Matt vs. the Academy

Oof, I'm yet again introducing a blog post by noting how embarrassingly long it has been since my last one. This time, it's just over a year (not including Oscar predictions). Hopefully, this slow pace won't remain for too much longer. Let's dive in to another of 1991's Best Picture nominees... JFK Director : Oliver Stone Screenplay : Oliver Stone & Zachary Sklar (based on the books "On the Trail of the Assassins" by Jim Garrison and "Crossfire: The Plot that Killed Kennedy" by Jim Marrs) Starring : Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Oldman, Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci Academy Awards : 8 nominations 2 wins, for Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing Shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (Costner) discovers that the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald (Oldman), had ties to his jurisdiction....

My picks for the Oscar nominations ended up being fairly average. Not my best performance by a long shot, but certainly not my worst either. But now it's time to look into our crystal ball at the winners. Looking back at my guesses from last year, I note that I introduced them with an astounding lack of confidence, bemoaning the fact that not many categories had any clear frontrunners. As it turns out, I managed to correctly peg 20 of the 23 categories, so I guess those slight favourites in each category wound up winning. I can only hope that the same thing happens again this year, because (and I'm going to repeat myself now) this is possibly the most up-in-the-air race I've ever had to predict. Best Animated Feature and Best Visual Effects are the two categories I'm most confident about. Almost everything else is primed for a surprise, particularly the acting categories. In most years, at least one or two (or sometimes all four) categories have a performer who has swep...

It's Oscar season again! The nominations announcement is a little less than 12 hours away, so I'm posting my predictions just under the wire. I only just got back from a two-week family road trip around Western Australia, after which we adopted two adorable kittens, so suffice it to say, spare time has been fleeting these last few weeks. Hence, these are probably the most rushed picks I've ever made in the more than two decades I've been doing this. At least, that's my excuse if it all goes awry. It seems All Quiet on the Western Front is the film with the most momentum right now. With an incredibly strong showing at the BAFTA nominations last week, along with its appearance in almost all of the Academy's own preliminary shortlists, I have a feeling it will pick up a bunch more nods than I've pegged it for. Not to mention that it's based on the same novel that was adapted into the Best Picture winner at the 3rd Academy Awards way back in 1930. Anyway, l...

I seem to be on a roll with the big-screen viewings of the nominees in this current year of review. First, it was  Bugsy at the Los Feliz 3 in Los Angeles, and now, I've just taken in the eventual victor at the Randwick Ritz here in Sydney. I won't hold my breath waiting for the other three nominees to pop up on any local cinema's schedule, so this streak will likely end at two, but it was fun while it lasted. Continuing our look at the Best Picture nominees of 1991, here are my thoughts on... The Silence of the Lambs Director : Jonathan Demme Screenplay : Ted Tally (based on the novel by Thomas Harris) Starring : Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, Anthony Heald, Brooke Smith Academy Awards : 7 nominations 5 wins, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Hopkins) and Best Actress (Foster) FBI agent in training Clarice Starling (Foster) is entrusted with an interview of notorious psychiatrist turned serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Hopkin...

For the first time in over two years, I'm back in Los Angeles. In fact, only a few more days and I'll be heading home again to Sydney. But I haven't wasted the opportunity to catch a classic on the big screen. I ventured out to the historic Los Feliz 3 Theatre  to see another Best Picture nominee, presented in 35mm. While it was nice to experience the nostalgic graininess of a real film projector (as opposed to the flawless digital projectors currently in use almost everywhere), this particular print had clearly collected 30 years of dust, grit and hair, which was surely not what movie-goers in 1991 experienced. Nonetheless, watching old movies (it feels strange to me to call 1991 old, but I think that's undeniable now) on a big screen is still one of my favourite pastimes so I'm not complaining. So, let's begin our review of 1991's race for Best Picture by taking a look at... Bugsy Director : Barry Levinson Screenplay : James Toback Starring : Warren Bea...

Well, I've set yet another record for a single year of review on this blog. At almost twice as long as the previous record, this one took almost four years to complete! Granted, this was one of only two Best Picture contests that consisted of 12 nominees, but that still means that, on average, I only watched one film every four months. In any case, they've all been viewed now, so let's get to the business of crowning a winner. The nominees for Best Picture of 1935 are: Alice Adams Broadway Melody of 1936 Captain Blood David Copperfield The Informer Les Misérables The Lives of a Bengal Lancer A Midsummer Night's Dream Mutiny on the Bounty Naughty Marietta Ruggles of Red Gap Top Hat As mentioned, this is the equal largest crop of Best Picture nominees in Academy history, so as one would expect, there's something for everyone - dramas, musicals, adventures, and almost every combination thereof. With such a variety of genres, separating them is no easy ...

Despite my lack of confidence, my Oscar predictions this year (20 correct out of 23 categories) turned out to be my best ever. (Well, I once correctly picked 21 categories, but that was when there were 24 categories total, so as a percentage, this year was better.) I'd like to say it was all skill, but in the end, it turns out all the favourites and slight favourites came out on top, so there really weren't any major surprises... (I mean, there was obviously one big surprise on the night, but that's not what I meant.) The two main categories that I missed (Picture and Original Screenplay) were also gettable, to be honest, but for whatever reason, I ignored the late rise of CODA and Belfast, respectively, and stuck to my guns with The Power of the Dog and Licorice Pizza. If I'd gone ahead and chosen the slight favourites in those two categories, then Animated Short would have been the sole mistake. Now, here's the final nominee in 1935's Best Picture competition....