After Nomadland won Best Picture, I argued that a cinematic pose which I call “boutique indie” was a natural conclusion to recent approach to Best Picture nominees and winners. The short version is that as studios become more ruthless with their money, they want to provide the thrill of high stakes without having to pay… Read More Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Boutique Indie Posture
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
I have been vocally against the extended Oscar season timeline from the first, but if there is one good thing about it from my perspective, it’s that this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever seen all of the Best Picture nominees before the ceremony. Almost by accident, I’ve also written about… Read More 93rd Academy Awards Best Picture Nominees – Hub
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
Seeing Things Secondhand 