Matt vs. the Academy

New York is once again enveloped by a snowstorm, and as it stretches into its second day of near constant snowfall, what better way to pass the time indoors than watching movie outtakes. I stumbled across a fascinating collection of classic bloopers that Warner Brothers created on a yearly basis for about a decade or so. It is somehow reassuring to know that even the greats like Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis and James Cagney screwed up now and then as well. It is also abundantly clear that "Nuts!" was the curse word of the time. P.S. Don't forget to vote for which early 1970s year we should cover next. Poll is on the right. Yesterday began the journey into the ten-deep set of nominees involved in the battle for Best Picture of 1937... The Good Earth Director : Sidney Franklin Screenplay : Talbot Jennings, Tess Slesinger & Claudine West (based on the novel by Pearl S. Buck) Starring : Paul Muni, Luise Rainer, Walter Connolly, Tilly Losch, Charley Grapewin Academy Aw...

The last few verdicts have proved to be simpler decisions than most and that pattern continues with 1981's evaluation. One clear favourite emerged in my estimation despite some commendable competition. The nominees for Best Picture of 1981 are: Atlantic City Chariots of Fire On Golden Pond Raiders of the Lost Ark Reds Right off the bat, it is easy for me to remove Atlantic City from the running. Mostly because it just wasn't my cup of tea ... or any other beverage, for that matter. I don't really know what it was. On Golden Pond is next to go. While it contains much that is praise-worthy, its melodramatic tendencies kept me at a distance. To continue the earlier analogy, it may have been my cup of tea, but someone just put too many lumps of sugar in it. Being the well-crafted film that it is, it is easy to see why the Academy selected it as their winner. And although it is difficult to find specific fault with Chariots of Fire, there was nonetheless som...

Matt vs. the Academy's next year of review seems like a foregone conclusion, but there's still time for a late rush of voting, so make your voice heard in the poll on the right. In the meantime, let me conclude my summation of the 1981 Best Picture nominees with my thoughts on... On Golden Pond Director : Mark Rydell Screenplay : Ernest Thompson (based on his play) Starring : Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Jane Fonda, Doug McKeon, Dabney Coleman Academy Awards : 10 nominations 3 wins, including Best Actor (Henry Fonda) and Best Actress (Hepburn) Elderly couple Norman (Henry Fonda) and Ethel Thayer (Hepburn) spend their summers in a lake house on Golden Pond. This year, their daughter Chelsea (Jane Fonda) visits with her new beau Bill (Coleman) and his son Billy (McKeon). When Chelsea and Bill leave to travel on their own, Billy is left in the care of the aging duo. Estranged with his own child, Norman at first has difficulty bonding with the boy, but soon learns to let loose. ...

It's no secret that I'm a film buff. I've been a fan of movies for as long as I can remember. When browsing through my local video store as a teenager, I often avoided the new releases, choosing instead to scour the other shelves for classic films or those must-see pictures. For a while, I took great advantage of their 10 weeklies for $10 deal. Sometimes, I would select a director and rent as many of his films as they had in stock. My knowledge of Alfred Hitchcock's and Woody Allen's bodies of work is directly due to such proceedings. In fact, in a precursor to Matt vs. the Academy, I attempted to view every film that had been awarded the Best Picture Oscar, succeeding in watching all but six winners, a state of affairs that will obviously be remedied upon this project's conclusion. But along with my love of movies, I'm also fascinated by the process of making movies. I am simply enamoured with all those behind-the-scenes documentaries and audio commentaries...

Today, I experienced my first New York blizzard. Snow, snow and more snow. There is now a blanket of white over just about everything - trees, houses, cars, pedestrians. Yes, pedestrians. I witnessed two young men throwing snowballs from the rooftop of the building next door on to unsuspecting passersby. Really? Do you have to? Thankfully, they had moved on when I eventually left the apartment to go to work. I also discovered the one benefit of a blizzard - there are plenty of seats on the subway. It was also the perfect day to watch a movie, as I did with the next Best Picture nominee from 1981's contest... Reds Director : Warren Beatty Screenplay : Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths Starring : Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Hermann, Jerzy Kosinski, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, Maureen Stapleton, Gene Hackman Academy Awards : 12 nominations 3 wins, including Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (Stapleton) As relevant today as it was almost thirty years ago when it was ...

The poll for Matt vs. the Academy's next year of review is ready, itching for your input. There it is just to the right. An amusing anecdote: Tonight, in my capacity as an usher for an off-Broadway theatre, I was compelled to inform a chocolate-eating patron that we do not allow food or drink inside the theatre. Evidently, she was aware of this policy since she didn't dispute it. Her response, rather, was that she didn't think that chocolate was considered food. If only... Yesterday, I had the chance to view a classic sports-themed Best Picture nominee from 1981... Chariots of Fire Director : Hugh Hudson Screenplay : Colin Welland Starring : Ben Cross, Ian Charleson, Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud Academy Awards : 7 nominations 4 wins, including Best Picture The film that launched a thousand running-in-slow-motion parodies, Chariots of Fire follows the career progression of a bunch of young British runners, culminating in their performance at the 1924 Paris Olympic Ga...

The Oscar nominations have finally been announced without any major surprises. I suppose The Blind Side's nod for Best Picture was not expected by most (except for Roger Ebert ), but other than that, only a few minor upsets. My predictions stood up fairly well, especially the ones I discussed in detail here. 9 out of 10 Pictures, all the lead Actors and Actresses, and 4 out of 5 for the Supporting, Director, Screenplay and Animated Film categories. A total of 44 out of 50 correct. I should have stopped there and held off from linking to my complete predictions because my performance in the minor categories was a little shameful. Although, I pegged all three Visual Effects nominees. A few trivia tid-bits about this year's nominees: Lee Daniels becomes only the second black director to be nominated, with Kathryn Bigelow the fourth woman acknowledged in the same category. Up is just the second animated film to be cited for Best Picture after 1990's Beauty and the Beast. Meanw...