Best Director is often a hard category to gauge, mostly because usually it's just a rubber stamp prelude to Best Picture, as 67 winners of the top prize also took home directing honors. Literally every winning film in this category since 1930 has also been up for Best Picture, and 88 of the 94 Best … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Best Director
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
Happy Friday, everyone, and welcome to the first video breakdown of this year's Blitz. Last year I dabbled in giving the video treatment to the four acting categories as well as Best Picture. I figured those would be the easiest ones for me to get footage, as YouTube is typically filled to bursting with clips … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Production Design (VIDEO)
Year in and year out, Adapted Screenplay proves to be the more difficult of the two writing categories to sort out. Mostly this is because it's very hard for me to settle on consistent criteria for myself. I know in the end it all comes down to personal preference, but I get in my own … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Adapted Screenplay
One of the things I love about the Academy Awards is all the history involved. I'm not just talking about the history of films, but the depictions of actual human history within them. And there's no better showcase for the subject than the Costume Design category. To say that the Art Directors Branch favors so-called … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Costume Design
Creating a compelling sound profile is a tricky task. No matter how many times we have to hear Nicole Kidman gush about the idea of "sound that I can feel," ideally that's not what you want to go for. You certainly want your audience to have an enjoyable experience, and sometimes the sensation that you're … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Sound
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and anyone who's offended that I didn't mention whatever gender terminology they align with, welcome one and all to the 2023 Oscar Blitz! The films have played, the grievances have been aired, and it's time to finally get down to business and break down this year's field for the … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2023 – Supporting Actress
When I saw Old a couple years ago, I commented on the fact that M. Night Shyamalan had a solid idea on his hands that could have been insanely compelling, but that almost all of the fun and suspense of the film was lost because of his over-reliance on twist endings. As I said back … Continue reading A Plague on this House – Knock at the Cabin
The previous entry in the Sword Art Online film series began the cinematic adaptation of the "Progressive" spinoff light novels, where franchise creator Reki Kawahara began a more detailed retconning of the main story, which originally jumped from Floor 1 of the floating castle Aincrad inside the titular virtual reality death game (if a player's … Continue reading Finding Your Strength – Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night
I Actually Paid To See This 