It's the most wonderful time of the year. Oh, not Christmas, but the we're getting ever so close to the next Oscar Blitz! We're just over a month away from the reveal of the nominees, and today the Academy released their shortlists for half the categories in the field, 12 of the now 24! It's … Continue reading Santa’s Got Nothing on This – 98th Academy Awards Shortlists!
For years now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been attempting to find ways to improve their annual awards ceremony to draw in more viewers. They've tried adding pandering categories, removing categories from the telecast, emphasizing musical numbers (even for songs that aren't nominated), expanding the Best Picture field to 10 films, … Continue reading Oscar Blitz 2025 – International Feature
The time has come, ladies and germs! At the ass crack of dawn this morning, and with significant portions of Los Angeles County still on fire, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences brought out Bowen Yang and Rachel Sennot to announce this year's Oscar nominees. I myself did NOT watch the proceedings live, … Continue reading No Huddle BLITZ! – 97th Academy Awards Nominations
It's that time again, folks. The pre-Blitz is on! This morning, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their shortlists in 10 of the 23 categories for next year's Oscars. As always, I'll provide links to any relevant reviews I've done on these semifinalist selections, as well as any top line reactions I … Continue reading One Long and 10 Shorts of It – 97th Academy Awards Shortlists Announced
The first major mile marker for next year's Oscars has finally been crossed. Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released their shortlists in 10 of the 23 categories. Participating branches and members have been viewing submissions, attending bake-offs, and voting for the past few weeks, and now the semifinalists have been revealed. … Continue reading Moving On to the Pre-Blitz – 96th Academy Awards Shortlists
If there's one thing the French know, it's romance. The images evoked through decades and centuries of association between the two are basically innumerable. Equating France and love isn't so much a trope as it is a part of our cultural lexicon, understood as just the way things are until we're presented with an overwhelming … Continue reading Love Gastronomically – The Taste of Things
The best moments of Alice Diop's narrative feature debut, Saint Omer, come when her avatar, Rama (Kayije Kagame) is forced to reconcile the parallels in her own life with that of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda), who's fighting for her life in a court of law. Heavily based on the real-life trial of Fabienne Kabou, which … Continue reading The Stand – Saint Omer
Today's the semi-big day! We've reached the last major milestone before the nominations for the 95th Academy Awards are revealed. With one month to go, the official shortlists have been released for 10 specialty categories. For all intents and purposes, the pre-Blitz has begun, and it's time to plan viewing strategies for the next few … Continue reading A Little Short – 95th Academy Awards Shortlists Announced!
Come on, how could I not preface the Independent Spirit Awards with a reference to quite possibly the greatest independent film of all time? The moment has come at last, and Awards Season is truly and officially underway with the first major announcement of nominees. Yes, technically the Golden Globe nods came out first with … Continue reading I’m 37?! – 37th Independent Spirit Nominees Announced
More often than not, I appreciate it when a filmmaker decides to take a risk and tries something beyond the standard conventions of storytelling and genre. I'm much more forgiving of a bonkers movie that falls short on quality than I am to a mundane film that's presented competently but just ends up checking boxes. … Continue reading Auto Erotic Ex Fixation – Titane
I Actually Paid To See This 