Well, folks. I have good news and bad news. The bad news, as was announced today, is that the Oscar Blitz will be somewhat delayed this year. The Academy decided today to postpone the reveal of the nominees, which was supposed to take place this coming Friday, as well as cancelling the annual Nominees' Luncheon, … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The End of the Festivities
I make no secret that I am not a fan of what I refer to as "Best Actor/Actress Showcase" films, movies that only exist to spotlight a particular performer, usually one who has been celebrated but never given any hardware during their career, and use it as a vehicle to get an Oscar nomination or … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Please Give Me an Oscar I Don’t Deserve
We're less than two weeks from Oscar nominations, and I'm doing my level best to clear out as many possible contenders as I can. I'm more than halfway through the Documentary Feature shortlist, and I only have one more International Feature semifinalist that I can watch before the nods are announced (Norway's Armand is gambling … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Circulation
Last week, Oscar completists like myself got the first major announcement about the films vying for next year's prizes, a triad press release from the Academy listing the submissions deemed eligible for Documentary Feature, International Feature, and Animated Feature. As I do every year, I make it my goal to track down and view all … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Destination
Earlier this week, I worked as an election clerk here in Los Angeles. From a very early age, my mother and my grandmother instilled in me the value of voting and the importance of being politically engaged. For my Gram, she was born just a decade after women were finally granted the right, and for … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Darkest Timeline
We're on the cusp of Awards Season, with the end of September and the beginning of October bringing the first major studio hopefuls looking to gobble up hardware. However, there's still some unfinished business to attend to from last year's festivities. As previously detailed, I have paid for a membership to Film Independent, which grants … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Final Stragglers
It's been a hot minute since I've reviewed anything, mostly because I haven't really seen all that much. August tends to be a wasteland for the studios, churning out crap that's flashy enough for Blockbuster Season, but still so creatively bankrupt and repugnant (evidenced by Borderlands hovering around 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and The Crow … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Preparation
We're at the midway point of the year, where Summer Blockbusters and various studio tentpole films dominate the multiplexes. However, away from the typical glitz and glamor, we're also smack dab in the middle of Festival Season, where high profile independent works compete for hardware and distribution, clamoring for those precious moments of attention that … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Festive Tykes
Welcome back to my eternal backlog. Believe it or not, I'm almost caught up, in that I only have one full review left until I'm back on track with the films released last weekend. That said, I still have several flicks to look at. Thankfully, they all fall into three neat little groupings, perfect for … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Righteous Kills
I'm not the best at promotion or social media. I concede that I just got too old to keep up. Also, being an introvert, what little I do get across takes a bit of psyching myself up. You have no idea how many times I went back and forth on starting a YouTube channel before … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – A Show of Our Own (VIDEO)
