As a writer, this is my favorite award. As an overall fan of film, it can be the most infuriating. This is mostly because a) original ideas are hard to come by in Hollywood these days, and b) more often than not, the award becomes the consolation prize for a Best Picture also-ran. Since 2000, … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Original Screenplay
Ah, Visual Effects, the category where the big budget blockbusters have the best chance to bring home some gold. Everything from CGI to animatronics to practical gore effects to explosions can be honored. It's probably the only reason for Michael Bay's existence at this point. Well, that and ruining everything I loved about my childhood; … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Visual Effects
I'll warn you in advance. This is gonna be a long one. This is one of the few categories that normally can't be completed before nominations are announced. This is in part because access to documentaries can be extremely limited, especially if you're trying to see them in theatres. You need an indie or arthouse … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Documentary Feature
How does your film look? That's the basic question of the Production Design category, known as Art Direction until 2012. It seems like a simple question, and the broad scope of the category seems equally cut and dry. This award recognizes the "interior look" of a film, specifically the artistic atmosphere of a film, as … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Production Design
The Oscar for Original Song offers some of the most memorable moments in the history of the ceremony. Sometimes we get brilliant performances, like Robin Williams leading a whole stage chorus for South Park's "Blame Canada." Sometimes you get moments of delicious irony, like the face Barbra Streisand made when she had to announce that Eminem … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Original Song
It's arguably the most glamorous award of the entire ceremony. It's the be all, end all of the "Who are you wearing" red carpet shtick. It brings us the most emotional of acceptance speeches, from Halle Berry name-dropping every black actress ever, to Julia Roberts telling the band to fuck off, to Gwyneth Paltrow nearly … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Best Actress
First things first, a lesson in category distinctions. Today we're focusing on Sound Editing, which previously had the more clear name of Sound Effects (Editing). What this means is that this category awards the artificial sounds, particularly the sound effects done in post-production, recorded by a foley artist. This is different from the other sound category, … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Sound Editing
The screenwriting categories are among my favorites, y'know, being a writer and all. And there's an interesting dichotomy in results between the Original and Adapted Screenplay awards. Since 2000, half of the Adapted Screenplay winners have gone on to win Best Picture. Conversely, only five Original Screenplay winners have won the top prize in that … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Adapted Screenplay
Costume Design has been a competitive category since the 1940s, one of the oldest artistic realms the Academy has recognized. In fact, when it first began there were two separate awards for movies in color and those in black and white. The other odd mainstay in this particular category is that modern settings basically never … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Costume Design
Today it's time to take a look at Oscar's youngest child, the award for Animated Feature. First presented to Shrek in 2002, the category has fluctuated between having three and five nominees since its inception, depending on how many eligible films are submitted, though it's been a full slate of five since 2011. The category has … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Animated Feature
I Actually Paid To See This 