Song of the Day #4,997: ‘I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango)’ – Grace Jones

Continuing my personal 2021 Oscar rundown, today I’m focusing on the men I would recognize for Best Supporting Actor.

Again, I have five runners-up who wold make fine nominees in their own right. Those are David Alvarez (West Side Story), Robin De Jesus (Tick, Tick… Boom!), Coleman Domingo (Zola), Mike Faist (West Side Story), and Ciaran Hinds (Belfast).

And the nominees are…

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Song of the Day #4,996: ‘It’s Your Thing’ – Emilia Jones, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, CODA Choir

Continuing my personal 2021 Oscar rundown, today I’m focusing on the women I would recognize for Best Actress.

This was another crowded field to winnow down, and I’ll start by acknowledging some great performances that didn’t make the cut: Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye), Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter), Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza), Rachel Sennot (Shiva Baby), and Tessa Thompson (Passing).

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Song of the Day #4,995: ‘Be Alive’ – Beyoncé

Continuing my personal 2021 Oscar rundown, today I’m focusing on the gentlemen I would recognize for Best Actor.

First a shout out to five actors I considered for this lineup but ended up leaving out. Alphabetically, they are Bradley Cooper (Nightmare Alley), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog), Peter Dinklage (Cyrano), Joaquin Phoenix (C'mon C'mon), and Anthony Ramos (In the Heights).

Wonderful performances, all.

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Song of the Day #4,994: ‘Tonight’ – Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort

Continuing my recap of the 2021 movie year, this week I will present my personal nominees and winners for Best Director, Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress. I have now caught up with almost every movie on my watchlist, so I’m pretty confident these lists won’t change.

Before I start, I’d like to shout out a couple of additional musical movie moments that I hadn’t yet seen when writing last week’s posts.

One is the ‘Wherever I Fall‘ sequence in Cyrano, which depicts doomed soldiers singing their final letters home. It’s the film’s best song and best scene, a powerful use of music to plumb the depths of despair.

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Song of the Day #4,993: ‘Campus’ – Vampire Weekend

It’s been more than two years since I last featured a Vampire Weekend song on the blog — a whole pandemic!

It’s been just shy of three years since the band released a new album. 2019’s Father of the Bride, their fourth release, was the first without founding member and co-songwriter Rostam Batmanglij. The left lead singer Ezra Koenig to carry the creative weight, a role he seemed to relish.

But no new music since.

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