long Day's Journey into Night won her an Olivier citation sixteen years ago and has never been nominated for a Tony Award.  Sentiment might make her a favorite if Nyong'o loses any sort of momentum.

Speaking of Oscar nominees, a number of other women from Hollywood will be amongst those wanting a shot at the Tony this year.  Michelle Williams (Blackbird), Sophie Okonedo (The Crucible), Cicely Tyson (The Gin Game), and hell, even Keira Knightley (Therese Raquin) are all possibilities, though the first two have the advantage of still being on Broadway right now.  Laurie Metcalf may not have an Oscar nomination, but she's a Tony favorite and her work in Misery was routinely cited as the best part of the play.  Finally, there's Nicola Walker, who is not a household name even in New York, but could get in if praise for A View from the Bridge is particularly strong.

My Predictions: Jessica Lange, Laurie Metcalf, Lupita Nyong'o, Sophie Okonedo, Michelle Williams

And there you have it-the nominations are on Tuesday, but in the meantime go ahead and speculate in the comments!

OVP: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
Stars: Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Max von Sydow
Director: JJ Abrams
Oscar History: 5 nominations (Best Original Score, Editing, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Like every carbon-based life form on the planet, I too saw the new Star Wars movie this past weekend. In fact, I am still wearing my R2D2 shirt that I wore to the opening weekend this morning (I saw it Saturday so it's not quite as gross as it sounds).  The movies, which were a part of my childhood in a way that they were for many Millennials who saw the original trilogy when they were re-released for the twentieth anniversary, bring back a sense of nostalgia that seems to have been the theme of the year.  From Jurassic Park to Rocky, nostalgia at the movies and playing off of past love for a cinematic brand has been the best way to mine the box office and our pocketbooks for a Hollywood that continually wants to find a sure-thing (lest we forget that the Independence Day and Harry Potter franchises recently released new trailer installments).  Like many critics, I found the film itself to be an enjoyable and thrill-filled ride, one that reestablishes the world of Star Wars without alienating die-hard fans of the franchise (like JJ Abrams kind of did for some more devoted Star Trek fans) while still seeming accessible to those people who didn't just rewatch all of the original six movies for the 70th time.  Still, that doesn't mean the film isn't without its faults, and so we'll get into that juxtaposition right now.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film in many ways borrows from the original A New Hope, so much so that some (including myself) felt like they remade the original trilogy with just a complete rehaul of gender and racial backgrounds of the main characters.  Here, so far, we have Rey (Miller) taking on the Luke Skywalker role, Finn (Boyega) seemingly taking on a more robust Princess Leia position, and then of course there's can-he-be-in-everything Oscar Isaac as Poe, the scallywag who is clearly mining Han Solo while Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is the misguided son of Leia and Han and our Vader-like antagonist.  The film plays out in many ways just like this, with Rey discovered ala Luke on a lost planet, and we have Han Solo step into the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi for Finn and Rey as they try to take down the newly-risen Empire (for anyone who eye rolls, remember that every generation has their "Empire" on Earth, after all, so the fact that they're back with a different name isn't really that surprising).

This sounds worse than it is, to be fair.  The reinvention is lighter than some other franchises, and they don't skimp on humor and charm, particularly in letting us soak up all of the nostalgic glory of the franchise.  There's something so magical about hearing John Williams lush strings echoed behind the faces of Fisher, Hamill, and Ford (which are awash onscreen long enough for midnight movie crowds to cheer enthusiastically, and even if I didn't go to a premiere, I still heard the murmurs when Ford and Chewbacca or Leia's face first is shown on the movie screen).  To pretend otherwise would be stupid-Star Wars is so important to pop culture and these three have featured so prominently in it that we forgot the prequels entirely while waiting heroically for JJ Abrams to save the franchise, and he did.  This film, especially in the confines of a crowded movie theater, is extremely enjoyable to watch in the moment.  The action is intense, the set pieces are great, and the visual effects never totally abandon the color palette and become a CGI monstrosity (like, say, Jurassic World); the matte work seems to match in many ways what we first saw in a galaxy far, far away.  To put it bluntly, this is a good movie, and not one you're going to force yourself to watch when you prep for Episode VIII in two years.

The problem is that when it takes on A New Hope that I felt a little less enthused once I left the theater, and even as the film progressed it became a bit of an "oh, we're just going to do that again."  I liked the movie, don't get me wrong, and suggest you see it in theaters if you're one of the three people who haven't, but they're just not adding something new to the mix.  Ben Solo (Kylo Ren's real name) is just Anakin or Luke, continually having issues with his father or father figure, and watching Han Solo, one of the most iconic movie characters of all-time go down in a scene we're completely sure he's going to die in is so anti-climactic that it borders on sacrilege.  Is there really no way that we could have done Star Wars again without a son rebelling against his father?  Are there no other plot points in a galaxy far, far away?  The film is exhilarating, and the acting is good (though some people like Isaac and Ford are better than others), but the writing still needs work, and I hope that since I've already mentally spent money on the following two sequels (Disney bought the crack cocaine of movie franchises-no one quits this baby) my goal is that they not only continue to break down gender and racial stereotypes by casting against expectations (Poe could be gay, is all I'm saying here people), but also by defying expectations since we still have Luke and Leia to perhaps subvert the path that we followed in Empire and Jedi.

Those are my thoughts on the latest Star Wars.  I'm positive you've seen it, so why not share your own?  Do you agree with the death of such a beloved character?  Are you in the same boat as I where you were thrilled while watching but kind of wish you'd gotten something new instead of pleasant leftovers?  Share your thoughts below in the comments!

Everybody's Linking for the Weekend

I am up EARLY today, a sign that I went to bed too soon last night (always a temptation on a Friday), so I better get this out before I inevitably take a mid-morning nap.  Let's get started, shall we?:

In Entertainment...

-CNN has a rundown of some of the entertainers that have Walk of Fame stars despite scandal, in the wake of the furor over Bill Cosby and whether or not his star will be taken down (the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce repeatedly has said no to the request, citing any star as being part of the historic fabric of the Walk).  While there are names you'd expect such as Charlie Sheen, Pee-Wee Herman, and Michael Jackson in the video, I'd never even heard of Spade Cooley (and I'm willing to bet you haven't either), a Western swing singer who was convicted of murdering his wife, but had his star in place prior to the trial.  The real question is how did Fatty Arbuckle (who is not in the video) end up with a Walk of Fame star considering his scandals happened decades before he won the star?

-Playbill has a fun rundown of actresses that Hollywood forgot but Broadway discovered in the process.  The list focuses principally on musical actresses so no one along the lines of Estelle Parsons, but with Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly, Christine Ebersole, and Harriet Harris on the list it's hard to quibble.  Also, when is Catherine Zeta-Jones finally going to return to Broadway?  I want to hit the boards next April-CZJ, if you're listening, perhaps a return engagement?

-Speaking of actresses that Hollywood can't seem to figure out what to do with and then head to New York, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o is going to make her New York Stage debut at the Public Theater this fall in a play called Eclipsed, about post-colonial Africa.  Every time I recall Nyong'o I think about how she and Margot Robbie both competed for an Oscar nomination that year (I'm convinced that Robbie was around seventh place in that race, and had Julia Roberts stayed lead like she should have may well have scored her first nomination as a result).  Nyong'o has a part of some sort in the upcoming Star Wars film and will be in The Jungle Book as a voice role, but it's hard not to see Robbie's career (what with a prestige Z for Zachariah coming up this year as well as two franchise plays next year in Tarzan and Suicide Squad) as the one that Hollywood noticed, despite who ended up winning the Oscar.  I'm not knocking the talented Robbie of her success, but it's pretty obvious there's a racial bias happening here.

In Politics...

-Politico has a rundown of some of the usual swing suspects and how things might fall with the upcoming Planned Parenthood vote in the Senate.  From the looks of things Heidi Heitkamp, Bob Casey, Jr., Mark Kirk, and Susan Collins all seem opposed to the bill, likely ensuring that it won't hit the 60 votes to get it to land on the president's desk (he would veto) while Sen. Dean Heller has said he will vote to defund, but Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Joe Donnelly, and Joe Manchin are all still on the fence.  It'll be an interesting vote to go down considering the flack Planned Parenthood has received, but I generally agree with Sen. Collins on this one-investigate whether Planned Parenthood violated any federal law or medical ethics, and if not then move on as this organization provides not only family planning resources, but also cancer screenings and STD-testing that are vital to saving lives for poorer Americans.

-The continued push for more Animal Rights' legislation in the wake of Walter Palmer's killing of Cecil the Lion is interesting.  There seems to be a push to ban tigers as pets and legislation will soon be forthcoming from Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to extend rights to near-endangered and threatened species such as the lion.  My thoughts on this are pretty clear from the above link, but all I can say is it's about time.  It's also, admittedly, a silver lining in this tragedy, though I will admit that one of my truly great pet peeves about Congress is, with as many people in that body as there is, along with their staffs, it's always disappointing to me that we pass so few laws-I wish we had more legislation like this, truly helpful and meaningful legislation, getting voted upon every day in Congress.

-While I applaud the Boy Scouts of America for including gay scout leaders again (though as a reminder, it's 2015 and this should have happened years ago), it's worth noting that there are still multiple laws that legally discriminate against GLBT people.  Everything from housing discrimination to employment discrimination to bans on giving blood are still legal in many states, so as you take down the rainbow filter off of your Facebook profile, remember that the fight isn't quite over yet.

Shameless Self-Promotion of the Week...

-My constant Box Office worry of the year.  Seriously though-I'm going to cry if Jurassic World, one of the worst films I have seen all year that is essentially a poor man's remake of Jurassic Park, manages to upset Avatar or Titanic two populist but excellent movies, at either the domestic or worldwide Box Office-this weekend should be telling if it's possible.

YouTube Video of the Week...

-The below video illustrated so well my thoughts on Cara Delevingne and her attitude during the Good Morning Sacramento interview that I skipped my rant yesterday which I was planning about it.  This is a brand-new movie, it doesn't have a guaranteed hook, doesn't have any household names (arguably John Green is the most well-known person attached), and while it appears likely to recoup its costs, it isn't going to be The Fault in Our Stars, so the stars need to be out full-force to support it.  Delevingne may be a top model, but making the transition from model to actress is extremely difficult (just ask Tyra Banks, Cindy Crawford, and Claudia Schiffer, all of whom were far more famous than Delevingne when they made it to the movies).  The Rene Russo's of the world who can make that transition seamlessly are rare, and Delevingne needs to check herself before a Fair Game ruins her career (also, I love Whoopi's reaction in this, even if Michelle Collins and Raven Symone's obnoxiousness makes me not want to return to The View outside of short snippets-seriously, Raven, just stop, blaming behaving like a jackass on a "generational difference" makes all Millennials look bad):

Just One More...

-I am seriously so mad at the IOC lately-what is with them continually picking countries that are too dangerous or too unprepared for the Olympics?  First they go with China, whose air pollution problem is egregious, for the 2022 games, and then we learn that Brazil is not only struggling to prepare for the Olympics, but also that the waters there are dangerously polluted.  Rowing, open-water swimming, and yachting are principle sports of the Olympics, and already they're having Olympians try-out in what is essentially raw sewage.  Seriously IOC-you need to look into not just security risks but also environmental risks for the athletes.  If there's a massive boycott by some athletes who don't want to risk bacterial infections or worse, I wouldn't be surprised.

OVP: Supporting Actress (2013)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2013)

The Nominees Were...

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska

My Thoughts: I have frequently talked about how 2013 is about as stereotypical as you can get for an Oscar Supporting Actress lineup.  You have the ingénue, making her film debut.  You have the recent winner, getting an afterglow citation.  You have the legend of the Best Actress category “slumming it” to get some career traction after a bit of a slump.  You have the octogenarian, getting nominated for playing an “I’ll-say-anything” old person.  And you have the character actress finally getting her shot at the sweet end of the lollipop after much suffering in lesser roles.  Yes, we have our long-suffering wives, our saucy scene-stealers, our category frauds, and our real-life women.  About the only thing missing is a hooker with a heart of gold, but pretty much every other cliché is checked off the list.

Because her iconic face is staring down on me from the top of this list, let’s begin with Julia Roberts.  This is the first OVP where we’ve tackled one of Julia’s four (so far) nominations (we’ll of course get to the other three at some point, but it’s been a while since Erin Brockovich, so don’t hold your breath too intensely in anticipation), and I have to admit that I’m not happy this is where you’re getting my first in-depth opinion of the woman.  Roberts’ role in August: Osage County is hampered for a few reasons.  For starters, she’s not the most charismatic character onscreen (that would be Violet or Mattie Fae), and as a result, she doesn’t get the giant acting moments that Meryl Streep or Margo Martindale get to enjoy.  Secondly, she has one of the worst cases of category fraud I’ve seen in my years watching the Oscars.  She’s arguably a more pivotal character in the film than Streep herself-she’s in nearly every scene.  Precisely what is supporting about this?  I know that I am not judging the OVP solely on whether someone actually should have qualified for the nomination, but in this case Roberts loses points because I cannot abide by anyone thinking what is surely a lead performance should be included against other supporting work (it’s not fair to the other women who are, regardless of performance quality, actually supporting parts).

That being said, I’ve given supporting parts the win before in the OVP (see Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master), so that cannot totally rule out Roberts.  What does is that this is also a pretty badly miscast part, in my opinion.  Roberts is a movie star, and is best when she’s using her natural charm and skill onscreen in films like Pretty Woman or Erin Brockovich.  She has never been particularly strong at playing dour (one exception being Closer, but she had a really strong director to work with there).  Here she confuses dour with bland, and I found that her character didn’t have the bite and subtle resentment that the part called for (someone like Laura Linney or Cynthia Nixon would have been a better choice to find that balance).  Overall, I left feeling underwhelmed by Roberts and disappointed that they would so egregiously campaign her as supporting to get the film another Oscar citation.

We’ll move on to a different performance I felt a bit underwhelmed by, but which is clearly a supporting part, even though she’s second-billed, and that would be Sally Hawkins.  This film is entirely the Cate Blanchett show, and as a result I’m genuinely surprised that Hawkins managed to gain this nomination, though it feels like the sort of thing that even AMPAS realized was a long-time coming (she was SO close with 2008’s Happy-Go-Lucky).  The performance has occasional shades of subtlety and informed emotion: I enjoyed how she was always making excuses regarding why Jasmine was so much more “successful” than her Ginger, and the way that she tries to emulate the big sister that she could never hope to live up toward.  The problem is that Blanchett is so much life force as Jasmine that she sucks the energy out-of-the-room, and Hawkins cannot compete.  It’s a fine performance from an actor who deserved to be an Oscar nominee at some point in her career (I’m guessing this will end up being like Patricia Clarkson in Pieces of April and we’ll never hear from Hawkins again at the Dolby), but it’s not something that I would call out as superb.

Anyone reading at home is probably thinking that I’m going to head straight to June Squibb and leave the major acting duel of the year as the finale…and you would be right, though I feel like I shouldn’t write more about June Squibb, as it all seems to come out as a bit hateful.  This is particularly sad because June Squibb seems like a lovely person in interviews, and she was easily one of the most enjoyable aspects of the Oscar red carpet in 2013.  In that regard, I was glad she was nominated (it certainly beat the constant McConaughey obnoxiousness that seemed to consume every conversation that year).  However, this is an extremely easy part with no real depth.  I hated Nebraska, but this part in particular-there is nothing special here.  Why not just nominate Ellen Dow for The Wedding Singer while we’re at it (PS-did you know she’s still alive and about to turn 101?!?)?  It’s the same level of skill-there’s nothing particularly in-depth or interesting about what Squibb is doing here, and it’s by-far the most overrated performance nominated in 2013 (though I don’t know if it’s quite the worst).

And now the main event…Lawrence v. Lupita.  I’m going to be honest here-I’m not sure who I’m picking quite yet, so we’re both in for a surprise.  We’ll start with Lupita.  The thing that’s so haunting about this performance is her facial expression.  So many actors rely so heavily on their face to sell a particular part, but Lupita’s character is haunting because she remains so stoic earlier on in the film.  We don’t really get to know Patsey until later on in the film-we don’t know what her depth is as a person.  We see her with Mistress Shaw, and wonder if this is what she dreams of for her life-essentially being one man’s prostitute, surrounded by doilies, but eventually succeeding in at least being spared the whip.  As Nyong’o slowly lets us in, though, we find that she just wants to be rid of the man, rid of everything-we see how deadened she has become from years of sexual assault and beatings, of being hated by Mistress Epps and being the obsession of Master Epps.  The moment when Nyong’o screams “I will be clean!” you know that the film has slipped into metaphor, but Nyong’o keeps you grounded in the work that is happening onscreen.  That this is her film debut makes you wonder what sorts of other souls she’s going to bring to life onscreen.

Jennifer Lawrence doesn’t get the meatiness of a Patsey character, and some might quickly chalk up Lupita’s work as the easy win, but Lawrence is doing something else that few actors can do: she is commanding that screen.  She quickly makes you forget she’s too young for this part.  That she’s not really essential to the overall plot.  That she’s supposed to be the enemy (we’re supposed to cheer for Sydney and not Rosalyn to end up with Irving).  This is an actor who was born to be a star, and you see it in every line reading.  She rings every joke for maximum effect, every line for its fullest catering to her whim.  She makes Rosalyn the most intoxicating presence in the movie (admit it-the film dies when she’s not onscreen), and I love the way that she is able to give enough of her character for us to know that she’s in on the act.  There’s no stupidity here-she’s entirely in charge of Irving, and knows when that gravy train has been wrung of its worth.  This is the sort of performance that, like Nyong’o, we would call a star turn if Jennifer Lawrence hadn’t already proven before that she clearly is one.

Other Precursor Contenders: We had a carbon copy of the Oscar lineup at the Golden Globes, though the winner changed (here Lawrence triumphed over Lupita, hence where an actual “battle” emerged for the Oscar).  The SAG Awards mixed it up slightly, giving Oprah Winfrey the nomination for The Butler in place of Sally Hawkins (Nyong’o was the victor).  The BAFTA Awards also chose to nominate Oprah Winfrey, but here we saw a snub for June Squibb rather than Hawkins (and once again Lawrence was victorious).  All-in-all, it’s quite clear that Winfrey was sixth place, and I tackle this subject a bit here, but I’m still flummoxed how she missed out on that nomination.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: I don’t know if I’d 100% go with Nyong’o and Lawrence, but they’re clearly on a different playing field, so I’ll throw out three names rather than getting too picky.  Emma Watson has continually proven to be an actor to take note of, and her vapid Valley Girl in The Bling Ring is just the latest in a series of performances that prove this girl is a star.  Octavia Spencer is wonderful as a mother who is at her wit’s end in Fruitvale Station, an underrated movie with a killer piece of work from the actress who won an Oscar for The Help, but was better here.  And then there’s Sarah Paulson, just as good (actually, perhaps better) than her fellow costar in 12 Years a Slave, giving horrifying layers to an underexplored aspect of the American pre-Civil War South: the plantation mistress.

Oscar’s Choice: Though I would assume that Lawrence (and perhaps Squibb) was close, Lupita pulled off the win on her opening film.

My Choice: We’ll go backwards.  Squibb is fifth, Roberts fourth, and Hawkins third…and, ugh, I don’t know.  Nyong’o is clearly the more artistic achievement, but I genuinely think that Lawrence is giving a stronger piece of work.  I’m going to therefore make the unpopular choice of Jennifer Lawrence for the win here (it was close!) with Lupita in second place.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Does anyone agree with me, or is everyone else Team Lupita?  Does anyone else share my (harsh) sentiments regarding June Squibb and Julia Roberts?  How the hell did Oprah miss?  And who was your favorite supporting actress of 2013?  Share in the comments!

Also in 2013: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Live Action Short, Animated Short, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score,  Original Song, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2013

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012