Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Greatest Showman" (2017)

Scene from The Greatest Showman

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Best Song: "Remember Me" (2017)

Scene from Coco

Welcome to Best Song, a new weekly column released on Sunday dedicated to chronicling the Best Original Song category over the course of its many decades. The goal is to listen to and critique every song that has ever been nominated in the category as well as find the Best Best Song and the Best Loser. By the end, we'll have a comprehensive list of this music category and will hopefully have a better understanding not only of the evolution, but what it takes to receive a nomination here. It may seem easy now, but wait until the bad years.

How'd I Do? A Look Back at My Oscar Predictions

Sam Rockwell

With The Academy Awards now in the books, it's time to look back at awards season. One of the best parts is looking at how well the predictions went. For me, it was a fairly obvious year - even if it overall wasn't my strongest year. But there's no use beating around the bush. The following is a rundown of the winners compared with what I predicted would win each category. Let's just say that some production design and documentary categories did me in, and that's pretty much the only real place where I had any issues. How well did you do? Feel free to leave your results in the comments.

Here's the Winners of the 90th Academy Awards

The Shape of Water winning Best Picture

With The Academy Awards now behind us, it's time to look back on the films that won and lost during the ceremony. It was an incredible year, with seven of the nine Best Picture nominees walking away with at least one statue. The even bigger surprise is that in a year where Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri had swept awards season, it was a prestige monster movie that ended up taking Best Picture, and thus continuing to prove that this is a new era of Oscars. It's a time of inclusion and an even bigger diversity. While I will be exploring different aspects of the ceremony and winners in the days to come, let's start with a quick rundown of who won, which is what I'm sure you're all most excited about.

Here's My Official Predictions for this Year's Oscar Winners

Scene from Lady Bird

Well, this is it. Tomorrow is finally the day when all of the Oscar prognostication pays off and we all discover who are the winners at this year's Academy Awards. All of the coverage has been leading to this moment, and one can hope that this ends up being one of the most surprising and exciting years. Only time will tell on that one. For now, it feels like a great time to run down our predictions and determine what we expect to win. For me, this is a tough year, and I wouldn't be mad if some of these lost. Still, here's hoping that there's a few pleasant surprises, because that's what The Academy could really use to stand out.

Theory Thursday: My Issues With the Best Animated Film Oscar Category

Welcome to a weekly column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way. 

Here's the Winners of this Year's Golden Globes

Scene from Lady Bird

Yesterday marked one of the first big stops in this year's awards season. The Golden Globes were a moment where actresses spoke out in solidarity as part of the new Time's Up movement, and the winners seemed to be just as politically charged. With many harrowing speeches, the night was full of a rare energy, and it wasn't without some controversy in Best Picture (Drama) winner and top winner of the night, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The following is a look at the movie winners of the night, including some thoughts on how they may shake up the Oscar race, or what they have to say about things going forward. It was an interesting night, and it was in part thanks to these surprises.

Check Out This Year's Golden Globe Nominees

It's officially that time of year. With many critics groups putting out their Best of 2017 lists, it was only a matter of time until the major awards began releasing their nominees. There are few that trumpet in the season quite like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), whose track record of predicting the Oscars is spotty, but paints an interesting look into what films will be discussed throughout the awards season. This year's nominees are officially here, and you can check them out below, including some commentary on the movie categories. What made the cut? What didn't? Read on to find out.

Review: "Coco" Brings the Dead to Life in a Joyous and Memorable Way

Scene from Coco

There are few holidays as desperately in need of cinematic adaptation quite like Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The idea of it may sound macabre, but to see the imagery displayed every November 1 would suggest that it is a joyous occasion. With colorful sugar skulls and vibrant music, it deposits the idea that death isn't the end of someone's life. It lives on in the memory of the living, which is celebrated with colorful tapestries. Pixar's latest Coco is a film that fully realizes what makes this holiday so special not by detailing every custom, but by embodying the mood and themes of the holiday. It's a family film that ironically is full of life even as 90% of the cast is seen in the land of the dead. With beautiful animation that pays attention to details no matter how small (the on screen depiction of instrumentation has never been better for an animated movie), this film serves as a great introduction to secular audiences about not what Dia de Los Muertos is, but why it is celebrated.