Matt vs. the Academy

This past Sunday was Father's Day here in the United States and, indeed, most other countries around the world. Obviously, it held particular significance for me since it was the first Father's Day in which I was actually a father. Interestingly, however, Father's Day is celebrated in September in Australia - another one of those odd differences between our nations. Even more interestingly, Mother's Day is celebrated on the same day in May in both countries, so since our now international family will do things both the American and the Australian way, Kat will only get one day of honour every year, while I will cheekily receive two. Let's take a look now at one of the contenders in the Academy's race for Best Picture of 1987... Moonstruck Director : Norman Jewison Screenplay : John Patrick Shanley Starring : Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso, John Mahoney, Louis Guss Academy Awards : 6 nominations ...

I can't seem to find an explanation as to why the Academy decided to increase the nominee count to 12 for the 1934 Best Picture category. It's an odd number (well, it's an even number, but you know what I mean), and not at all warranted when you look at the list of films that received those nominations. There are certainly a small handful that could easily have been left off the list and nobody would have complained. The nominees for Best Picture of 1934 are: The Barretts of Wimpole Street Cleopatra Flirtation Walk The Gay Divorcee Here Comes the Navy The House of Rothschild Imitation of Life It Happened One Night One Night of Love The Thin Man Viva Villa! The White Parade In a time before the Academy shied away from romantic comedies, the genre was well represented among this dozen. For that matter, so were romance films in general. In fact, every nominee features some sort of love story, whether it be the main focus or a supporting character...