45th Academy Awards (1973)
Nominations: 3
Wins: 0

Two scenes from the 1972 thriller Deliverance have such an outsized cultural footprint that I hesitated for years to watch it. Despite everyone (especially John) insisting it was awesome, I’d already seen the iconic “Dueling Banjos” scene and heard about the infamous “squeal like a pig” moment, so I just filled in the blanks myself. I imagined an unpleasant horror film — a nightmarish descent into madness the likes of which I already kind of know I don’t have the stomach for. Boy, was I wrong… except about my preconceived notion that nature should be appreciated from afar. Deliverance did not inspire me to do any more up river rafting anytime soon.

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The 73rd Academy Awards (2001)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 0

There’s a strange allure to “bad” movies that get nominated for Best Picture. Now, Chocolat isn’t bad. In fact, I was on board for about forty minutes, but it’s far from the caliber you’d expect for the most prestigious award in all of cinema. The year 2000 alone had Gladiator, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Erin Brockovich, and Traffic—all movies that are well-liked and still discussed today. Then there’s Chocolat.

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61st Academy Awards (1989)
Nominations: 4
Wins: 1

We’ve talked plenty about how William Hurt had an unparalleled ’80s, but perhaps it’s also worth mentioning that Hurt’s Body Heat collaborators — director Lawrence Kasdan and Kathleen Turner — also had a pretty remarkable decade. Kasdan started out the ’80s writing multiple George Lucas hits, then quickly segued into directing with the aforementioned Body Heat and The Big Chill, before closing out the decade with today’s Oscar-nominated movie, The Accidental Tourist. Then there’s Kathleen Turner, who managed to carve out an ’80s that somehow managed to sidestep her sex appeal in Body Heat by appearing in some of the decade’s smartest pieces of fun escapism (Romancing The Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married, Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Continue reading →

39th Academy Awards (1967)
Nominations: 8
Wins: 6

Early in the morning of December 4, 2024, a masked gunman assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City. The shooter’s spent cases had the words “delay, deny, depose” written on them, similar to the insurance industry’s famous phrase “delay, deny, defend,” which refers to the extreme effort companies put into not paying out claims. Five days later, following a nationwide manhunt, Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old data engineer with no prior criminal record, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. As the prime suspect in the killing, Mangione is currently facing 11 charges in New York state and four federal charges, including a murder charge that makes him eligible for the death penalty.

Among Mangione’s personal effects was a 262-word document about the corruption and failure American healthcare system. A deep dive into Mangione’s social media presence makes it difficult to put him in a box, perhaps the only label that fits him is “anti-system.” And that ideological ambiguity coupled with seeming moral consistency has helped turn Mangione into a folk hero. Mangione has become the subject of memes, look-alike contests, protests, and even a sex tape hoax. Supporters are donating to his jail commissary and writing him letters and sharing online his heartfelt responses. There is even merch being sold online that depicts Mangione as a Catholic saint, just like Sir Thomas More, the subject of A Man for All Seasons.

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62nd Academy Awards (1990)
Nominations: 1
Wins: 1

I’ve come to the conclusion that Italy is my favorite country when it comes to international cinema. Sorry, Japan. From neorealism to spaghetti westerns to Giallo, there’s a rich tapestry of genres and subgenres that both pay homage to the medium and subvert it. How does Cinema Paradiso fit into this epiphany? Let’s find out.

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51st Academy Awards (1979)
Nominations: 6
Wins: 2

Turns out I didn’t plan this Oscars Fortnight terribly well. I was planning on reviewing 1978’s Coming Home today, but didn’t realize until I sat down to watch it that it’s currently not on streaming (whoops). Then, after scrambling to find another Best Picture nominee from the same year (since I wanted to keep my pattern of reviewing movies 10 years apart), I found that my second choice, An Unmarried Woman, also isn’t currently on streaming. This is a bit of a nutshell commentary on the less-than-ideal state of streaming classic movies currently, and also happens to be how I landed on Midnight Express, a film I’d always meant to get around to seeing, even if it lived up to its reputation as being a bit of a rough watch. Continue reading →