Matt vs. the Academy

I've managed to squeak in one more review before the end of the year, which is somewhat surprising since we're well and truly in the midst of the school holidays here in Australia. It's also usually about the time of year that awards season would be heating up, but with the delay of the Oscars ceremony by a couple of months, there's a strange feeling of limbo. Still, lots of Oscar bait movies have already been released with more to come, so I'll try to cover some of that in the coming weeks. For now, here's the next Best Picture contender from 1935... Captain Blood Director : Michael Curtiz Screenplay : Casey Robinson (based on the novel by Rafael Sabatini) Starring : Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Lionel Atwill, Basil Rathbone, Ross Alexander, Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson Academy Awards : 2 nominations 0 wins 17th-century physician Peter Blood (Flynn) is arrested for treating an enemy of the crown, bundled up with other rebels, and shipped to the...

2020 is almost over and, boy, has it been a doozy. Australia is handling the pandemic considerably well at this moment in time, though I realise that's not the case in a lot of other places around the world, so it really gives new meaning to the phrase " the lucky country ". It's all the more poignant considering the fact that up until just a few months prior to the outbreak, I was a resident of California, a region that sadly does not seem to be faring as well. But with vaccines beginning to be rolled out in a few countries, let's hope that 2021 will allow us to return to some semblance of normal. In the meantime, I've checked out another nominee from the 1935 Best Picture contest... David Copperfield Director : George Cukor Screenplay : Hugh Walpole, Howard Estabrook, Lenore J. Coffee (based on the novel by Charles Dickens) Starring : Frank Lawton, Freddie Bartholomew, W.C. Fields, Lionel Barrymore, Madge Evans, Maureen O'Sullivan, Edna May Oli...

With so much going on in the world right now, this silly little movie blog seems somewhat insignificant (even more insignificant than it did before, if that's possible), but maybe it'll be a welcome distraction for somebody. And with all the big film releases getting delayed again and again, next year's Oscars may be a little light on eligible content if things don't pick up soon, so maybe reading about Oscar history will be all that's left. In any case, with the next Academy Awards ceremony shifted back a couple of months, I'll see if I can catch up a bit by getting a few more of these reviews done before then. So, here are my thoughts on the eventual Best Picture winner from 1935... Mutiny on the Bounty Director : Frank Lloyd Screenplay : Talbot Jennings, Jules Furthman, Carey Wilson (based on the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall) Starring : Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Franchot Tone, Herbert Mundin, Eddie Quillan, Dudley Digges...

I'm ba-aack! First, let me gloat about my Oscar predictions from this year. I correctly picked 21 of the 24 winners, the best result I've ever achieved in the more than two decades I've been making predictions. I only missed Sound Editing and the two big ones, Director and Picture. Perhaps the most miraculous part, though, is that I managed to ace all the short film categories! Now, after the longest period of inactivity (not counting Oscar predictions) in this blog's history, I've returned with a new review. And a lot has happened since my last post almost two years ago. The biggest of those happenings is that I said goodbye to Los Angeles late last year and moved the family back to Sydney. Though, as a dual Australian-US citizen, I'll still travel back to LA a couple of times a year for my career, so it's not a permanent goodbye. In fact, I was there a couple of weeks ago right before everything got serious in the world. Within a few days, the entert...

My nomination predictions a few weeks ago turned out to be some of my best ever, particularly in the major categories. I suspect a similar pattern will follow regarding my winner predictions since the main races are shaping up to be quite predictable. The acting categories, in particular, all seem like foregone conclusions. And while I wouldn't be too surprised if Parasite takes one or both of Picture and Director, I'm putting my (metaphorical) money on 1917 taking the top prizes. The craft and technical categories, on the other hand, are a different kettle of fish altogether. Almost all of them (save for International Feature and Makeup) have at least two nominees that could reasonably be named the winner. It's going to be an interesting Oscar night, that's for sure. To take a look at my official picks, just click here .

Despite letting this blog gather dust (not forever, I promise), I'm back briefly to share my annual predictions for the Oscar nominations, due to be announced in a little over 24 hours. It seemed a tad easier to predict certain categories this year than it has been in recent memory, though I guess that remains to be seen. I've generally played it safe, picking fairly traditional candidates, though that's resulted in a final tally that has four different films each receiving 10 nominations, which seems a bit unlikely. So, in most categories, I suspect that at least one of those traditional selections will be replaced by a less expected film that could be earning its only nomination. If you'd like to take a look at my picks, you can find them here .

Well, my Oscar nomination predictions turned out to be fairly average, especially considering how well I did with the nominations last year. Maybe I can save face with some decent winner predictions, though I'm not sure that's going to happen either. The trend of the Oscar winners becoming harder and harder to predict continues. It feels like there are even fewer sure things this year than there were last year, and last year there were hardly any. So, without further ado, here are my predictions for who's going to take home Oscars on Sunday night. Happy Oscars weekend!