Life is, if nothing else, a continuous learning experience. That old adage of picking up new information every day might be trite, but it's also extremely accurate. For example, I just found out today that I've been doing the title of this column wrong for all these years. I'm supposed to capitalize "Is" because despite … Continue reading This Film Is Not Yet Watchable – March 2025
As we get closer to nominations and the full Oscar Blitz, the quest to clear out as many potential contenders as possible continues unabated. If you look on Netflix's FYC page (you can google it, I'm not giving them extra traffic), you'll notice five animated features that they've put their marketing weight behind. One of … Continue reading DownStream – TUDUM! Part Two: Some Animation
I think we can safely call it at this point, 2024 has not been a great year for film. Sure, there have been a few genuinely superlative entries here and there, but for the most part, even the best movies have been largely unmemorable. Pretty much all the major contenders for Awards Season were crammed … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – December 2024
I think it's safe to say that this has not been a great year for movies thus far. I know the better stuff tends to be backloaded into the latter half of the calendar, particularly during the fall and early winter for Awards Season, but 2024 has noticeably been on the underwhelming side. Normally by … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – June 2024
The Year of Our Lord of the Rings Two Thousand and Twenty-three is almost in the books, and quite frankly, I'm relieved. This has been one of the more difficult years in my life, not the least of which because my mother died and I'm dead flat broke. But also, it just feels like this … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – December 2023
I like to think that, overall, 2022 was a better year than 2021. There were some down moments, to be sure - Billie Eilish won an Oscar before Lin-Manuel Miranda, I had to move my mother into hospice, Republicans retook the House, basically every celebrity we still cared about died, AMC charged us more money … Continue reading The Best (and Worst) of 2022
Through his first two films - The Witch and the criminally underrated The Lighthouse - Robert Eggers has already proven himself to be an absolute master at setting mood, atmosphere, and tone. His careful eye for production design, combined with his uncanny ability to draw out the most intense performances possible from his actors, has … Continue reading Valhalla, I Am Coming – The Northman
While it's often thought of as the most glamorous award of the evening, Best Actress is often a category that gets underserved. This is mostly due to two main factors. One, as I've mentioned before, there's a marketing strategy that I refer to as the Best Actress Showcase, where a film is specifically made to … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2022 – Best Actress
The moment has come at last. After a truncated year of eligibility, way too much hype for remakes, and for some reason a "documentary" about Billie Eilish, it is time to finally announce this year's nominees for the Academy Awards. I was up early (but not bright) at 5am Pacific Time to watch and react … Continue reading WAKE UP! IT’S TIME TO BLITZ! – 94th Academy Award Nominations
While the Oscars are the main event of Awards Season, there's still a good deal of information to gather along the way for those trying to win their office pools. Just about every major production branch has its own union that votes on internal awards, but the big four in this regard are the unions … Continue reading Acting! Genius! – 28th Annual Screen Actors Guild Nominees
I Actually Paid To See This 