Matt vs. the Academy

The Academy's eclectic tastes are hardly more evident than in 1986's shortlist: drama and comedy, contemporary and period. Stylistically, these five films have very little in common with each other, yet they each excel in their own right. Nonetheless, choosing a favourite was not as difficult as one would expect. The nominees for Best Picture of 1986 are: Children of a Lesser God Hannah and Her Sisters The Mission Platoon A Room with a View The nominee with the most visible flaw is Children of a Lesser God. Despite its touching story, the general conceit of a hearing man repeating everything his deaf lover utters is hard to overcome, so Marlee Matlin's debut film is first to be struck off the list. The next two to go are Hannah and Her Sisters, a fine contemporary comedy exploring the human condition (otherwise known as a Woody Allen film), and its polar opposite, The Mission, a fine adventure drama exploring politics, religion and racial relations. Finally, we have two mor...

Here's a tip for the unaware... When at the supermarket browsing bottles of wine, it may be worth looking more closely at the labels. Although the label on the bottle you purchase may, at first glance, have a design that is indistinguishable from the labels on more expensive bottles found in boutique wine shops, don't wait until you get it home to read the small text that describes the contents as "Wine Product." Not the same thing... To wrap up the viewing of 1986's Best Picture nominees, yesterday I watched... A Room with a View Director : James Ivory Screenplay : Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (based on the novel by E.M. Forster) Starring : Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis, Simon Callow, Judi Dench, Rosemary Leach, Rupert Graves Academy Awards : 8 nominations 3 wins, including Best Adapted Screenplay Just as Platoon is not for those with an aversion to war films, it seems safe to say that those lacking passion for period...

Kat and I spent Thanksgiving weekend in Miami with a couple of fellow Aussie ex-pats. We walked along Miami Beach, we shopped on Lincoln Road Mall, we lay by the hotel pool, but mostly, we ate at restaurants. It was essentially three days of eating ... in beautifully warm weather. Back to the cold climes of New York City now... Next up in 1986's race for Best Picture is... Platoon Director : Oliver Stone Screenplay : Oliver Stone Starring : Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Keith David, Forest Whitaker, Francesco Quinn, Kevin Dillon, John C. McGinley, Reggie Johnson, Mark Moses, Corey Glover, Johnny Depp Academy Awards : 8 nominations 4 wins, including Best Picture and Best Director Drawing from his own experiences during the Vietnam War, director and writer Oliver Stone tells the story of Chris Taylor (Sheen), a young soldier arriving in Vietnam for a one-year tour of duty. As the newbie, he struggles to acclimate to the poor conditions and his fellow soldiers. Making mat...

It's Thanksgiving week here in the United States. That generally means people are flying home to be with their families. Kat and I will be doing that next month instead when we fly to Australia, so for this holiday, we've chosen Miami as our destination. And I'm sure we'll be giving thanks for the warm weather down there. Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers! Yesterday, I viewed the next in 1986's lineup of Best Picture nominees... Children of a Lesser God Director : Randa Haines Screenplay : Hesper Anderson and Mark Redoff (based on the play by Redoff) Starring : William Hurt, Marlee Matlin, Piper Laurie, Philip Bosco Academy Awards : 5 nominations 1 win, for Best Actress (Matlin) James Leeds (Hurt) is the new speech teacher at a New England school for deaf children. While his unorthodox methods raise some eyebrows, he is very successful and much loved by his students. As he teaches them to speak (and even sing!), he finds himself smitten with the school's...

As promised, the poll for the next year of review is now running (in the right sidebar). You may notice that the list of years available in the poll does not include films from the 1930s as I mentioned in my last post. Here's my excuse... Kat and I will be heading home to Sydney over the Christmas/New Year period and then, on the way back to New York, I'll be stopping in L.A. for about a week. This seems like the perfect opportunity to check in at the UCLA Film Archive for a viewing of one or two of those hard-to-find Best Picture nominees. Since all those rarities are from the 1930s, I figured it best to spend time with another decade for now and leave the 1930s for January. Meanwhile, we continue with 1986's contest by taking a look at the following Best Picture nominee... The Mission Director : Roland Joffé Screenplay : Robert Bolt Starring : Robert De Niro, Jeremy Irons, Ray McAnally, Aidan Quinn, Cherie Lunghi, Ronald Pickup, Chuck Low, Liam Neeson Academy Awards : 7 ...

We launch into another year of review, which is normally the time I put up the poll to decide the next year of review after that. I'd like to offer you some options from the 1930s again, but before I do that, I need to figure out which films are more easily available to me from that decade. Hence, I may need another few days of research. Stay tuned... On another note, many of you may be aware of my previous website creation years ago - a weekly film quiz. Perhaps if I ever manage to complete this current project, I'll return to that concept, but in the meantime, I couldn't help myself. I created a couple of quizzes on Sporcle ( Verbose Movie Titles and Verbose Movie Titles 2 ) for a bit of fun. Enjoy! Yesterday, I began my look at the Best Picture contenders of 1986 by revisiting... Hannah and Her Sisters Director : Woody Allen Screenplay : Woody Allen Starring : Woody Allen, Michael Caine, Mia Farrow, Carrie Fisher, Barbara Hershey, Lloyd Nolan, Maureen O'Sullivan, Da...