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
As we enter the final days of 2025, the viewing schedule kicks into overdrive. We're just over three weeks from Oscar nominations being announced, and there's still so much to see. Among mainstream contenders, I still need to watch Wicked: For Good, Marty Supreme, Bugonia, F1, and probably Weapons, to say nothing of all the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Visa Denied, Part 2
I can honestly say that I didn't intend to do a third installment of this miniseries. I figured the two batches I'd already done would be sufficient to see out the fall months. But then the Academy released the list of accepted films for the Animated Feature contest, and I saw that there were a … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Autumn-ation, Part 3
I've got this wonderful tingly feeling all over my body. Oh wait, no, that's hives. Anyway, I'm stuck in my room all weekend, so I might as well make the most of it with some batch reviews. A few days ago, the Academy released its shortlists for half the categories at next year's Oscars, including … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Visa Denied, Part 1
I Actually Paid To See This 