Pic of the Day: “A great day this has turned out to be. I’m suicidal, me mate tries to kill me, me gun gets nicked and we’re still in fookin’ Bruges!” (15th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: ♫ “Robin Hood and little John / Walkin’ through the forest / Laughin’ back and forth / At what the other’ne has to say / Reminiscin’, this-‘n’-thattin’ / Havin’ such a good time / Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally golly, what a day.” ♫ (50th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don’t know. If I’d just… I could have got more.” “Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.” “If I’d made more money… I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I’d just…” “There will be generations because of what you did.” (30th Anniversary)
2022: The Lists
I think it’s interesting that, this year, my ‘lists’ are out before my Top Ten list. Most years in the past I did put out versions of these lists in early December, before the Top Ten. But in recent years, I feel like I’ve been putting these out in January, given the elongated Oscar timeline we’ve been having. And last year I know they came way late. But this is the first year they’re coming before my Top Ten list even drops. Which is kinda fun. Might lead the three people who read this stuff to wonder wha the hell the list is even gonna be.
This was a fairly easy one to compile for me. The performances were all pretty straightforward. There wasn’t a lot of fat to be cut from them or a lot of difficult decisions to be made. The posters I had ready in mid-December. The other lists were also pretty easy to compile. The scores (as they always do), took a bit longer. But I’m satisfied with my work and my choices.
As was the case last year, everything will be presented without comment. I hope you’ll find my opinions worth listening to enough to go seek out anything you’ve not yet seen. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “You know, Bill, there’s one thing I learned in all my years. Sometimes you just gotta say, ‘What the fuck, make your move’.” (40th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter – tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther… And one fine morning – So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” (10th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “You should ask someone else. There’s no happy ending with me.” “I still want to hear it.” (15th Anniversary)
And the Nominees Are (2022)
This is so weird. Oscar nominations morning has been and is always appointment viewing for me. And this year, I almost didn’t even watch them live. I turned on the livestream seconds before it started. And rather than spend the morning poring over everything as I usually do, we’re almost 12 hours later and only now am I actually putting any thought into them, past my initial reactions texting with people as they happened. Weird times, this year.
Anyway, let’s go over all the nominations that were announced this morning. I remember only openly going “oh wow” once during all the names, and past that there was only one minor surprise (and not even so much a surprise as much as a slight eyebrow raise of ‘oh, you guys actually watched that movie/went there’ more than a ‘I didn’t see that coming’). Otherwise, most of this year felt chalk.
Put it this way — I listened to the Documentary and Shorts categories get announced and did just about as well as I do every year and I literally didn’t watch any of them before I guessed. So yeah, it’s a weird year (and apparently I’m just really good at this). (more…)
Pic of the Day: “Hey, kid! How’d you like to play for the Chicago Cubs?” “Great! But I gotta ask my mom first.” (30th Anniversary)
Oscars 2022: The B+ Nominations Ballot
It’s that time again, folks.
This year is fully weird for me. The past two years were partially weird because of the pandemic, but this one went even further. Right as prime movie season/awards season was starting, I was in the middle of moving and starting a new job and all of that, so I paid no attention to anything. Even as I caught up with all the precursors, none of it really sank in. The first time I really sat down to look at the totality of this awards season was as I started putting together this article… four days ago. So I’m in tip-top shape, clearly. Which I guess is good. I say every year how I don’t look at anything else and purely go by what I can see and my instinct. What better way to do that than by fully going in cold (and still not even having finished writing up a Top Ten list yet)?
Anyway, here’s me trying to guess all the Oscar nominees that are going to be announced tomorrow morning. (more…)
Pic of the Day: “Los locos kick your ass. Los locos kick your face. Los locos kick your balls INTO OUTER SPACE!” (35th Anniversary)
Oscars 2022: My Nominations Ballot
If I were able to select the entire Oscar ballot, this is what I would nominate (again presented without comment).
Best Picture
All Quiet on the Western Front
Babylon
The Banshees of Inisherin
Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truth
The Batman
Blonde
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Thirteen Lives
Top Gun: Maverick
Pic of the Day: “So anyways, I was standing there waiting to use the pay phone.” “Yeah, he was, seriously.” “And this guy who was on the phone, turns around and tips his hat like this.” “And who do you think that guy was?” “Emilio Estevez.” “The Mighty Duck man, I swear to God, I was there.” “Of course you were, you were the one who yelled the Breakfast Clubber’s name.” “I was like, ‘Emilio!'” (25th Anniversary)
Oscars 2022: Best Original Song Eligibles
The list is back, baby!
I like to think it’s because somebody listened to me and put it out there for all the Oscar degenerates like me who like to go through and look at every single thing eligible. Honestly, whatever the reason his heart or his shoes, I’m glad it was released. Or leaked. Whichever it is. I don’t care. The world is better when things are out in the open. Secret votes are weird and only create distrust in the system. At least here we can see what kind of good or bad choices were made.
Anyway, for those who don’t remember — this used to be an annual tradition for me (and still is!), looking at all the eligible songs, listening to them as I go through the article and putting them out there for us all to decide which ones we like and which we don’t, to see how good or bad the shortlist ends up being (which — haven’t looked at it at all yet. I decided this article was more important to be done blind, before I know what they chose).
So anyway, here are all 82 eligible songs for Best Original Song this year: (more…)
Oscars 2022: Precursors Go West
Okay, last bit of precursors before Oscar nominations.
What’s crazy is how the WGA and ACE won’t announce until after the Oscar nominations come out, so we’re fully flying blind on Screenplay and Editing. Arguably two of the most important categories for figuring out the rest of the nominees.
But we’ve got everything left past those, including some winners. So let’s get into it. (more…)
Pic of the Day: ♫ “I could stay awake just to hear you breathing / Watch you smile while you are sleeping / While you’re far away and dreaming / I could spend my life in this sweet surrender / I could stay lost in this moment forever / Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure / Don’t wanna close my eyes / I don’t wanna fall asleep / ‘Cause I’d miss you, baby / And I don’t wanna miss a thing / ‘Cause even when I dream of you / The sweetest dream would never do / I’d still miss you, baby / And I don’t wanna miss a thing.” ♫ (25th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “You know they say, back two, three hundred years ago, pirates put phony lighthouses right out by those big rocks, right out there. Ships would set a course by the lights, crash on the rocks; then everybody’d go out and rob ’em blind. Only one thing’s changed since then: lights are brighter.” (25th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge – and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.” (15th Anniversary)
Pic of the Day: “There it is, Wendy; second star to the right and straight on till morning.” (70th Anniversary)
Oscars 2022: The Shortlists
It’s shortlist time, folks.
These shortlists articles have become one of my favorite things to write up during the Oscar season. What’s funny about it is how we used to have almost all of these shortlists (Live Action Short, Animated Short, Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, International Feature, Visual Effects and Makeup & Hairstyling), plus we had the full list of eligible animated features and the full list of eligible scores and songs. All they did was add Score, Song and Sound to the list and drop them all at once and now all of a sudden Shortlist Day feels like a party. And I’m here for that party.
Anyway, what we do here is go through all the shortlists, try to watch everything, become more educated about what’s up for all the categories and do the work to make life easier for when I inevitably try to guess what’s gonna get nominated in all the categories. It’s a good time. Let’s go. (more…)
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