Tag: Sweet and Lowdown

Oscar Nominations: The Case of Sean Penn in One Battle After Another

As we do every year on the blog, Oscar nominations lead to my Case Of series. What are they? Glad you asked. These are 35 posts covering the nominees for Picture, Director, and the four acting contests. For each one, I give you the case for the movie/director/actor winning and the case against it with a verdict tidying it up. It’s like a trial, but no one goes to prison.

It began with the ten Best Picture contenders and now alternates alphabetically between the hopefuls in the other five races. The BP posts are readily available for your perusing pleasure. The fourth entrant in Best Supporting Actor is Sean Penn as the villainous Colonel Steven J. Lockjaw in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. If you missed my posts covering the first three thespians in the race, they can be accessed here:

Oscar Nominations: The Case of Benicio del Toro in One Battle After Another
Oscar Nominations: The Case of Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein
Oscar Nominations: The Case of Delroy Lindo in Sinners

Previous Acting Nominations:

1995 – Actor (Dead Man Walking) – lost to Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas; 1999 – Actor (Sweet and Lowdown) – lost to Kevin Spacey for American Beauty; 2001 – Actor (I Am Sam) – lost to Denzel Washington for Training Day; 2003 – Actor (Mystic River) – WON; 2008 – Actor (Milk) – WON

The Case for Sean Penn:

The six-time nominee and two-time winner is peaking at the right time. Penn has taken the previous major precursors via BAFTA and SAG Actor. While he’s been a mainstay at the Oscars, it’s been 17 years between nominations and this is seen as his meatiest role in quite some time. He would entered rarified territory as only the 8th actor to have more than two gold statues joining Katherine Hepburn with four and the following performers with three – Ingrid Bergman, Walter Brennan, Daniel Day-Lewis, Frances McDormand, Jack Nicholson, and Meryl Streep.

The Case Against Sean Penn:

As you can see above, it’s no easy task to get a trio of Oscars. He could vote split with his costar Benicio del Toro. The early precursors did not go his way with Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein) taking Critics Choice and the Globes selecting Stellan Skarsgård (Sentimental Value). Unlike some his fellow nominees, he’s not big on campaigning.

The Verdict:

Momentum matters. A month ago, Penn looked like a long shot. Now he’s the favorite and hard to bet against.

My Case Of posts will continue with fourth director for consideration – Joachim Trier for Sentimental Value…

Oscar Predictions: Anemone

On the rare occasion that Daniel Day-Lewis makes a movie, it immediately becomes a potential awards player. The English legend is one of just seven people who’ve won more than two acting Oscars with his three victories represented by 1989’s My Left Foot, 2007’s There Will Be Blood and 2012’s Lincoln. He nabbed three additional lead Actor nods for 1993’s In the Name of the Father, 2002’s Gangs of New York and 2017’s Phantom Thread.

Anemone marks his first role since Thread eight years ago and it premiered at the New York Film Festival prior to its semi-wide release next Friday. The family drama is also a family affair as son Ronan Day-Lewis makes his behind the camera debut. The director and his dad share credit on the screenplay. Sean Bean, Samantha Morton and Samuel Bottomley round out the cast.

Early word-of-mouth from the Big Apple indicates its star gives a magnetic performance with a couple of key monologues, including one that’s reportedly too filthy for an Oscar clip. Buzz for the film itself is more mixed with 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. This is highly unlikely to contend for Best Picture, Director or Original Screenplay.

Yet in a Best Actor competition that is notably open at press time, Day-Lewis could certainly squeeze in. Considering the varied reaction to the pic itself, I don’t envision him making a fourth trip to the Academy’s podium. **If he did, he’d become just the second individual to do so and join Katherine Hepburn with that distinction.

Beyond the three-time winner, Anemone could be in the mix for its cinematography. If Day-Lewis receives his seventh nom, Bean and Morton could ride his coattails to supporting mentions. Both are being heralded for their contributions. For Bean, it would mark his first at-bat with Morton going for a third mention behind 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown and 2003’s In America. Their nominations seem less probable their co-star’s. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Shoulda Been Oscar Contenders: Sean Penn in Carlito’s Way

Continuing with my new series covering performances that could have warranted some Oscar attention, I move to my second post in the Supporting Actor race of 1993. The first one centered on Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday in Tombstone. As a reminder, the actual five nominees were a strong grouping with Tommy Lee Jones emerging victorious for The Fugitive. The other nominees: Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Ralph Fiennes for Schindler’s List, John Malkovich for In the Line of Fire, and Pete Postlethwaite for In the Name of the Father. 

Another notable performance for that derby: Sean Penn in Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way. Almost unrecognizable as a sleazy coked up lawyer with an unforgettable hairdo, Penn managed to steal scenes from Al Pacino’s title character. Had his work been included here, it would have marked his first nod. Two years later, he achieved that with Dead Man Walking. Four more nominations (all in Best Actor) would follow with two victories in 2003’s Mystic River and 2008’s Milk as well as 1999’s Sweet and Lowdown and 2001’s I Am Sam. 

Yet his rare supporting turn alongside Pacino would have been fine with me for a sixth mention – even with the solid competition nearly three decades ago.

My Should Been Contenders posts will continue with another sturdy supporting turn from 1993…