This is not about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. For commentary on that historic moment, I’d be glad to direct you to this little place I know called “the rest of the Internet.” At my apartment, I was ready for the Oscars. I was able for the first time since the pandemic began to have… Read More I Watched the Worst Oscars Ceremony Ever
To borrow a melody from Tom Lehrer: All the board members Hate the craft guilds And the craft guilds Hate the board members All the publicists Hate the press corps And we all hate ABC. That’s right, it’s now two weeks away from the Academy Awards, and we’re all tired of thinking about these movies… Read More The Worst Oscar Categories of the Expanded Nominee Era
Before Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President David Rubin passed the baton to Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan to announce the Oscar nominees yesterday morning, he said something that caught my attention more than any nomination did. He said there were nearly 9,500 voting members of the Academy. First of all, 9,500… Read More Return to Five Best Picture Nominees
Another year of Oscar nominations, another year where I can’t do this as it’s happening because no one pays me to do this at my day job. So it goes. Thank you for reading me anyway! 1) The Power of the Dog is the front-runner for Best Picture, full stop. Many of your favorite movie… Read More 94th Academy Awards Nominations: Hastily Scribbled Thoughts
I have not seen Spider-Man: No Way Home. I do not know what happens in the movie outside of anything they show in a trailer. My guess is that I will not see No Way Home until it comes to my streaming or to my local library. All I know is that this movie has… Read More What We Talk About When We Talk About the Spider-Man: No Way Home Oscar Campaign
The morning after this most recent Oscars, I was chatting with a friend who is not a big movie watcher and, to her perpetual credit, does not follow awards season buzz at all. Knowing that I am the kind of nitwit who follows awards season pretty nearly, she asked how the Oscars went, mentioned that… Read More Nomadland and the New Chum of Oscarbait
Another year of Oscars, another year of “I have a day job and I have to do this after everyone else’s takes have already filled the marketplace of takes.” 1) Several months ago, when I thought AMPAS would keep the 93rd Academy Awards to 2020 releases, I was really excited about what we might get… Read More 93rd Academy Awards: Hastily Scribbled Thoughts
The first time I ever came across the word “overreach” in print, it was when I was reading a children’s encyclopedia. I don’t remember if the article was about France or the French Revolution (I guess it must have been the latter), but I do remember the little portrait of Robespierre and the caption beneath.… Read More Too Big to Die
Every article has its roots in Twitter unless it’s plagiarized from Reddit, and I guess this one is no different. A few days ago Elijah Wood took to Twitter to express a sentiment that was common not just among fans of Uncut Gems, but fans of Uncut Gems in high places: “truly baffled that Sandler wasn’t nominated and Uncut… Read More What Makes an Oscar Movie
Since the announcement of “Best Popular Film” was made several hours ago, the general reaction has been something along the lines of “All this does is pander further to some non-existent audience at the expense of condescending to movies that make money.” Let’s take those one half at a time. First, I am generally speaking… Read More Best Popular Film: An Okay Idea Eighty-Nine Years Too Late
Seeing Things Secondhand 