Oscars Fortnight: Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry (1960)

The 33rd Academy Awards (1961)
Nominations: 5
Wins: 3

Three years ago, I watched Burt Lancaster in the 1968 film The Swimmer and was blown away. There’s something about Burt’s raw physicality and charisma, but also his vulnerability, that captivated me in that performance. His character, Ned Merrill, is this charming, handsome, confident guy, but as we delve deeper, we discover he’s actually a scared, depressed, and much darker figure than we were led to believe.

The character of Elmer Gantry is similar in that he projects confidence and thoughtfulness, but the real Elmer is conniving and self-centered. It’s a façade that we see through right from the beginning, as do many of the characters in the film, yet people can’t seem to look away. He creates a “cult of personality,” which makes watching this film in 2025 eerily relatable.

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Oscars Fortnight: Auntie Mame

Auntie Mame (1958)

The 31st Academy Awards (1959)
Nominations: 6
Wins: 0

Welcome once again to Oscar Fortnight, the time each year where we take two weeks to look back on past films that have achieved Oscar glory, or in the case of my first film, was happy just to be nominated. This year, we’re doing things a bit differently, since a certain recent bachelor party derailed our plans of posting a review each day leading up to Hollywood’s Biggest Night. So instead we’re doing these reviews preceding the Oscars ceremony last night in what we’ve referred to as our March of The Ten Wins (Sean’s idea, not mine). Considering Anora‘s big wins last night, it feels appropriate to start things off with another film showing that every once in a while the Academy will give a little love to a kooky comedy. Continue reading →

Fe-Burt-uary: The End

The End (1978)

Before Fe-Burt-uary, I had been dismissive of Burt Reynolds’ film career. I even went so far on a recent podcast as to unfavorably compare Burt to Dwayne Johnson, as two actors who care more about their celebrity than being artists. I was wrong. As a Millennial, the only Burt performances I was familiar with for most of my life were Deliverance, which is celebrated more as an ensemble piece than a Burt vehicle, and Boogie Nights, where Burt is great, but his performance is overshadowed by being another notch in film auteur Paul Thomas Anderson’s belt.

This month, I’ve learned that Burt did care about being an artist. He was never one to turn down a big paycheck for a dumb action flick, but he was also interested in telling good stories and broadening himself as a performer. Just this month, I’ve learned about Burt the action star, Burt the comedian, Burt the dramatist, and now, Burt the director. Where do we start? What better place than with The End?

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Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

We’re already a month and a half into 2025, but with the release of the year’s first blockbuster this weekend (Captain America: Brave New World), the year in movies is just getting started. As is tradition, we once again get together to talk about the movies we’re looking forward to the most in the coming year, as well as the movies we’re either dreading or will just plan on skipping entirely. In a year where it’ll be hard to find much to look forward to, hopefully there at least will be some bright spots at the cinema if some of these films manage to live up to our eager expectations. Continue reading →

Fe-Burt-uary: Starting Over

Starting Over (1979)

It’s a special week for Fe-Burt-uary! Not only is it Valentine’s Day, but this week also marks what would have been Burt Reynolds’ 89th birthday, his birthday was February 11th. Sadly, Burt passed away from a heart attack in 2018, leaving behind a rich legacy of 20ish box-office hits, a successful sitcom Evening Shade (CBS, 1990–1994), seven Golden Globe nominations and two wins, two Emmy nominations, and a single Oscar nomination. After watching Starting Over, I would argue that it should have been two Oscar nominations.

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Fe-Burt-uary: Semi-Tough

Semi-Tough (1977)

After several failed attempts to convince my fellow Mildly Pleasers to do a Burt Reynolds-themed month (Novem-Burt could have been something beautiful) for our movie podcast, The Pick, I’ve made the difficult but necessary decision to go it alone and devote four Fridays this month to Hollywood’s top-grossing star from 1978 to 1982.

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