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 →

34th Academy Awards (1962)
Nominations: 12
Wins: 3

Stanley Kramer did not fuck around. Hollywood’s king of “heavy dramas” made sure every time he got to make a movie, it was important (and often set in a courtroom, even if he wasn’t the director). Case in point, Judgment at Nuremberg, a fictionalized version of one of the 12 Nuremberg Military Tribunals that weren’t even popular when they happened. That was 1947, two years after the war, and Americans were more interested in restarting their lives at home than thinking about the past. That goes doubly for the German people, whose immense guilt and shame forced them to claim ignorance of the atrocities the Nazis inflicted upon the world. And America was fine with that, because we might need Germany’s support in the growing Cold War. Yeah, it’s pretty clear from the beginning that with Judgment at Nuremberg, Kramer is giving us a pill that’s hard to swallow. But, like all medicine, the bitter taste is worth it.

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41st Academy Awards (1969)
Nominations: 8
Wins: 1

Well, we’ve got another William Wyler movie to be reviewed today, which puts him pretty far ahead as the most discussed director in Oscars Fortnight history (we also previously reviewed Wuthering Heights and Ben-Hur). I think what made Wyler such a prolific Oscar-friendly director is that he was able to adapt his style of prestige-laden elegance to other styles of crowd-pleasing entertainment as the decades went on, like the ancient epics of the ’50s or in this case, the excessive pre-New Hollywood musicals of the ’60s. Wyler’s movies have never been cool, which is perhaps why he’s never talked about anymore as one of the greats, but honestly, I think I’ve still yet to see a movie of his I didn’t like, so it’s hard to say his Oscar glory was unearned. Continue reading →

The 53rd Academy Awards (1981)
Nominations: 6
Wins: 4

Every year when we do our “Oscar’s Fortnight” or “March to Ten Wins,” or whatever we call it now, I find myself tiptoeing around the 1980s. In the five years we’ve done this segment, I’ve only reviewed one 1980s film: Dangerous Liaisons (still can’t spell it). This isn’t an accident.

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15th Academy Awards (1943)
Nominations: 12
Wins: 6

I’m writing about Mrs. Miniver today because this Sunday Adrien Brody broke Greer Garson’s Guinness World Record for longest Oscars acceptance speech, which had stood for more than 80 years. How’s that for a state of affairs for the Academy Awards? Here’s the thing… as much shit as Hollywood gets, I’m rooting for it. I think that, more than most of the world, Hollywood has genuinely tried to be a better, more inclusive place year over year, even if that effort is most often merely superficial. Hey, you know, with so many people decrying the increasingly vague term “woke,” I’m inclined at this point to give props for anyone seeming to sincerely try to be better. More than that, I know that the real people who make movies, the vast majority of these people, are hardworking, passionate dreamers and that’s cool as hell. And yet, every year more and more people seem to care less and less about cinema in general and this ceremony in particular.

As the veil gets pulled back further and also farther, it’s become impossible to deny that the Academy Awards (and all of awards season) is a sport. A game played by some of the worst people in the world who spend ungodly amounts of money in the hopes of earning… clout, I guess? These days, the movies that get Oscars are the movies that are made by studios who hired awards consultant firms when they greenlit the picture. These awards, like so much of our reality now, are defined by billionaires trying to fill holes in their hearts. Oscar prestige, if there ever really was such a thing, is almost totally meaningless in 2025. It’s not really the case anymore that an Oscar will change career trajectories or shine a light on a diamond in the rough. Best case scenario, an Oscar is a trophy that says you played the game best. More often than not, it’s just a piece of bar trivia.

Does it have to be this way? Was it always this way? And what the hell does this have to do with Mrs. Miniver?

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