I've spent a lot of space on this blog over the last year complaining about movies that are just too long. This is mostly because the guilty filmmakers don't use the extra time properly. I don't hate long movies in general. I believe a creator should take all the time that is necessary to tell … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Long Shots
The steamroll through my backlog of International Feature submissions continues tonight, as there remain about a dozen or so films to analyze, and only five more days until the Academy officially releases the shortlist. I know it feels like I'm just loading up here before the deadline, but I had good reason. Unlike most years, … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Bless the Rains
As of this writing, we are one week from the Academy releasing its shortlists for next year's Oscars. Among the most anticipated categories getting the semifinal news is International Feature, where 88 films were deemed eligible to vie for the prize (of 92 total submissions; apologies to Cuba, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan). By the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – International Co-operation
One of the more underrated aspects of the International Feature competition is seeing how the rest of the world treats various sectors of their respective populations. Issues like sexual diversity, gender roles, religion, and class hierarchy are given a treatment that is intriguing for those of us watching in America, but in their home countries … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – A Woman’s World
We're less than 72 hours away from this year's Academy Awards, and as happens every year, I didn't get to see everything before nominations were revealed. I did better than I've ever done before, coming up just five shy of pre-announcement totality, and in three of the five cases, the films weren't readily available, with … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Blitz Campaign
We're officially one week from the 95th Academy Awards, and in these final days, the task falls upon me to begin officially closing the book on 2022 cinema. I was able to clear the vast majority of the Oscar nominees before they were even announced, and in my pursuit of hopefuls and also-rans after the … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Nomination, Part 4
It's weird how things line up every now and then when it comes to cinema. In the late 90s, we had two movies come out within months of each other about meteor strikes (Deep Impact and Armageddon), volcanic eruptions (Volcano and Dante's Peak), ants (Antz and A Bug's Life), and men whose lives were broadcast … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Bear-ly Passable
Well folks, we made it. After nearly two months of searching, planning, and running all over creation, we've once again reached the end of the Documentary Feature shortlist. This year was harder than most, as a lot of non-fiction films flew completely under the radar. Only a few got full-on theatrical releases, while the vast … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts: Doc’s Orders – Part 4
The quest to tackle the list of candidates for specialized feature films is always a fun adventure. Fifteen films make the shortlist for both International and Documentary, while the Animated field is just whatever eligible movies get submitted regardless of individual merit or quality. But it's always exciting to see as many of them as … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The End of the Tour
We're about 48 hours away from Oscar nominations, just enough time to squeeze in one more "Back Row Thoughts" column tackling this year's Documentary Feature shortlist (here are Part 1 and Part 2 if you want/need to catch up). Of the 15 films up for the prize, this set of reviews will bring us up … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Doc’s Orders, Part 3
