We're a week away from the Oscars, and starting tomorrow, the Blitz enters the home stretch. Even though I published my first new review of the year yesterday, I still have five more films from 2025 left to cover. Two of them I'll hold until Saturday, as they kind of fit into their own separate … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – So Much Blitzing, Part 4
An odd thought occurred to me today. We're fully two months into 2026, and I still haven't seen a "new" movie yet this year. Sure, I've taken in a bunch as part of the Blitz, but nothing for the official 2026 canon yet. And I'm still working my way through the review backlog, with nine … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – So Much Blitzing, Part 3
As we get closer and closer to Oscar Night, there are moments when we take stock of the year that was in cinema as a whole. So much is ignored when it comes to Awards Season, so it's often difficult to remember and recognize the quality - or lack thereof - when truly assessing the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – So Much Blitzing, Part 2
I do my best each year to see as many movies as possible, with a particular igniting of the proverbial afterburners as we get closer to Oscar season. I know I'll never have full feature completion by the time nominations come out and the Blitz begins, but most of the time I come within a … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – So Much Blitzing, Part 1
A lot of foreign films that compete at the Oscars deal with heavy emotional or political themes, often in the context of world-changing events. Whether they're narrative films or documentaries, there's a ton of high-concept, game-changing ideas out there, which is why the Academy likes to curate them in the specialty feature categories (International, Animated, … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Doing the Work
I've harped a lot on my annual quixotic ambition to clear the Animated Feature list, even though I've never been able to accomplish the goal. What I do make a normal habit of is dusting off the shortlists for International Feature and Documentary Feature. This is oftentimes a very difficult mission, as strictly speaking, the … Continue reading DownStream – For Your Consolidation, Part 2: Documentary
The quest for completion during Oscar season can at times be arduous, not to mention tedious and expensive, especially when you don't actually complete. As I do every year, I set the goal of finishing all the films submitted and accepted as eligible by the Academy for the Animated Feature prize. I knew from the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Cleanup Animation
The Oscar nominations are officially out, and the annual Blitz is on! I'll determine my coverage schedule over the next few days, with the first breakdown coming on Monday, February 9. In the meantime, though, I have a TON of films still to review, 36 to be precise. Yeah, between stuff that got nominated, stuff … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – International Festivities
Every year, I make it my mission to see all the shortlisted films for Documentary and International Feature, as well as the entire accepted submission list for Animated Feature. I don't always accomplish the goal, usually due to accessibility and release issues (in fact I've never completed the Animated field), but I try all the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Occupied
Have I mentioned yet that there are 35 official entries for Animated Feature this year? Because there are. Thirty-five fucking movies, even though several high-quality films were left off! As of right now, it looks like I'll end up taking in 32 of them, which is far from shabby. I'm just miffed that once again … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Take Me to Church
I Actually Paid To See This 