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With the announcement of the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards this week, we’re in the middle of awards season. Buckle up!
the It smells like fresh debate about who should and shouldn’t win, which nomination was the biggest surprise and, of course, which omission was the biggest snub.
What is pop culture if not what makes some people angry?
Here’s how that mood affects this week’s newsletter.
I was deeply saddened by the death of 27-year-old British singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse from alcohol poisoning in 2011.
With her haunting voice – to me she was a blues singer trapped in a pop world – and a troubled life, it was hard not to mourn her death at such a young age. I even wrote about her continued impact on the music industry a decade after her death.
Now, a planned biopic of her life, Back to Black, has angered many fans.
One of the many complaints seems to be that actress Marisa Abela, cast as Winehouse, doesn’t resemble her enough to take on the role. Portraying a star with an aesthetic as iconic as Winehouse can be almost impossible, in the end.
And there is something to be said about the homage we pay to many stars who have died. Some people weren’t happy with recent portrayals of the late Whitney Houston by Naomi Ackie in Whitney Houston: I Want to Dance With Somebody or Austin Butler as The King in “Elvis” (despite much critical acclaim – and, yes, an Oscar nomination – for the latter).
Even if the actor does manage to pull off the look, like Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning performance as the late singer Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody,” or has the support of the subject’s family, like Butler did with the Presleys, some viewers can’t be won.
My theory is that because of the way we often keep celebrities who have died forever at the peak of their fame frozen in time, it’s difficult for actors to find widespread support for their “revival.” Because nothing and nobody will ever touch the original.
Will we see the luck of the Irish at this year’s Oscars?
Ireland can be very proud of this awards season. Coming-of-age story The Quiet Girl made a little piece of Oscar history as the first Irish film to be nominated in the International Feature category.
And the story didn’t stop there.
Set on a fictional island off the coast of Ireland in 1923, The Banshees of Inisherin received nine Oscar nominations, including in the acting categories for actors Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan. These nominations surpassed the seven achieved in the past by “Belfast” and “In the Name of the Father.”
Irish actor Paul Mescal also received a nomination in the Best Actor category for his role in Aftersun, while the comedy An Irish Goodbye was nominated in the Live Action Short category.
I’ll donate a pint of the black stuff to all nominees.
Continuing with the international theme I didn’t know I needed, British singer/songwriter Sam Smith has now released a new album.
“Gloria” comes more than a decade after Smith was killed as a guest vocalist on Disclosure’s hit single “Latch.” This was followed by her debut album “In the Lonely Hour” in 2014, “The Thrill of It All” in 2017 and “Love Goes” in 2020.
The record includes collaborations with Kim Petras – her duet “Unholy,” a TikTok favorite, made history by making them the first openly non-binary and transgender artists to top the Billboard Hot 100 – Ed Sheeran, Jessie Reyez and Jamaican musician Koffee.
‘must marriage’
I don’t feel like I need to say much to sell a rom-com starring Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel as a couple whose entire wedding party is taken hostage during the celebrations at the destination. So I won’t.
Apart from the fact that Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin and Lenny Kravitz, among others, can also be seen. If ever there was a dream cast!
Shotgun Wedding is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
“Death by Fame”
Bright lights, big city and murder.
A lot of people come to Hollywood in search of fame only to find tragedy. That’s the essence of this new ID series (ID stands for Investigation Discovery, owned by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery), currently airing and streaming on Discovery+.
The first episode deals with the murder of “Price Is Right” host Drew Carey’s sex therapist and ex-fiancé, Amie Harwick.
“How I Met Your Father”
I have three words for you when it comes to the second season of How I Met Your Father on Hulu: Neil Patrick Harris.
Harris is reprising his How I Met Your Mother role as Barney Stinson in the spinoff series, but that’s about all we know so far — Hulu is keeping details of his return under wraps. But surely he’ll still be a biting womanizer?
The first episode of the second season of the series is streaming now.
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