Oscar Recap: A Year Where Older Is Better

Though my own hit rate on Oscar predictions was just a bit over fifty percent, I was still smiling at the end credits. Coming off last year’s debacle hosted by zombie-like James Franco and the impossibly chirpy Anne Hathaway, it was gratifying to see the Academy finally pull off a halfway decent telecast. Beyond the return of recurring host Billy … More Details

2012 Oscars – Picks and Perspectives

Thinking ahead to Sunday, what’s my overall impression? Well, correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems like a pretty lean year. Unquestionably, there are a few memorable films in the running, but also a lot of filler — some nominees that simply make you scratch your head in wonderment. For instance, I was stunned to find the oppressive Extremely … More Details

Best Actor: Clooney or Pitt?

No doubt: it’s been a very good year for both these stars. And much as I admire Jean Dujardin’s sublime performance in The Artist, my hunch is that the industry will favor one of its own on Oscar night. So who will it be — George or Brad? I’m saving my prediction for a later Oscar piece, but for now … More Details

Anatomy of the Oscar: Nothing Gels and No Surprises

Well, it’s certainly evident the Oscar show organizers wanted to do something really different this time around. In a year when a movie about the past was competing against a movie very much about the present for top prize, the producers were clearly trying to bridge old and young, the traditional with the tweeters, you might say. Problem was, their … More Details

Oscar Picks and Predictions: A Lackluster Year, With Few Suprises

It’s official — I’m clairvoyant. A few hours before the actual nominations were announced last week, on NBC affiliate KWQC-TV, yours truly successfully predicted all 10 Best Picture nominees. Before I get too puffed up with pride, I have to acknowledge that it was not too difficult to come up with this list, which is sort of a sad statement. … More Details

Are the Oscars Broken ?

It’s exceedingly strange how a person like me, who literally lives for movies, can recoil at the most visible, storied event intended to celebrate the very best of them. I have to ask myself: if I were caught up in the bubble and swirl of the Oscars Campaign in Hollywood, would I actually find it rather thrilling? Or would I … More Details

Have We “Departed” from the True Point of the Oscars?

I admire greatly Martin Scorsese’s body of work and his contribution to film preservation efforts, but if “The Departed” is the best American movie we made last year, Hollywood needs to take a long hard look at itself. I just finished watching the Chinese film on which “Departed” was based, 2002′s “Infernal Affairs”, which tells the same basic story but … More Details