Matt vs. the Academy

There have been numerous verdicts during the course of Matt vs. the Academy that have been maddeningly difficult due to an abundance of quality cinema. Choosing my favourite nominee from 1930/31 is likewise difficult, but for the opposite reason. The shortlist is perhaps the weakest that I have covered to date, with no film jumping out as a clear winner. The nominees for Best Picture of 1930/31 are: Cimarron East Lynne The Front Page Skippy Trader Horn Clearly, with the advent of sound, motion picture production took some time to adjust and the kinks were still being ironed out a few years later. Without dialogue, silent films essentially relied on melodrama to communicate their stories. Once sound arrived, melodrama was no longer required but it stuck around anyway. The five films above are not entirely without merit, however. While each picture fails to size up to later classics, they each excel in at least one aspect. Adventure story Trader Horn is perhaps the most melodrama...

The first few shows of Aussie Improv Comedy Explosion are under our collective belt and word is spreading of our improvised insanity. On stage this week, I have drowned on a water-slide, sung about gum-scrapers and confessed to stealing a cat with Lindsay Lohan. What happens in Vegas... We've reached the end of the current crop of nominees so make sure to get your vote in for the next year of review. The poll is over there on the right hand side of the screen. Last night, I caught the final nominee from the 1930/31 Best Picture race... Trader Horn Director : W.S. Van Dyke Screenplay : Dale Van Every, John Thomas Neville, Richard Schayer, Cyril Hume (based on the book by Ethelreda Lewis and Alfred Aloysius Horn) Starring : Harry Carey, Edwina Booth, Duncan Renaldo, Mutia Omoolu, Olive Golden Academy Awards : 1 nomination 0 wins In Africa, we meet a man who calls himself Trader Horn (Carey), presumably because he is in the business of trading elephant ivory. He an...

I am writing this post from Las Vegas, the third city I have visited in as many posts. The last few days have been spent preparing for the opening of Aussie Improv Comedy Explosion , the comedy show in which I'll be performing for the next month. You may not think there would be any need for rehearsals for an improvised show, but believe it or not, we have found plenty of things to work on, not the least of which is promoting the show to our potential audiences. While the show opened earlier tonight, we have a small rotating cast, so I participated only as an audience member this evening. My first performance on stage will be tomorrow night. Last night, I made the most of some down time by watching another in the Academy's race for Best Picture of 1930/31... The Front Page Director : Lewis Milestone Screenplay : Bartlett Cormack and Charles Lederer (based on the play by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur) Starring : Adolphe Menjou, Pat O'Brien, Mary Brian, Edward...

After almost a month away, I am finally back in New York City... but not for long. This week, I head back to the other side of the country to perform in an improv show in Las Vegas! Yep, I'll be a bona fide Vegas performer, right there on the Strip. A rotating cast of Australian improvisers will perform in  Aussie Improv Comedy Explosion  at the V Theater in the Planet Hollywood Resort beginning on January 31. So, if you're planning on being near Sin City during February, come check it out. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, the Oscar nominations will be announced. As always, I have made my predictions as to which films will be recognised - and just in time, too. For anyone out there who might be interested in this sort of thing, here are my guesses . While we wait for the Academy's picks for 2010, here's a look at their Best Picture winner of 1930/31... Cimarron Director : Wesley Ruggles Screenplay : Howard Estabrook Starring : Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, E...

The last few days in Los Angeles have been both relaxing and energetic. While I've managed to get in a fair amount of lounging around, I've also taken in a couple of racquetball games as well as a hike in Temescal Canyon . Add a poker night and a games night to the mix and you've got yourself quite an eventful vacation. To cap it all off before I head back to New York and the cold weather, the Golden Globe Awards, which are occurring just a few miles away in Beverly Hills, are just about to begin as I write this. Earlier this week, while at the UCLA Film & TV Archive, I got the chance to watch a hard-to-find nominee from the 1930/31 Best Picture race... East Lynne Director : Frank Lloyd Screenplay : Tom Barry and Bradley King (based on the novel by Mrs. Henry Wood) Starring : Ann Harding, Clive Brook, Conrad Nagel, Cecilia Loftus, Beryl Mercer Academy Awards : 1 nomination 0 wins Pretty young social butterfly Isabella (Harding) is initially excited to m...

Yesterday morning, I diligently researched how to get to UCLA before embarking on my journey. The bus schedule informed me that the No. 2 bus leaving at noon would take me from Sunset & Gower (which is near the Hollywood apartment in which I am staying thanks to Aussie friends Steve & Josh) all the way to the UCLA campus in Westwood. Like clockwork, the No. 2 bus arrived precisely on time and I happily hopped on board. About fifteen minutes later, with UCLA still about five miles away, the bus driver notified the remaining passengers that the current stop was the last that this bus would make. Apparently, I had hopped on the wrong No. 2 bus. This No. 2 bus, the driver explained, only went as far as West Hollywood. To get to UCLA, I needed to catch the No. 2 bus that terminates at Pacific Palisades ... Wait. So, there are two different bus routes that call themselves the No. 2? ... Well, that's perfectly reasonable. Nobody will ever be confused by that... I did eventually ...