Give Emma Stone (La La Land, Battle of the Sexes) this year’s Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role. This category is going to be STACKED for 2023-released, eligible movies. With six weeks left before the nominations, I have seen all films perceived as frontrunners. Lily Gladstone (Kill of the Flower Moon) was the thought-to-be shoo-in for most of the year heading into the fall. Gladstone delivers an award-deserving performance. However, I would rather see her considered in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role category, where I think that performance fits better (at the time of this post, it is still being determined which category Gladstone will be submitted for. The others expected to be in consideration for Best Actress in a Leading Role are Greta Lee (Past Lives), Carey Mulligan (Maestro), Margot Robbie (Barbie), and Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall). Each is deserving of a nomination. No one in this group has a chance to beat Stone or Gladstone. Stone is my pick to win.
Category Archives: Jerrod Carmichael
On the Count of Three (2021)
The opening sequence of Jerrod Carmichael’s feature-length debut On the Count of Three shows a revolver being pointed inches from the face of Kevin (Christopher Abbott – It Comes At Night, First Man), a thirty-something man with swollen eyes and a twitching mouth that suggests that something terrible is about to happen to him. Then, the camera shifts to Val (Carmichael – Neighbors, The Disaster Artist), who has a similar firearm in his hand, pointing it at Kevin. Are these two men adversaries, attempting to make the other lower their gun with the threat to shoot?