It's that time again; despite all the Academy's efforts to dissuade me, I'm going to stay up to the wee small hours again this year to watch the 94th Academy Awards on British Summer Time. Who knows if I will ever get back to my original mission on this blog, but I can at least …
Trivia Regarding the 94th Nominees
This year represents the shortest eligibility period in the history of the Oscars; after the 93rd Awards covered all of 2020 as well as January and February 2021, the 94th Awards are limited to films released between 1 March and 31 December 2021, only ten months. Perhaps fittingly, this year sees the "permanent" expansion of …
93rd Academy Awards – Live Trivia Updates!
Well, haven't done this in a while! Ever since I moved to Europe, I've never found the energy to stay up and watch the Oscars. It was hard enough when I was in Eastern Time. But this year, what with the launch of my podcast Categorically Oscars (on Twitter @CategoricallyO), it seems appropriate to blow …
Trivia Regarding the 93rd Nominees
Better late than never! After making everyone wait two extra months for no discernible reason this year, throwing awards season into chaos, the Academy announced the nominees for the 93rd Oscars today, and it is quite the slate! Only eight Best Picture nominees, a few surprise nominees and snubs, the usual fare. Trivia-wise, here's the …
Even Another Oscars and I New Year’s Eve
After skipping last year's NYE post due to being utterly exhausted after traveling from Grand Rapids to Chicago to Madrid to Galicia throughout the previous day/night, Oscars and I comes from the UK for the first time with this New Year's post. Last time I did this, I reflected on the Academy's recent woes and, …
44th Academy Awards (1971) – Part II
(Part I.) Normally I open each film with an image of its release poster, but I've always kind of disliked A Clockwork Orange's, while its opening sequence is one of the most memorable and perfect I've ever seen, so I decided to go with that. Right now, Wendy Carlos' spooky Moog-infused rendition of Music for …
44th Academy Awards (1971) – Part I
The French Connection, William Friedkin* A Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick Fiddler on the Roof, Norman Jewison The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich Nicholas and Alexandra, Franklin J. Schaffner The trouble with writing this blog as a real-time chronicle of my journey through Best Picture history is that I am never quite sure what the Academy …
43rd Academy Awards (1970) – Part II
(Part I.) MASH represented New Hollywood's contempt for authority and brazen irreverence, the freedom (and hilarity) that comes with the realization that we're on our own and the institutions our parents trusted are irrelevant. What made it possible was camaraderie, the joy of shared hooliganism in the face of The Man, a new community emerging …
43rd Academy Awards (1970) – Part I
Patton, Franklin J. Schaffner* Airport, George Seaton Five Easy Pieces, Bob Rafelson Love Story, Arthur Hiller MASH, Robert Altman (Have a listen to Episode 6 of Categorically Oscars, for further discussion of this year's Best Picture nominees. I'll try not to repeat myself too much here!) Well, this is an odd year. Another distinct leap …
42nd Academy Awards (1969) – Part II
(Part I.) 31 years back, at the 11th Academy Awards, the first non-English language film to be nominated for Best Picture was Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion, a bittersweet fable of honor, kinship, and humanity in the face of horrific conflict and sociopolitical upheaval. Though there is much despair and tragedy, the film ends on a …
Oscars and I 