OVP: Actress (2022)

OVP: Best Actress (2022)

The Nominees Were...

Ana de Armas, Blonde

Cate Blanchett, Tar

Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie

Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once

My Thoughts: We talked earlier this week about the online nature of the Best Supporting Actress race, and the way that the contest felt like it was being parceled through in a bizarre way (links to all past contests at the bottom of this article).  This goes doubly for the Best Actress race.  Conversations about race (when two Black women who had done well in precursors failed to show up), category fraud (with many people viscerally, confusingly angry about Michelle Williams submitting here, rather than in Supporting Actress where she surely would've won), and the bootstraps campaign by Andrea Riseborough that won her a nomination thanks in large part to her friends (such as Frances Fisher) running an online campaign that won her a surprise nomination (which some wanted rescinded) dominated the race, making this one of the uglier contests ever for Best Actress.  I'll talk about the controversies in a second, but a friendly reminder-we judge based solely on the performances at-hand with these write-ups, and not based on any personal feelings (good or bad) about the performers or how they got their nominations.

We'll start with Riseborough, an actress who broke through after years of strong supporting work.  I talked about her nomination here if you want my full thoughts (it's a good, if in-depth, article, so I suggest you check it out if you haven't already), but in short-I think what she did was inventive, and a loophole she found in the Academy bylaws, and I believe people online treated her like garbage for no reason (it's not her fault that she got this nomination).  The nomination itself was cool, and so unexpected in an Oscar race that rarely can pull off something genuinely surprising.  Her performance, I was in the middle on.  To Leslie is not a great movie, using a lot of cliches about a poor woman who struggles with poverty & addiction, and while Riseborough is better than the movie, she's still hampered with a tale that you can see over-and-over again.  When you're playing a cliche, even if you're playing it well, you're not going to have much invention.

We'll get the other big controversy of the nominated five out of the way with Michelle Williams.  I feel people totally overreacted here, and their anger was more so that they couldn't predict Williams as a lock (there is this weird aversion to competitive races for Oscars Twitter that I find dumb since the single best thing about awards shows are the upsets).  I think Williams is marvelous in The Fabelmans, giving us a complicated look at a woman who loves her kids...but realizes that she loves her life more, and she wants to find a way to live it even if it means that she will disappoint the idyllic nature of her children's upbringing.  That great monologue at the end, saying "you don't owe anyone your life" is beautifully-written & acted, and to me it kind of spells out that Williams is a very plausible lead, and I am proud of her both for saying that out loud (we need someone to defend against category fraud) & then for actually getting the (deserved) nomination.  She'll show up in my nominations as well next week, and it'll be in lead.

Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to win Best Actress earlier this year (only the second woman of color), and she did so in a film that in many ways is a nod to her long career in action films (it's rare an actress works in genre all the time and gets honored in said genre...after all Julia Roberts didn't get her statue for rom-coms & Jamie Lee Curtis's statue isn't for horror).  Yeoh is excellent here.  Like all of the actors in the film, I think she has to land too many endings for the film, but she fares the best, making sure her Evelyn is a journey, giving us prickly sides to the character while also showing the love she has for her family, even if it's not something she's comfortable showing in an unencumbered way.  It's a great performance, and a worthy one for Oscar.

Her chief competition was Cate Blanchett, whose work in Tar is extraordinary.  This is the sort of towering achievement that defines a career, like Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood or Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice.  Every second, Blanchett is giving us a different lens into her titular Lydia, like a diamond you're exploring the angles, but the further you look at it, her Lydia isn't a gem at all but something common like glass, built on mirages and pretensions and abuses-of-power.  The downfall in this movie is remarkable because Blanchett gives Lydia such indiscernible confidence that you almost believe she's a genius about to meet her maker...when in reality she's the embodiment of the Peter Principle, a pseudo-intellectual elevated to the point where she's beyond reproach at that level.

Ana de Armas is the second actress to be nominated for playing Marilyn Monroe (an actress, it's worth noting, Oscar never noticed in her own life).  Blonde, coming from a director I usually drool over (I loved The Assassination of Jesse James and Killing Them Softly) is basically a student film, and is too convoluted to make any narrative sense.  The phrase "she's better than the film" is usually uttered by critics praising de Armas here, but...is she?  She gets a rough script, but her Marilyn isn't grounded.  There are moments that she's excellent (thinking of the scene where she's openly weeping, and then smiles into a cartoon that basically becomes the real-life Monroe, it's eerily perfect), but those are littered with bad touches & inconsistencies (remember her being confused by an egg?).  Is her Marilyn an idiot or just incapable of stopping the act?  There's no hint in her work.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes separate their nominations between Drama and Musical/Comedy, so we have ten women nominated for these awards.  For Drama we've got Blanchett winning against de Armas, Williams, Viola Davis (The Woman King), & Olivia Colman (Empire of Light) while Musical/Comedy gave their win to Yeoh atop Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris), Margot Robbie (Babylon), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Menu), & Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande).  SAG gave their statue to Yeoh, here beating Blanchett, Davis, de Armas, & Danielle Deadwyler (Till), while BAFTA wanted Blanchett, beating Davis, Deadwyler, de Armas, Thompson, & Yeoh.  In sixth place...your guess is as good as mine.  There's a lot of precursor love for Davis & Deadwyler, and Deadwyler was the performer I guessed wrong, so it's probably her (I think Davis was one of those "early season love due to her celebrity, can't sustain long enough to get to Oscar" contenders), though given both were weak enough to lose to Riseborough, I wouldn't be stunned if it was Robbie, Manville, or even someone like Jennifer Lawrence (Causeway) given this race was so dominated by Blanchett/Yeoh, as passion projects were able to take one of the remaining slots.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Few actresses have had a rougher go with their career than Tang Wei, blackballed from acting for years for her (magnificent) work in the NC-17 rated Lust, Caution, she has been steadily building to another performance worthy of that film, and this year she got it as the femme fatale in Decision to Leave.

Oscar’s Choice: Going into the night, the race between Yeoh & Blanchett felt close, but by the time the envelope was open and we were in the middle of our first real sweep in over a decade, it was clear Yeoh had won that statue weeks earlier.

My Choice: As I said above, these awards are given in a vacuum, I don't think about if someone already has some statues or not, because I want the experiment to be fair.  With that in mind, there's no doubt to  me that Blanchett gave the best performance here, possibly the best performance of her career.  Yeoh is very good, and a worthy silver, but Blanchett's the best nominated performance in any category in 2022.  Behind them we have Williams, Riseborough, & de Armas, in that order.

Those are my thoughts, but now I want to hear yours!  Do you want to stay with the Academy's admiration of Yeoh or do you want to join me in bowing down to Cate Blanchett?  How do you feel about the controversies involving Williams & Riseborough now that we're out of the heat of the actual Oscar race?  And with a lot of plausible options-whom do you think was in sixth place?  Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Also in 2022: Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Original Screenplay, International Feature Film, Animated Feature, Sound, Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2022

Past Best Actress Contests: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

OVP: Supporting Actress (2005)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2005)

The Nominees Were...

Amy Adams, Junebug
Catherine Keener, Capote
Frances McDormand, North Country
Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain

My Thoughts: There are a few of these contests where I am sluggish about doing the writeup because the winner is so obvious to me in my brain, it feels like I'm not going to find something new to write about the victor.  The 2005 Best Supporting Actress race, though, I'm nervous about for a different reason-I genuinely don't know who is going to win.  I have wrestled with this race for years, and while I picked a winner at the time, I've sort of just chalked it up as a "good year" rather than committing since whom I would select (if I had "tie" cards to play in this series, this might be one of the times I'd pull one out).  However, the whole point of this project is to get officially on the record, and to pick even in tough races, so I'm going to do just that.  But first, I'm going to buy myself some time by writing about the two women that won't be winning.

First off is Frances McDormand.  McDormand is a great actress, and while her curmudgeonly offscreen persona has started to seep into her performances as of late (in many ways she reminds me of Meryl Streep in that regard), she's a fantastic presence.  The problem here is that that star persona is really all she has going for her-her work as Glory Dodge is all grit, but not enough substance, and there's not enough there for us to really vest in her character and her role in Josey's tale.  In a lot of ways this should mirror Cher's work in Silkwood, but unlike Cher, McDormand doesn't give us enough hiding behind the surface to make this character compelling, and thus this feels like a coattail nomination for a popular actress.

The other nomination that is going nowhere in terms of the win is Catherine Keener.  Keener's work is better than McDormand's-she gives Harper Lee a sense of understanding & patience that feel like genuine character assets.  My favorite part about great supporting performances is that they are small, but feel like they could carry their own movie they have so much backstory in their reactions.  Keener has that, but the script isn't interested in her journey as we continue on, totally devoted instead to Truman, and while that isn't Keener's fault, compared to three movies where the actors are doing best-in-career work, it's hard to compare the two.  Still-a solid piece-of-work from an actress that always elevates her movie.

Which brings us to the big three, starting out with Amy Adams.  Her Ashley is so good; Adams had been teetering toward stardom for years when this film was released (particularly with her showy role in Catch Me If You Can), but this brought her to a new echelon.  Ashley is a difficult part, as she's so earnest & forthright that it'd be easy to play her for laughs, or to make the audience feel like they're in on a joke against her.  Adams doesn't do that-Ashley is a real human being, someone who understands pain, but doesn't feel it needs to discussed in the sort of hushed tones we expect from film character's experiencing heartbreak and tragedy.  Adams' work is occasionally marred by Junebug's lack of focus with its other characters-she's giving 110%, but the inconsistencies of the other characters are not overcome by the script, and thus she occasionally feels a little out-of-place, but that's just looking for faults-this is possibly Adams' best work 15 years later.

Michelle Williams' Alma has the smallest amount of screen-time of the three women I'm considering for this trophy, but she makes every second count.  Williams plays Alma as the sort of woman who was trained to be a wife-and-mother, the pretty girl who never assumed that she'd be in a situation where her husband wouldn't worship her.  Her big showdown later with Ennis is building off of that anger, that he took away a "simple" life from her, and how he did so in a way that she can't discuss with another soul.  Alma is an introverted character, someone that has to hide everything, and those are difficult to play while still landing a punch with the audience.  That Williams is able to do that is a testament to how this is also her best work in the past 15 years.  About the only complaint I have here is that Alma's performance occasionally feels unfinished-we don't get to have that last understanding of what she thinks of Ennis' life or Jack's death, and thus she feels ancillary even with Williams' work demanding attention.

Weisz's work is oftentimes maligned or dismissed in part due to the passionate fanbases for Williams & Adams, and in part because unlike those two actresses, this isn't her best work (that would be either The Deep Blue Sea or The Favourite depending on whom you ask).  But that doesn't mean that she isn't on-par and exceeding them in what she brings to Tessa Quayle.  Tessa is so complicated in this film, having to use her sexuality to get to what she needs, and thus because Weisz has her playing a part, she's difficult to understand.  If it weren't for the groundwork that Weisz gives us in the first half, when so many other actresses would have dropped easier hints as to Tessa's true feelings but Weisz doesn't, the back-half of the film wouldn't be a proper mystery.  We aren't just trying to figure out why Tessa died, but who she was.  That's a really tremendous task for an actor, and she nails it.  The only knock I have on Weisz is that this does border on a lead performance, and so it's questionable whether she should lose a star for that (in which case she'd lose as these are three 5-star portrayals).

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes threw in an expected curveball (Scarlett Johansson was a huge favorite of HFPA at the time, and thus was an easy option for Match Point) and an unexpected one (Shirley MacLaine in In Her Shoes, the 2005 movie I'm most bummed I didn't catch before commencing this OVP run), to go along with McDormand, Williams, and the victorious Weisz.  SAG also favored Weisz, here against a carbon copy of the eventual Oscars lineup, while BAFTA did their own thing giving the trophy to Thandie Newton (Crash), bumping Weisz to lead, and tossing out Adams in favor of Brenda Blethyn in Pride & Prejudice.  In terms of sixth place, I can't quite tell who it was.  I think there's an argument to be made that it was none of these women, and instead Maria Bello (A History of Violence), particularly after she'd been left out in 2003 despite an expected citation, but upon reflection I have to assume it was Newton, as Crash ended up doing very well with Oscar and she was probably close to beating out Keener or Adams had she slightly more momentum from HFPA or SAG.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: As you can imagine, three of these nominees would definitely stay in my book.  I'd add in Bello, who gives her career-best work in History of Violence and is so good as the woman who has carried many of her suspicions about her husband for so many years.  I'd also give an early nod to Anne Hathaway, who while not in the same league as Williams, brings a different, more knowing perspective on what her husband's sexuality is to her performance, and is intriguing as a less sympathetic counterweight to Alma.

Oscar’s Choice: Weisz clobbered throughout the awards season, and won in what really wouldn't have been that competitive a race despite us rewriting it to be so in hindsight thanks to the trajectories of Williams & Adams' careers.

My Choice: We'll go backwards-McDormand is in fifth, Keener in fourth.  I'll give the bronze to Amy Adams, if only because of the problems I have with Junebug not always gelling as a film.  For the win, I'm changing my mind from what I said in 2005.  I think Williams does more with less, and Weisz, while not lead enough for me to totally dock a star, at the very least is central enough to the plot that it's hard for me to pick her over Williams considering the size of their roles & the similar impact that they have onscreen.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  On a different day, I might pick a different performance, but today I'm on Team Williams-are you with me, or are you smarting from me snubbing Weisz?  Would this race be on the all-timer's list if you could snub McDormand for Bello?  And do you think Thandie Newton will be able to parlay her Westworld credentials into a long-delayed Oscar nomination at some point?  Share your thoughts below!

Also in 2005: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Original Score, Original Song, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup, Previously in 2005

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

OVP: Supporting Actress (2016)

OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2016)

The Nominees Were...

Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

My Thoughts: All right, we're getting back into our regular Monday & Wednesday articles for OVP ballots today, and where last we left off, we were heading into one of my favorite categories, Best Supporting Actress.  2016's acting races were perhaps the first warning sign that the expanded Best Picture field was truly starting to cause laziness in the Oscars, as you can see here most plainly-every single one of these women are nominated for films that were cited for the top prize.  We're going to do something we rarely do in these write-ups since I'm getting back into the swing of them, and start with the victor since we don't have a lot of other things distinguishing the contest.

Viola Davis is an extraordinary actor, and one who definitely deserved to win an Oscar at some point in her career, but I do question the film she won it for.  For starters, this is a lead performance-you can quibble & fret all you want about this being Troy's story, but it's really the story of Troy & Rose's marriage, and she should have gone lead (I honestly think she might have still won Best Actress in such a field).  So knock off a star for category fraud, as well as for not really transitioning this to the big screen.  Davis & Washington are exceptional, and this must have been a helluva show at the Cort, but on the big screen they don't feel authentic or real enough for my taste-there's not enough modulation, especially compared to what Stephen Henderson is doing.  Davis is great in some of her quieter moments, particularly when she and Washington discuss his love child & lord knows the woman can deliver a monologue, but I'll be honest-this is the least of Davis' three nominated performances for me, and I wish she'd have won for either of the other films instead (she took both OVP's).

Davis' The Help costar would soon tie her record for most-nomiated black actress in 2017, but here she is getting a role that on-paper feels like a slam dunk for Octavia Spencer.  She plays her Dorothy with determination, and though obviously based on a real person, it is a role that feels like it was written with Spencer in-mind.  That said, she still lands it, and finds ways to modulate the work to make sure that it fits.  Look at the subtle ways she makes Dorothy's confidence ebb-and-flow depending on who is in the room (though it's always there in her posture and dialogue), or the killer way she dresses down Kirsten Dunst without it ever feeling like a screenplay ploy.  Spencer is oftentimes taken for granted, but adding richness and warmth to a movie is a rare skill, and should be appreciated-Hidden Figures is the better for her appearing in it.

The same cannot be said for Nicole Kidman, who by most definitions is a world-class actress who definitely should be sitting on more Oscar nominations than she currently has.  I don't think that she handles her "white savior" role with enough delicacy and realism-there's not enough of her complicated relationship with Mantosh, and it feels glossed over to keep the movie bright and "universal" for audience members who look more like Kidman than Dev Patel.  Kidman is too good of an actress to totally fail-she finds some humanity in her relationship with Sunny, but it's not enough, and is one of the drawbacks to the film's weaker second half.

Naomie Harris is the only actor who appears in all three parts of the Moonlight triptych, and thus gets arguably the most difficult task in the film-finding ways to connect with three different actors with a similar (but not too similar) chemistry, while also showing a woman who has moved & struggled through her life.  Harris nails this-the accent is spot-on, and I loved the way we initially view her as a competent, harried mother, and once we learn the secrets of her behavior toward her son, we can never unseen that, even in later scenes where she desperately wants for us (and Chiron) to unsee what we've experienced.  Harris is spectacular, finding a woman increasingly marginalized by her son and society, using what little power she has to try to find her way into both, and then when she realizes the damage she's done, understanding that she can't change the past.

Our final nominee is Michelle Williams, who compared to some of the competition is practically giving a cameo in Manchester by the Sea (one of the reasons I dock a "star" for category fraud is that it's simply unfair that Williams has to compete with Davis, who is in an hour more movie than Williams is).  I am a big fan of Williams, but have found her leaning too much in the "less is less" category of acting in recent years, taking her minimalism too for granted.  So imagine me surprised when she shows up and just knocks her Randi out of the park.  The early scenes where she's a stressed mother, normal, relatable, are matched by the plastic sheen she brings to later scenes.  Affleck couldn't get past what happened to their family-he has to force himself to live with it over-and-over.  Williams chose the opposite approach-cutting every tie she had to that person she used to be in hopes that it would save her from drowning in reality.  Look at that scene where she asks him to lunch, and how she can barely handle even that moment, understanding it might mean finding closure in a moment she can't physically acknowledge, and the anguish of knowing that she can't put back together the man she once loved.  Williams is sensational in this part.

Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes weirdly went for a carbon copy of the Oscars, something they had not done since 1996 (and that year was cheating, as the HFPA went with six nominations instead of Oscar's five due to a tie).  SAG did the same thing, and Viola Davis won both, indicating a shocking lack of creativity when it came to this field that year.  BAFTA also went for Davis, but at least they found a new name, throwing out Spencer in favor of Hayley Squires in I, Daniel Blake.  In terms of sixth place, it's hard to tell with such uniformity.  Other names being bandied about at the time were Greta Gerwig (20th Century Women), Molly Shannon (Other People), Lily Gladstone (Certain Women), and Janelle Monae (Hidden Figures), the latter being my guess considering that was the one movie that proved popular with Oscar, even if Gladstone got the LAFCA trophy.

Actors I Would Have Nominated: Overall, this isn't a bad lineup-there's a reason there was so much uniformity in the precursors-this was a relatively light year for great supporting actress performances.  That said, I surely would have included Monae, who wasn't just awesome in Hidden Figures, announcing herself as a proper movie star, but also in her small role in Moonlight.  I also would have found time for Dakota Johnson, whose nymph in A Bigger Splash is fascinating character work, and kind of announced her as an actress to watch.

Oscar’s Choice: Category fraud, yes, but it's probably better for the world that Viola Davis has an Oscar.

My Choice: A pretty close race for me between Harris & Williams.  I'm going to go with Harris in a slight nod over Williams if only because it's a more difficult part to get across in such a short time frame.  Following them would be Spencer, Davis, and then Kidman.

Those are my thoughts-what are yours?  Pretty much everyone went with Davis, so I assume I'm in the minority by picking Harris-or does someone want to join me on Team Moonlight?  Why do you think there was so much uniformity when it came to this category from precursors?  And who do you think was the sixth place finisher of this field-with so few names in the mix, I'm curious who you think nearly made it?  Share your thoughts below!

Also in 2016: Supporting Actor, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, Animated Feature Film, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Cinematography, Costume, Film Editing, Visual Effects, Makeup & Hairstyling, Previously in 2016

Past Best Supporting Actress Contests: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

4 Mini Reviews

All right-truth be told right now, I'm in "list-finishing" mode, an article I might be writing next week if I can find the time.  But for now, I've decided that it's time to get 2018 done, and rather than just skip some of the movies that I've seen, I am going to instead do short reviews of a dozen movies that I saw in 2018, many even from that year.  I chose these movies because they were not Oscar-nominated (so they won't be referenced when we go back to those years in 2018) and because while I always find it cool to have a full review, I don't think it is as critical to give each of these twelve their own articles.  Don't worry-missing Best Picture nominees Green Book and BlacKKKlansman, as well as one of my personal Best Picture nominees (The Other Side of the Wind), will still get the full review treatment, but as I catch up on my reviews, sacrifices had to be made.  Don't assume this will be a habit-once I catch up, I plan on staying that way & we'll be back to one film to a review.  Until then, enjoy this look at some of the many flicks I saw in 2018!

(Note-I get spoiler-y about Early Man, Annihilation, Ant-Man, and I Feel Pretty-if you haven't seen them and are planning to, skip over those reviews and just read the other ones!)

Early Man (dir. Nick Park)

This was, sadly, the first movie ever that I watched entirely by myself...not just me going by myself, but no one in the theater, a record I enjoyed attributing to a movie but didn't like because I support movie theaters and because, despite its obvious flaws, Early Man has charm.  A movie depicting cavemen playing soccer, it trades a lot in the British humor that has made Nick Park a staple at the Oscars (Early Man is the rare movie that didn't compete from Park's Aardman Studios), and occasionally falls flat, but there's a lot of heart in this film, and some clever villainy as Tom Hiddleston embraces his dark side as Lord Nooth.  A passing fancy, but still pleasurable and worth a quiet night in if you've liked Park's previous work. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)

Annihilation (dir. Alex Garland)

Arguably the movie that I would have most liked to explore in a larger review (you're going to notice four 2018 movies that aren't Oscar nominees that I do give full treatment to, and if you play close attention you'll notice an odd one I highlight as opposed to Annihilation, so call me out for it when you do).  That said, while I adored Ex Machina a few years back, this one seemed to share that movie's ambitions, but not necessarily its execution.  The final third of the movie is gorgeous but makes little sense, and if the metaphor is what it's supposed to be (that we're constantly going to destroy ourselves), you can turn on the news and get that a bit more clearly.  Portman is fine, but there's not enough depth in her main character, and the same can be said for Oscar Isaac as her missing husband.  It's still got great effects (should have been cited for them with AMPAS), but there's too many moments where Garland steers into Christopher Nolan-esque "isn't this cool?" storytelling for comfort. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)

Ant-Man (dir. Peyton Reed)

The best of these four films, Ant-Man is actually one of the finest Marvel movies, period.  I loved the way that they don't necessarily feel the need to have a tragic backstory, and don't confuse comedy for weird like they did in Thor: Ragnorak.  Paul Rudd is flawless (and his abs are well-exploited in a way I wasn't expecting) as Ant-Man, a hapless loser who becomes a random superhero, but seems to genuinely enjoy his powers.  Evangeline Lilly matches well with him, but best-of-all is Michael Douglas as Lilly's father.  Douglas is one of my all-time favorite actors, and watching him latch into a proper movie star role in a genuinely good movie for the first time in (decades?) is an unabashed joy for me.  Add in truly innovative special effects, and you have the best Avengers film that doesn't have "Winter Soldier" in the title. (Ranking: 4/5 stars)

I Feel Pretty (dir. Abby Kohn & Marc Silverstein)

Amy Schumer's career since Trainwreck has been, well, the obvious title pun seems fitting.  She cancelled her hit TV show, and had two flops last year (I think technically Snatched broke even, but considering her promise in Trainwreck that feels like a flop).  I Feel Pretty was at least a financial success for Schumer, ensuring a future paycheck, but she has yet to capture the magic she exhibited with her show and Trainwreck, and seems to be losing the "Rom-Com Queen" wars to someone like Rebel Wilson, who seems a better fit for her material.  I Feel Pretty has too many obvious jokes, and feels more like a lecture than a movie.  The body positivity angles are so overdone, particularly by someone who the bulk of America wouldn't even notice as being "overweight" unless they put her next to Michelle Williams, that it is hokey.  Michelle Williams' turn as a cosmetics boss with a bizarre, squeaky voice, is staggering at first, but I wasn't enchanted by this either-it felt just like a weird decision to make rather than finding something specific to say about her spoiled-but-not-dumb manager.  Still, she's the best part of a dull movie-here's to hoping that Schumer finds her mojo again soon. (Ranking: 2/5 stars)

4 Mini Reviews

As I'm working through all of the films I haven't touched on in the past few months, struggling to catch up with my film reviews, I'm going to do something I'm generally loathe to do: do a mini review of the pictures.  I don't like doing this, in part because while this is a generally low-traffic blog for me it's the closest thing I get to a time capsule of my thoughts on a specific picture and what things stuck out to me as soon as I watched it rather than distant memories where so-often you're reliant upon what others called out as important about the film afterwards than what you, yourself liked at the time.  However, these have been distant enough that I won't have that cache, none were nominated for an Oscar so I won't be referencing these films again for the OVP, and due simply to time (I need to get some of these reviews out of my draft folder), we'll be doing four short mini reviews.  If any of these are ones you want to discuss more thoroughly or get my expanded thoughts, I'm happy to discuss in the comments.

(Some Spoilers ahead for Stronger, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Wonderstruck, and Last Flag Flying-read only the paragraphs where you've seen the films if you have a spoiler allergy)

Stronger (dir. David Gordon Green)

The story of a man whose legs were blown off after the Boston Marathon is shocking in the way that it avoids overly sentimentalizing its main character Jeff Bauman (played by Jake Gyllenhaal in yet another superb performance).  I went into this picture reluctantly, assuming it would be your general true-life story that deserves kudos to the actual person, but which comes across as drivel in the film, but Gyllenhaal plays Bauman as a real person, struggling with the concept of being a hero for basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and who must admit feelings he has even if he's someone that doesn't have any sort of comfort admitting feelings.  Hats off to both he and the two women in his life, his girlfriend Tatiana Maslany and his mother Miranda Richardson, who find a strong, independent dynamic for their work.  The film's story is too-cliched and hugs the many sentimental traps that it avoided the first half when we get to the ending, but by-and-large this is one of the better "unlikely real-life hero" stories I've seen in a while. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)

I left Dogtooth disgusted and confused.  I left The Lobster confused but getting where this was headed.  Sacred Deer seems to combine the two pictures.  While it's hard to imagine something as disturbing as Dogtooth, I can't deny this is a really nasty movie.  The film follows Colin Farrell, who has essentially been cursed by a terrifying Barry Koeghan after accidentally killing his father, and as a result Farrell's family (including wife Nicole Kidman) are slowly dying.  As punishment from Koeghan's character, Farrell must choose one of his family members to die, or else they all will.  The film is quite literal, even though at first you're meant not to trust Koeghan's character.  This picture is probably one that works best in comparison to Lanthimos's other flicks, knowing that he'll soon hit his near-perfect stride with The Favourite, and realizing that this is him trying out adventures that sometimes work, sometimes don't (the film struggles with its pacing once you realize the curse is real), but it's still a wild, creepy ride. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)

Wonderstruck (dir. Todd Haynes)

Todd Haynes' films are a hodgepodge for me, where I always respect them, but I don't ever love them (except for Carol).  Wonderstruck, his first film since the Blanchett-Mara duet, is back to "respect but don't love," but there's still a lot to admire here.  The film has a terrific central performance by Millicent Simmonds as a young deaf girl who is trying to find her brother in the Museum of Natural History in New York City (Julianne Moore plays her as an adult).  Told concurrently is a tale about a young man fifty years later who has just lost his mother (Michelle Williams) and is also trying to run away in the Museum of Natural History.  Beautifully shot by Edward Lachman, there are some wonderfully-felt scenes where we explore the Natural History Museum and the Queens Museum (I love museums-this was catnip for me), though the film's ending is a bit of a letdown, and it felt too cold for a movie that is trying to be warm.  Still, worth your time. (Ranking: 3/5 stars)

Last Flag Flying (dir. Richard Linklater)

Our final film for today is Richard Linklater's latest (at least for a few more weeks): Last Flag Flying.  Starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, & Laurence Fishburne as a trio of former war buddies who are on a trek to bury Carell's son where he wanted to be buried (and not in Arlington), this is a road trip by way of Linklater, so you know there's more below-the-surface that he's hoping will come out through his script and plotting.  Linklater's been on a roll lately (Before Midnight, Boyhood, and Everybody Wants Some! all made my Top 5 of the year), but this was a misfire.  Cranston overcompensates as an actor, and Carell under-emotes, and while there's a lot of meat about politics, aging, death, and friendship in Linklater's script, it doesn't gel.  Here's to hoping that Cate Blanchett gets him back into his groove. (Ranking: 2/5 stars)

Oscar's Long-Suffering Bridesmaids

Glenn Close-will she go 0/7?

We are in the heat of precursor season, and while these awards are relatively pointless if all they're doing is trying to predict the Academy Awards, let's be honest-that seems to be what most of them are doing.  If that's the case, we could be looking at yet another year where Glenn Close & Amy Adams are trying to secure their long-awaited Oscars, and I thought "wait, Oscar trivia...there must be some way that I can turn that into a list!" and lo-and-behold, I was right.

A couple of things can be true about the Oscars at once-it's very hard to be nominated for an Oscar and if you're nominated once, it's likely going to be your only nomination.  However, if you can get in a couple of times, it's probable that you're also going to get a trophy.  There's almost certainly a mathematical explanation here (you can only have so many years where you've got a "20% shot of winning" and not actually win), but it's rarer, especially for living actors, for you to be nominated 3+ times and not have an actual trophy.  For women, there are currently only fifteen actresses to hold this distinction, two of them being Close & Adams.  Were they to die without having ever won, they would join a small group of actresses ranging from Irene Dunne to Thelma Ritter to Deborah Kerr, but it's a short list.  Only 11 women have ever been nominated for at least three competitive Oscars and died without winning one, so it's very probable that most of the women on this list eventually take home a trophy.  Let's take a look and guess how many will actually win, and see who has come the closest to Oscar, shall we?

Note: These are ranked first by how many nominations an actress made, and then by who most-recently got her latest nomination.

15. Saoirse Ronan (1994-Present)

Nominations: Atonement (Supporting Actress in 2007), Brooklyn (Actress in 2015), & Lady Bird (Actress in 2017)
She Lost To: Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, & Frances McDormand
Closest to the Win: Maybe Atonement?  Brooklyn is more likely that she got second place, but Larson was so far-out-in-front that year that 2007, which was a genuine question mark headed into Oscar night, might have actually been her closest.
Well, She Still Won...: Ronan lost the Oscar for Lady Bird, but she still won the Golden Globe that year (and let's be honest, should have won the Oscar).
Is This Happening Someday?: She's 24 and already a three-time nominee who appears almost constantly in Oscar BAIT-y projects (just this year she's playing a queen who spends most of the film giving passionate speeches).  This is the easiest call of the bunch-she's probably going to win, likely in the next 4-5 years.

14. Laura Linney (1964-Present)

Nominations: You Can Count on Me (Actress in 2000), Kinsey (Supporting Actress in 2004), & The Savages (Actress in 2007)
She Lost to: Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett & Marion Cotillard
Closest to the Win: None of these were particularly close.  The Savages was a shock nomination, and no one could beat Julia in 2000, so it's probably 2004, though she would have had to get through Natalie Portman & Virginia Madsen to even have a shot at Blanchett.
Well, She Still Won...: Linney wins Emmys, not Oscars.  Linney has been nominated for five Emmys, and taken home four of them (her only loss came to Melissa McCarthy in 2011, where she famously stood on the stage in a mock-beauty-pageant), and she's also picked up two Golden Globes, though again for her TV work, not film.
Is This Happening Someday?: Probably not.  Linney isn't as famous as Adams or Julianne Moore, where she could launch a campaign out-of-nowhere and suddenly she'd be on a stampede to Oscar, and she doesn't really make the sorts of movies that get this kind of attention, particularly with TV being considerably kinder in terms of fame than movies ever have been (she's currently starring on the acclaimed Ozark for Netflix).  Never say never for a 3+ nominee, but I don't see this happening.

13. Joan Allen (1956-Present)

Nominations: Nixon (Supporting Actress in 1995), The Crucible (Supporting Actress in 1996), & The Contender (Actress in 2000)
She Lost to: Mira Sorvino, Juliette Binoche & Julia Roberts
Closest to the Win: Surely it was Nixon, where a win was actually very much in the cards (that year was a threeway heat between Sorvino, Allen, and Kate Winslet for Sense & Sensibility).
Well, She Still Won...: While her long list of screen credits have gotten her a lot of nominations, the only major award that Allen has ever won was for her years on Broadway, taking the Tony for Best Actress in 1988's Burn This.
Is This Happening Someday?: Amy Adams, take note, as Joan Allen could very easily be your future.  From 1995-2005, Allen regularly appeared in major contenders (in addition to her three nominations, she plausibly could have been cited for The Ice Storm, Pleasantville, and The Upside of Anger), but the roles dried up as did the Academy's love of her, and she couldn't even get a surprise nomination in 2015 for playing a struggling mother in a Best Picture nominee (which would have been a gimme back in her heyday).  I don't think she is a priority for Oscar anymore.

12. Debra Winger (1955-Present)

Nominations: An Officer and a Gentleman (Actress in 1982), Terms of Endearment (Actress in 1983), and Shadowlands (Actress in 1993)
She Lost to: Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, & Holly Hunter
Closest to the Win: Probably none of these.  In a different world where Sophie's Choice didn't exist I could make an argument that she could take it for Officer and a Gentleman (her career was sort of inching to an Oscar at that point, and Lange didn't need two), but she had three really impossible-to-beat actresses she had to go toe-to-toe with during her three AMPAS competitions.
Well, She Still Won...: Winger is perhaps the only actress on this list to never win a major award of any kind.  She's picked up a couple of critics prizes, but despite Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Emmy nominations, she's never won any of them.
Is This Happening Someday?: No.  Winger famously quit acting in the 1990's, inspiring the film Searching for Debra Winger, and she still has the goods to deliver a role (she was superb in 2008's Rachel Getting Married), but there's no momentum for her to win again, and she was famous for too brief of a period in the 1980's to have a "she needs an Oscar!" movement from the public.

11. Michelle Pfeiffer (1958-Present)

Nominations: Dangerous Liaisons (Supporting Actress in 1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (Actress in 1989), & Love Field (Actress in 1992)
She Lost to: Geena Davis, Jessica Tandy & Emma Thompson
Closest to the Win: I'd assume it would be Fabulous Baker Boys, where she was the only real competition for Tandy, and had won a host of precursors that year, likely meriting the win over Tandy, who was the sentimental favorite.
Well, She Still Won...: Pfeiffer took the Golden Globe for Baker Boys as well as a BAFTA Awards for Dangerous Liaisons, so she's hardly lacking in hardware.
Is This Happening Someday?: Unlike some of our previous actresses, Pfeiffer still has a great deal of pop culture cache, and is the sort of person who is famous enough to launch a Still Alice-style campaign and actually pull it off.  One has to assume that if mother! hadn't divided critics so last year that she could have snuck in for a fourth nomination (and with Russia House, The Age of Innocence, and White Oleander as near misses, a fourth nomination has been in the cards for a while).  She's notoriously press shy & doesn't make a lot of movies, but the fame is still there if she wanted to make a run for this, and quite honestly she's the level-of-famous that she could someday take an Honorary Oscar.

10. Diane Ladd (1935-Present)

Nominations: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Supporting Actress in 1974), Wild at Heart (Supporting Actress in 1990), and Rambling Rose (Supporting Actress in 1991)
She Lost to: Ingrid Bergman, Whoopi Goldberg, & Mercedes Ruehl
Closest to the Win: Bergman's win in 1974 seems to have been something of a surprise, with the precursors all-over-the-map, but they do somewhat hint that Ladd was a probable favorite here along with Valentina Cortese, so I think her first outing was her best option.
Well, She Still Won...: Ladd won the BAFTA Award for Alice..., and then took a Golden Globe Award for the TV series based on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, called Alice.
Is This Happening Someday?: I'd say no considering her age and her stature as a character actress, but if her daughter Laura Dern can get a revival for her father, why couldn't she get one last hurrah for mom?  Ladd clearly has wanted this for a while (her campaign to get a nomination for Wild at Heart is the stuff of Oscar legend).

9. Sigourney Weaver (1949-Present)

Nominations: Aliens (Actress in 1986), Gorillas in the Mist (Actress in 1988), & Working Girl (Supporting Actress in 1988)
She Lost to: Marlee Matlin, Jodie Foster, & Geena Davis
Closest to the Win: Weaver became the first actor ever to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year and lose both of them (since then it's happened three times, though only once, 2002 with Julianne Moore, did the Oscars doubly-snub someone who hadn't won before).  I would assume considering that 1988 had two winners that were somewhat surprising at the time that her best shot was that year, and perhaps she split her own vote too much to take it.
Well, She Still Won...: Weaver won both of the Golden Globes in 1988, a flip of her eventual Oscar night, and also took home the BAFTA for 1997's The Ice Storm (starring #13 on our list, Joan Allen).
Is This Happening Someday?: While she's not really famous enough to ever win an Honorary Oscar, she still is famous enough from her work in the Alien franchise to demand attention, and could get a fourth nomination if she had the right kind of movie.  Considering she's one of the few actors patient enough to work with Jim Cameron more-than-once, he owes her another juicy role in a movie at some point, if he ever stops making the nonexistent Avatar sequels.

8. Piper Laurie (1932-Present)

Nominations: The Hustler (Actress in 1961), Carrie (Supporting Actress in 1976), & Children of a Lesser God (Supporting Actress in 1986)
She Lost to: Sophia Loren, Beatrice Straight & Dianne Wiest
Closest to the Win: I'm genuinely not sure.  All of these nominations predate my involvement with the Oscars, and I haven't read any of these races as being particularly close.  Were it 2018 when The Hustler came out, she surely would have won Best Supporting Actress for the movie, denying Rita Moreno her iconic win, and proving why category fraud is so dangerous as one of Oscar's best choices would be ruled out as a result.
Well, She Still Won...: Laurie took an Emmy for 1987's Promise and won a Golden Globe in 1990 for Twin Peaks.
Is This Happening Someday?: Laurie still acts (she's seen in the Matthew McConaughey film White Boy Rick this year), but has never been a consistent presence in film, frequently taking long detours on the stage (she didn't appear in a Hollywood movie from The Hustler to Carrie), so I doubt it.  She's not well-known enough to win an Honorary Award, so I'm guessing her next mention with AMPAS will be at the In Memoriam (morbid, but accurate).

7. Angela Lansbury (1925-Present)

Nominations: Gaslight (Supporting Actress in 1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Supporting Actress in 1945), & The Manchurian Candidate (Supporting Actress in 1962)
She Lost to: Ethel Barrymore, Anne Revere, & Patty Duke (don't you love that there's still someone living who once competed against Ethel Barrymore?)
Closest to the Win: Lansbury was the heavy favorite for her dragon-lady mother in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate, but she had to go against Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker, which is pretty much a lead role and a sympathetic one at that, so she ended up losing as a result (Duke's very good in the movie, but nowhere near as marvelous as Lansbury).
Well, She Still Won...: Lansbury won an Honorary Oscar in 2013 for her body-of-work, a well-deserved honor that the Emmys should duplicate considering her 18 nods without a win there.  She also has five Tony Awards & six Golden Globes...Lansbury has a complicated history with awards ceremonies, with some adoring her while others consistently keep her in her seat.
Is This Happening Someday?: The Honorary Award was a great nod from Hollywood to one of its most enduring stars, but it was also an indication that Lansbury's time in the competitive categories is over.

6. Michelle Williams (1980-Present)

Nominations: Brokeback Mountain (Supporting Actress in 2005), Blue Valentine (Actress in 2010), My Week with Marilyn (Actress in 2011), & Manchester by the Sea (Supporting Actress in 2016)
She Lost to: Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, & Viola Davis
Closest to the Win: Probably her first at-bat?  The other films had pretty strong frontrunners, but 2005 could have gone a few different ways, including toward Williams as the "long-suffering wife."
Well, She Still Won...: Williams picked up the Globe for her work in My Week with Marilyn (I remember Seth Rogen making fun of the "hilarious" movie while presenting and then having to sheepishly hand the statue over to his Take This Waltz costar).
Is This Happening Someday?: Only 13 women have been nominated four or more times for acting without actually winning a trophy, so we're entering very good odds territory, especially for someone who works as often as Williams who has made the move from leading lady to supporting parts relatively seamlessly.  She's admittedly turning forty in a couple of years so it'd be smart to score soon, but this is still achievable.

5. Annette Bening (1958-Present)

Nominations: The Grifters (Supporting Actress in 1990), American Beauty (Actress in 1999), Being Julia (Actress in 2004), & The Kids Are All Right (Actress in 2010)
She Lost to: Whoopi Goldberg, Hilary Swank, Hilary Swank (again), & Natalie Portman
Closest to the Win: I distinctly remember there being a lot of conversation in 1999, when Bening was just north of 40, that "it's time" for her to win for American Beauty, which she didn't do but had to be close.  While in hindsight that was ridiculous considering the body-of-work she's put out since, it has to be noted that women around the age of 40 frequently have their flourishing acting careers disappear if they can't transition into playing the grittier, indy films that Hollywood's sexism relegates them toward.
Well, She Still Won...: Bening took home the BAFTA for American Beauty (Boys Don't Cry feels a more "American" story than American Beauty, so this makes sense though it's weird they didn't go with Julianne Moore for the "more British" End of the Affair), and nabbed Golden Globes for both Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right.
Is This Happening Someday?: Yeah, I think it is, though it's probably going to have to be supporting.  While Bening has missed in the past two years, she scored major precursor nominations (Globes & BAFTA) proving the love is still there, and she's the rare actress in her sixties that still headlines movies.  I think she's quite likely to get this, and it doesn't hurt that she's married to Hollywood Royalty, as Warren will clearly push for his wife to win this if she's close.

4. Jane Alexander (1939-Present)

Nominations: The Great White Hope (Actress in 1970), All the President's Men (Supporting Actress in 1976), Kramer vs. Kramer (Supporting Actress in 1979), and Testament (Actress in 1983)
She Lost to: Glenda Jackson, Beatrice Straight, Meryl Streep, & Shirley MacLaine
Closest to the Win: Straight was a big upset in 1976, with most people assuming the trophy would go to Alexander or Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.  Her other three options she wasn't one of the main contenders, so I think this was her best option even though it's not the most memorable of parts in All the President's Men.
Well, She Still Won...: Alexander took home the Tony for the stage version of The Great White Hope and won Emmys for her work in Playing for Time and Warm Springs.
Is This Happening Someday?: No, I don't think so.  Alexander still works regularly, but mostly in TV (I'd totally buy that she has another Emmy win in her), and was never a household name in the way that Bening is, so there's less pressure to give her an Honorary trophy.

3. Marsha Mason (1942-Present)

Nominations: Cinderella Liberty (Actress in 1973), The Goodbye Girl (Actress in 1977), Chapter Two (Actress in 1979), & Only When I Laugh (Actress in 1981)
She Lost to: Glenda Jackson, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, & Katharine Hepburn
Closest to the Win: It's hard to tell, but it'd be one of her first two nominations.  Jackson's win in 1973 was considered a big surprise (if you've never seen the looks of shock and not-so-veiled disgust on Mason's, Joanne Woodward's, and Ellen Burstyn's faces when Jackson won at the 1973 Oscars, do yourself a favor).  Mason seemed happier being beaten by Diane Keaton, though considering the Annie Hall wins weren't a foregone conclusion that night (Mason & Jane Fonda were both in the running), she might have just been acting.
Well, She Still Won...: Mason picked up Golden Globes for both Cinderella Liberty & The Goodbye Girl, but is one Tony nomination away from having been nominated for every leg of the EGOT but not winning any of them (only Lynn Redgrave has ever pulled off this feat).  Considering how often she treads the boards, this is not out of the question (weirdly Redgrave also won two Golden Globes in her career).
Is This Happening Someday?: Doubtful.  Mason is very active, one could argue more active than even Alexander, but her days as a leading woman are largely forgotten by modern audiences, and so there's no way for her to easily get in on pop culture cache.  She'd need to land a really good film role, which is tough for a woman nearing eighty.

2. Amy Adams (1974-Present)

Nominations: Junebug (Supporting Actress in 2005), Doubt (Supporting Actress in 2008), The Fighter (Supporting Actress in 2010), The Master (Supporting Actress in 2012), & American Hustle (Supporting Actress in 2013)
She Lost to: Rachel Weisz, Penelope Cruz, Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway, & Cate Blanchett
Closest to the Win: I don't think Adams has ever actually been close to a win.  Her best shot would have been in 2013, where she was competing against four former winners so a movement to "make her one of the club" was definitely possible, but it never panned out.  She's more consistently in 4th place when she's nominated.
Well, She Still Won...: Adams took an expected Golden Globe for American Hustle and then a shock win for Big Eyes (she clearly hadn't prepared even a "I can't believe I won" speech that year).
Is This Happening Someday?: Only five women have gotten to the 5+ club without taking home a competitive trophy, so Adams is in rare company if she never wins, but I kind of think she will.  Her fame and age indicate it should happen soon, and Oscar's love of her may be waning (she missed for Big Eyes & Arrival despite ample precursor attention), but Vice this year has a solid recipe for a trophy (supporting part, biopic, showy work) if its reviews don't bury her chances alive.

1. Glenn Close (1947-Present)

Nominations: The World According to Garp (Supporting Actress in 1982), The Big Chill (Supporting Actress in 1983), The Natural (Supporting Actress in 1984), Fatal Attraction (Actress in 1987), Dangerous Liaisons (Actress in 1988), & Albert Nobbs (Actress in 2011)
She Lost to: Jessica Lange, Linda Hunt, Peggy Ashcroft, Cher, Jodie Foster, & Meryl Streep
Closest to the Win: In 1988, Close was the frontrunner for this win.  Most people assumed she'd take it after a decade of headlining major films, perhaps joining Sigourney Weaver on the stage (getting two women off of this list), but Jodie Foster pulled off the upset, and Close would have to wait another 23 years before she finally was invited back to the Oscars.
Well, She Still Won...: Close has won two Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a trio of Tony Awards-the only thing left to cap off an incredible career would be an Oscar...
Is This Happening Someday?: Close joins Thelma Ritter & Deborah Kerr as the only actresses to ever hit six nominations and never win the Oscar.  As a result, it's hard not to see a movement happening for her if she gets a citation this year since she'd be in uncharted territory for a woman if she got seven nods & never won.  In a normal year, I'd argue that Olivia Colman or Lady Gaga or even Emily Blunt would have more steam than Close's quiet, introverted turn in The Wife, but that's the sort of performance that eventually won Geraldine Page her Oscar too after losing seven times previously (though Close is better than Page was in The Trip to Bountiful), and honestly at this point the movie behind her name might not matter-they are likely just voting for Glenn Close, Oscar Winner, at that point.  I think if she gets in there's a very strong possibility the Oscars decide to avoid another Richard Burton situation and just gives her the trophy.  If not, expect an Honorary Oscar soon, though Close famously wants this so I doubt she settles for an Honorary if she can help it.