Entertainment

These days an Oscar snub is almost a badge of honor

Published

12 months ago

February 10, 2025

These days an Oscar snub is almost a badge of honor

The 97th Academy Award nominations have been announced and, sorry, Pamela, you’re not on the invite list. But take comfort, you’re in very good company.

Every year brings the inevitable snubs when Oscar puts together its dance card. Wags and critics in various circles this season were predicting that Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”) or Daniel Craig (“Queer”) or Margaret Qualley (“The Substance”), among others, might squeeze onto the list.

But if any of those inarguable talents is feeling the sting of omission, know that you’re still good enough.

Pamela Anderson won critical praise but no Oscar nomination for “The Last Showgirl.”

(Roadside Attractions)

Just listen to this abbreviated list of luminous actors whose names have never been uttered as part of the early-morning roll call: Meg Ryan, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Grant, Glenn Ford, Donald Sutherland …

Donald Sutherland!?! Yes, the actor whose career spanned some six decades and included such titles as “MASH,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Pride & Prejudice” never walked the Oscar carpet as a nominee. Perhaps the biggest insult came in 1981 when “Ordinary People” picked up nominations for best picture (winner), director (Robert Redford, winner), actress (Mary Tyler Moore) and supporting actor (Timothy Hutton, winner). Even Judd Hirsch was nominated for supporting actor. But no Sutherland, arguably the heart of the film.

The academy did try to make amends, handing Sutherland an honorary Oscar in 2017. But those “thanks for playing” trophies don’t count — outright nominations in competitive acting races only, please.

How could Ryan be overlooked for “When Harry Met Sally”? Bruce Willis for “The Sixth Sense”? Jeff Daniels for “Terms of Endearment” or “The Purple Rose of Cairo”? Mel Gibson for “Braveheart” or “The Year of Living Dangerously”? Even Jennifer Lopez for “Selena” or “Hustlers”?

If nominated, Ryan would have been up against the winning Jessica Tandy for “Driving Miss Daisy.” Other nominees that year were Pauline Collins (“Shirley Valentine”), Isabelle Adjani (“Camille Claudel”), Michelle Pfeiffer (“The Fabulous Baker Boys”) and Jessica Lange (“The Music Box”) — all wonderful performances. But 35 years later, which role still resonates in popular culture (“I’ll have what she’s having”)?

A man and a woman in 1920s clothes, she looking at him, he looking away off-camera

Not that the Oscars should be a popularity contest, though it sometimes feels that way.

And if it were, surely Monroe, one of the reigning queens of 1950s Hollywood, would have been tapped for any number of performances that have been elevated by time and reappraisal. Besides her obvious iconic comedy roles in “Some Like It Hot” and “The Seven Year Itch,” even more dramatic turns in “Bus Stop” and “The Misfits” might have garnered notice from a more attentive academy. And voters did choose to give nods to her male co-stars in “Hot” (Jack Lemmon) and “Bus” (Don Murray).

Then there are those whose mere presence can lift the material to award-worthy regard. Peter Sarsgaard, Catherine O’Hara, Alfred Molina, Kevin Bacon, Thandiwe Newton, Mia Farrow, Parker Posey, Ewan McGregor … nope, not a single nomination here.

If you expand the conversation to those who have been nominated but never sealed the deal with Oscar, the oversight can be even more startling.

This includes the obvious — eight-time bridesmaid Glenn Close, the “Susan Lucci of the Oscars” — as well as Golden Age legends — Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Barbara Stanwyck, Charlie Chaplin, etc. The list of the robbed goes on. Later matinee idols (and talented actors) who ended careers empty-handed run the gamut from Doris Day (the top box-office star in 1960, ’62, ’63 and ’64), Deborah Kerr and Lauren Bacall to Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum and Montgomery Clift.

Two women, one older, one younger, stand facing each other in a field, looking angry and stubborn

Sometimes it’s a simple matter of bad timing. In his first outing, eventual eight-time nominee Peter O’Toole saw his towering “Lawrence of Arabia” performance go up against Gregory Peck’s beloved Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It was Peck’s fifth and final nomination, and he landed the prize. O’Toole never did.

All film buffs have personal favoritees they think have been shamefully ignored. In my mind are three exquisite actresses who danced with Oscar multiple times without taking the gold man home: Jane Alexander, Joan Allen and the late, incomparable Gena Rowlands.

Between 1971 and 1984, Alexander was nominated four times; her performances in “All the President’s Men” and “Kramer vs. Kramer” remain master classes today. Allen had a creative burst from 1996 to 2001 with three noms (“Nixon,” “The Crucible,” “The Contender”). Shockingly, Rowlands was nominated only twice, for “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Gloria.” The academy tried to atone in 2015 with an honorary trophy. You know where we stand on that.

Some previous nominees whose absence from the winner’s circle could (and should) be rectified when that next, hopefully great role comes along: Annette Bening (!), Sigourney Weaver, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Adams, Michelle Williams, Debra Winger, Mark Ruffalo, Miranda Richardson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Travolta, Naomi Watts, Laura Linney, Tom Cruise …

You read that right. One need only rewatch Cruise’s “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Magnolia” and even “Tropic Thunder” to know he has the acting chops and deserves a walk to the podium (though in his case, it could be a high-speed run).

A man dances on a lighted stage in a nightclub in "Saturday Night Fever."

When Travolta got the first of his two nominations for “Saturday Night Fever,” his competition included Burton in “Equus,” on his seventh and final nomination. Both lost to Richard Dreyfuss in “The Goodbye Girl.” That same year, a little-known actor drew critical notice for a small, raw performance in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar.” Richard Gere wasn’t nominated for that film, or for “Days of Heaven” or “An Officer and a Gentleman” or “Chicago” or anything that followed.

So what can he and this season’s shutouts cull from all this?

Simple: The Oscars are a crapshoot. Sometimes you win, more often you lose … and sometimes you don’t even get in the game.

Movie Reviews

‘Melania’ doc beats box office expectations despite criticism, poor reviews

Published

8 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Press Room

‘Melania’ doc beats box office expectations despite criticism, poor reviews

“Melania: Twenty Days to History” won over fans of the first lady at the box office this weekend, surpassing the initial opening weekend expectations to generate $7 million.

The Amazon MGM Studios film, which rolled out in over 1,500 theaters in North America, was estimated to make $5 million, which would have made it a relatively solid opening by documentary standards. But after beating expectations, it’s now the strongest start for a nonmusic documentary in over a decade, according to box office analysts.

It took the No. 3 overall spot for the weekend, following YouTuber Markiplier’s self-financed film “Iron Lung” and Sam Raimi’s “Send Help.”

While Kevin Wilson, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of domestic theatrical distribution, lauded the documentary’s “strong start,” it is still too early to call it a big win for Amazon.

The studio paid a whopping $40 million to acquire the project, which was helmed by filmmaker Brett Ratner. The studio also spent roughly $35 million on the marketing campaign, an eye-popping sum for a political documentary. Promotion for the film included projecting its trailer on the Las Vegas Sphere and designing a commemorative popcorn bucket.

The larger-than-expected haul comes despite reviewers on Letterboxd trashing the film (before seeing it), and others online sharing screenshots of theaters full of unsold tickets in cities. Critics have also largely panned the film, with outlets like The Hollywood Reporter calling it an “expensive propaganda doc” offering an “up-close and not-so-personal portrait” of the first lady.

Still, moviegoers gave the film, which was backed by the White House, a generous A when polled by CinemaScore and a 99% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The top-performing markets for “Melania” included Dallas, Orlando, Tampa, Phoenix, Houston, Atlanta and West Palm Beach, according to box office analysts who shared audience metrics with NBC News. Donald Trump won Texas, Arizona and Florida in the 2024 presidential election. The documentary also mostly attracted female moviegoers, who made up about 70% of audiences.

An estimated 600,000 moviegoers saw the film over the weekend, according to EntTelligence data provided to CNBC.

In January of last year, when Amazon licensed the film, the studio said it picked up the documentary as well as a subsequent docuseries for the streaming service, “for one reason and one reason only — because we think customers are going to love it.” The deal occurred shortly after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos dined with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

“This momentum is an important first step in what we see as a long-tail lifecycle for both the film and the forthcoming docu-series, extending well beyond the theatrical window and into what we believe will be a significant run for both on our service,” Wilson said in a statement Sunday.

Last weekend, the White House held a private early screening of the film for guests before Amazon rolled out the black carpet for the documentary’s Washington, D.C., premiere at the Kennedy Center on Thursday.

When asked by NBC News about who the film was for, the first lady said, “Everybody will connect on a certain level. Teenagers can go to see, young women can go to see and be inspired that they could have a family and business, as well.”

The premiere was attended by friends of the Trump family, members of the Trump administration and those involved with the film, including Ratner and Marc Beckman, a senior adviser to the first lady and the husband of Melania Trump’s friend Alice Roi.

Ratner was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women in 2017 but has denied the allegations and was never charged. The director has become a fixture in Trump’s circle and spent a significant amount of time living at Mar-a-Lago while shooting the film, according to a source close to the first lady.

In November, Semafor reported that a push from the president led Paramount Skydance to agree to distribute Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4.” The president’s involvement was not confirmed by NBC News.

In his Instagram stories over the weekend, Ratner reshared a post from the X account End Wokeness that read, “This is why nobody trusts ‘the critics.’” A screenshot of the Rotten Tomatoes scores was attached.

Isabel Yip is a news associate for NBC News.

Daniel Arkin, Rebecca Keegan, Chloe Melas and Monica Alba contributed.

Entertainment

Inside Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton

Published

10 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Press Room

Inside Clive Davis’ annual pre-Grammy gala at the Beverly Hilton

One way to honor your 93-year-old host: by calling him a “f— gangster” who’ll “slit your throat for a hit record.”

That’s how Monte Lipman big-upped Clive Davis on Saturday night at the Beverly Hilton, where Davis had convened an invite-only crowd of celebrities and music-industry insiders for his annual night-before-the-Grammys gala. Lipman, who runs Republic Records, was there to receive the Recording Academy’s Industry Icon award along with his brother and business partner, Avery; clearly, the commendation had gotten him feeling all warm and fuzzy about the record-biz machers who paved his way.

An incomplete list of stars in the Hilton’s ballroom for Saturday’s soiree: Joni Mitchell, Nancy Pelosi, Stevie Wonder, Colman Domingo, Frankie Valli, Martha Stewart, Lana Del Rey, Karol G, Brandi Carlile, Bill Maher, Teyana Taylor, Gladys Knight, Bryan Cox, Jeff Goldblum, Max Martin and — speaking of record-biz machers — Motown founder Berry Gordy, who at 96 had to have been the only person at the party with more experience on him than Davis.

Jennifer Hudson performs.

(Kayla Bartkowski / Los Angeles Times)

At least a few of these luminaries had come, no doubt, to see the Lipmans pick up their prize; among the many, many successes they’ve racked up in recent years include blockbusters by Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan, Post Malone and the lovable cartoon assassins of “KPop Demon Hunters.”

But mostly folks had come to schmooze and to take in the entertainment Davis had arranged.

As always, the show featured a blend of beloved old-timers and ascendant youngsters, including three of the nominees for the Grammys’ best new artist award: Sombr, pouting extravagantly through a pretend-sleazy “12 to 12”; Olivia Dean, downright luminous as a horn section added some swing to “Man I Need”; and Alex Warren, who’s beginning to look like he may never want to sing “Ordinary” again.

Sombr spins Olivia Dean during his performance.

Clipse and John Legend performed “The Birds Don’t Sing,” from the rap duo’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” which is up for album of the year at Sunday’s Grammys ceremony. The women of “KPop Demon Hunters’” Huntr/x turned up to sing “Golden,” which is nominated for song of the year.

MGK and Jelly Roll tag-teamed an homage to the late Ozzy Osbourne, while Jennifer Hudson saluted the late Roberta Flack; her typically virtuosic rendition of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” brought the room to as close to quiet as it got all night.

Pusha T of Clipse, left, and John Legend perform.

There were also tributes to two living legends: Bernie Taupin and Art Garfunkel. For the former, Darren Criss sang “Bennie and the Jets” — just one of the classics Taupin co-wrote with Elton John — then brought out Laufey for a surprisingly frisky take on John and Kiki Dee’s disco-era “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.” (Free idea: Somebody cast Criss and Laufey in a reboot of “Grease.”)

To honor Garfunkel, the country duo Dan + Shay performed “Mrs. Robinson” before throwing to the 84-year-old himself, who sauntered onstage in a tuxedo and Phillies ball cap, sat down on a stool and — after having read a bit of poetry scrawled on the back on an envelope — closed the show with a touching if slightly wobbly journey across “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Behold more pictures from Saturday’s event:

Jelly Roll, left, and Bunnie Xo on the red carpet.

Monte Lipman, left, and Avery Lipman on the red carpet.

Movie Reviews

Movie Review – Witchboard (2024)

Published

20 hours ago

February 1, 2026

Press Room

Witchboard, 2024.

Directed by Chuck Russell.
Starring Madison Iseman, Aaron Dominguez, Melanie Jarnson, Jamie Campbell Bower, Antonia Desplat, and David La Haye.

SYNOPSIS:

A young woman becomes obsessed with an antique pendulum board, opening a gateway for an evil spirit to enter our world.

Kevin Tenney’s 1986 movie Witchboard was a flawed-but-fun slice of ‘80s cheese that wasn’t without its charms and became something of a VHS rental hit. It told the fairly simple story of a love triangle and a young woman becoming obsessed with a Ouija board as those around her died mysteriously, and for a 15-rated horror movie in the 1980s it was fairly grisly and starred Whitesnake music video siren Tawney Kitaen for extra teenage male fantasy points.

So now we have the remake and, to be fair, Witchboard was a movie that could have benefitted from another telling, updating the mullets and multi-coloured punk fashions for something less garish. Unfortunately, it has been remade in the 2020s, a decade that has its own tropes and characteristics that will likely age it as quickly and negatively as the knitted cardigans and big hair of the 1980s did with the first one. At least that original movie was entertaining.

What Witchboard 2024 has in its favour is a director with a bit of a pedigree. Chuck Russell can easily be credited with reinvigorating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and setting the direction that series would go with Dream Warriors, and his 1988 version of ‘50s classic The Blob normally falls in just under The Fly and The Thing as a remake that improved on the original. In this case, however, Russell’s magic touch just isn’t there, the director setting up scenes of occult horror only to be let down by a lacklustre cast that cannot seem to emote and CGI that would have (possibly) been great if this movie had been made in 1997.

Instead of the Ouija board of the original we have a pendulum board, which is ostensibly the same thing, only you dangle an item such as a necklace over it and it moves the necklace in the direction of an answer to your questions. The board has been possessed by the spirit of Naga Soth (Antonia Desplat), a witch who was the target of fanatical witch hunter Bishop Grogan (David La Haye) in 17th century France, and is found in the woods by Emily (Madison Iseman) after it was stolen during a robbery in modern-day New Orleans.

Emily is a recovering drug addict, and with her boyfriend Christian (Aaron Dominguez) they are opening a restaurant in the city’s French Quarter. After Christian’s ex Brooke (Melanie Jarnson) – who happens to be an expert on the occult – confirms what the mysterious board is for, Emily starts to use it, at first for innocent things like finding a lost ring, but things get weird when accidents start happening to those around her and Christian. Seeking Brooke’s help, they are introduced to Alexander Babtiste (Jamie Campbell Bower), a New Age Pagan who seems to have extensive knowledge of the board and what it can do, although his motives for helping Christian and Emily may not be entirely honourable.

Taking just the bare bones plot of the original and adding to it, Witchboard is messy and needlessly long, collapsing under the weight of its own ambitions long before its 112-minute running time is up. To their credit, the filmmakers have made a solid backstory for how the pendulum board came to be, and the opening scenes set in 17th-century France are the best of the movie, with Chuck Russell capturing the chilling and exciting atmosphere of a witches’ sabbath being broken up by vengeful clergy. Reminiscent of the flashback scenes in Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem (but without the naked witch body suits), whenever the movie reverts back to the 1690s it immediately becomes more interesting, making you wish the whole thing was like this.

Unfortunately, whenever we are in the modern-day Witchboard is crammed with far too many flawed characters played by bland actors – which is pushing it – with too many plot contrivances to make the story feel anything other than forced and bloated. Madison Iseman is the standout, taking what is essentially the Tawney Kitaen role from the original and making the dual-personality of Emily when she is under the board’s spell the focal point, and she injects a lot of personality into what she has to do, especially when Emily is being possessed by Naga Soth.

The trouble is Christian is a very dull ‘hero’, which is telegraphed when you first see him collecting mushrooms in his man bag, and whereas Brooke had the potential to be the character with something about her – after all, she is an expert on all things occult, which just doesn’t seem to sit well with her overall personality – Melanie Jarnson’s performance can only be described as one-note, the note being a similar vocal tone to that of a record being played at a slow speed. Which leaves Alexander Babtiste (which is too close to Clinton Baptiste to not make him even more hilarious) as our other main character, and if Witchboard was in desperate need for a bit of scenery-chewing then Jamie Campbell Bower provides it, although you sometimes have to wonder if he knows he is the same movie as the other cast members as none of them seem to gel together.

There is some tasty gore here and there, although picking out the practical effects from the CGI is easily done as the computer generated visuals were clearly made using a processor that is close to being obsolete, and there is a very macabre tone throughout, even when the movie seems to be channelling The Devil’s Advocate (again with that late ‘90s vibe) with its depictions of glossy black magic and stylish occultism. It is just a shame that we didn’t get a witchfinding movie set in the 17th century as that is where this movie is strongest, but as a remake of Witchboard it is very disappointing, filled with awful characters, bad acting, pointless plot threads – such as Emily’s heroin addiction past, and the few scenes with her former supplier that could easily have been chopped out – and far too many ideas fighting for room in a script that cannot sustain them.

There is a solid occult horror in here somewhere that a bit of editing and streamlining could probably have brought out, but if Chuck Russell – the man who brought Freddy Krueger out of the shadows – couldn’t find it then what chance do we have of seeing it?

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

Chris Ward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist