It's thrilling to see the Academy recognize a weird, funny, scary performance like Amy Madigan's in Weapons. Here's what NPR critic Linda Holmes thought of the awards.
As Sunday's Oscars ceremony approached, it seemed to be shaping up to be a showdown between the vampires and the revolutionaries, betweenThere were some surprises over the course of the evening, including a rare tie in the live action short category, a remembrance of Robert Redford that includedand Jimmy Kimmel stepping in just long enough to make some pointed comments about media censorship.
But let's go over some of the major takeaways.. Anderson had already won several major Oscar precursor awards this year, including top directing prizes at the BAFTAs and from the Directors Guild of America, so he was the odds-on favorite. The other nominees in the category were relative newcomers: Ryan Coogler, Josh Safdie and Joachim Trier were all first-time directing nominees; Chloé Zhao was nominated already had multiple acting nominations before this year., since that was technically a comic-book movie, but that one did away with most of its genre trappings and pressed itself into a dramatic mold, whichemphatically does not. Before that, while definitions of genre aren't bright lines, you might have to go all the way back to ... Anthony Hopkins in, if you consider that horror? Maybe even further? At any rate, it's a great win for an actor who has been beloved at least sincealmost 25 years ago, who's been doing rich and varied work ever since. His victory is also a win for his lengthy and fruitful collaboration with Ryan Coogler in Madigan won best supporting actress for her deeply unsettling and entirely singular performance as Aunt Gladys in— Jordan, Delroy Lindo and Wunmi Mosaku — play regular people who are swept into an unreal situation, Madigan is playing, essentially, the boogeyman . It's thrilling to see the Academy recognize a performance that is as weirdscary as just the last few minutes of what Madigan does in Zach Cregger's terrifying story of a town that sees a whole classroom full of its children disappear.This was the first year that there was an Oscar for casting, which is very much overdue — there have been casting Emmys for ages. It was easy to argue for any of the nominated casting directors.places most of the weight of an enormously heavy story on the shoulders of just a couple of performers, including best actress winner Jessie Buckley., not only has been working with Paul Thomas Anderson for ages, but she also worked on casting for bothis a sumptuously, inventively, beautifully shot film, and the cinematography is one of the core crafts that makes it so effective.Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.KPBS keeps you informed with local stories you need to know about — with no paywall. Our news is free for everyone because people like you help fund it.
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