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
In less than 48 hours, I'll begin the Oscar Blitz, and run a gauntlet for five weeks breaking down every category and nominee, as I've done every year that I've kept this blog up. As I write this, I still have 11 films from 2025 on my review backlog, not counting the nine I had … Continue reading DownStream – For Your Consolidation, Part 3: Narrative
Every year, no matter how many films I see, there will always be a few that slip through the cracks during their theatrical runs, and inevitably some of them will be nominated for Oscars, including in high-profile categories like Best Picture. I've never had feature completion before nominations come out, though I've gotten close a … Continue reading DownStream – The Pre-Blitz Catch-Up
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
We're less than 24 hours away from this year's Oscar Blitz, with nominations due tomorrow morning. As usual, it's been a bit of a sprint to catch up on everything I might have missed in the last year, as well as keeping up with all the end-of-year Awards Season contenders. But 2025 was extreme even … Continue reading A Dishonest Living – Marty Supreme
Over the last few years, Netflix has continued to grow and grow into a cultural powerhouse, consolidating its content licenses and making big swings towards trying to change the entertainment industry, if not take it over entirely. They're currently mired in a battle with Paramount to buy Warner Bros., attempting to pull one of the … Continue reading DownStream – For Your Consolidation, Part 1: Animation
When I was in my junior year of college, I took my first screenwriting course. The goal was to create a solid first draft of a feature-length script in the 14 weeks we had in the semester. Early on, we pitched our ideas to the professor and the rest of the class. Of the entire … Continue reading Burn it All Down – Avatar: Fire and Ash
It's a rare thing when a foreign film gets a public release in the United States, and even rarer when it's picked up by major distributors for a wide release in mainstream theatres. You can imagine then my pleasant surprise when Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice got not only that treatment, but a Christmas debut, … Continue reading Making a Killing – No Other Choice
I Actually Paid To See This 