Photo: Focus Features
Chris Luckett
There are just four days left until the Oscars. Have you had trouble finding time to catch up on all the nominated movies? Still want to be able to join in the Oscar conversations at work? Look no further than this six-part guide to the major categories. Today, I look at the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Chris Luckett
Every year or two — pretty much any year he makes a movie — talk starts again about Leonardo DiCaprio finally winning an Oscar. Like a slightly older Justin Timberlake, DiCaprio has gone from being an unfairly dismissed teen idol twenty years ago to one of the most fervently defended actors of modern cinema.
For DiCaprio to have given as many brilliant performances as he has by just his early forties is quite remarkable. And whatever the movie, the odds are good you yourself have a DiCaprio role in mind you think he should have won an Oscar for already. It doesn’t help that other awards shows don’t shy away from awarding him for his incomparable work, making the Oscars look all the more out of touch.
Now, DiCaprio is back after a two-year absence with The Revenant, his team-up with director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (fresh off his Oscar win for directing Birdman last year) that won Golden Globes last night not just for Best Actor but also for Director and Picture. It’s DiCaprio’s best shot at an Oscar, and not just because of the weak year 2015 was. Continue reading
Photo: Paramount Pictures
(This is Part 3 of a five-part series looking at the Oscar nominees in the eight major categories. Click here for Part 1 or Part 2.)
Chris Luckett
Ten lead performances are nominated for Academy Awards each year: five male and five female. This year’s batch includes some real heavyweights; despite two of them scoring first-time nominations, the ten actors and actresses up for Lead Performance Oscars have 38 Academy Award nominations between them.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
A year before The Wolf of Wall Street came out, Leonardo DiCaprio gave one of his best performances in Django Unchained, a three-hour movie that rarely took a wrong step for the first two-and-a-half hours, but went on for 30 minutes too long. The Wolf of Wall Street suffers from the same affliction.
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chris Luckett
Oscar season is upon us once again. Most of Jan. 10’s nominations were exactly what many expected. Every year, though, there are a few surprise inclusions and a few shocking omissions, and this year’s was no different. Continue reading
The Apple Box 