R.I.P. Buck Henry (1930-2020)

Buck Henry

On January 8, 2020, comedian and writer Buck Henry passed away at the age of 89 in Los Angeles, California. With over 50 years of experience, he created an incredible career featuring two Oscar nominations for the films The Graduate and Heaven Can Wait. Along with his work on the film, he became known for what he did on TV as the co-creator of Get Smart as well as frequent appearances on Saturday Night Live. As an entertainer, he was capable of finding deeper insight into even the most absurd of scenarios, managing to create a complex and sympathetic view of the world that made it a more interesting place. What he leaves behind is one of the most charismatic, entertaining resumes that an artist can give. He will be missed. 

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Dick Tracy" (1990)

Scene from Dick Tracy (1990)

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.

A Wrap-Up of This Year's Oscars Season

The winners of this year's acting categories

This is it for another awards season. It has been a fun past 13 months (since technically Get Out started the prestige talk early), and it only feels right to look back on the highs and lows of this season, specifically as it relates to the Oscars ceremony. To me, the biggest issue with the ceremony is that it was both an exciting year, but also one of rather predictable courses. All of the acting categories went to the blazing front runners who had been winning awards since December. However, it was still a period of change the likes of which The Academy is still surprising us with. In a conventional year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri would've won Best Picture. Instead, it went to the first monster movie to win Best Picture: The Shape of Water. Say what you will, but this was one of the best Oscar seasons in recent years.

"Moana" Tops the Box Office While Beatty Covers the Bottom

Scene from Moana

It is likely that if you had family, you spent a part of this past Thanksgiving weekend seeing Disney's latest film Moana. If you didn't, you should. It's one of the most fun films of the year. Along with anticipation comes box office glory. It shouldn't be a surprise that the South Pacific princess movie debuted at number one while earning $81.1 million in North American box office alone. It also makes it the second highest grossing film to play on Thanksgiving weekend, coming a little over $10 million shy of fellow Disney film Frozen. Since Moana opened on Wednesday, it actually has quite a few oddball records to account for, including helping to solidify Disney as possessing 90% of the top 10 slots for the best three-day and five-day openings. Also after the jump, a quick look at another Oscar contender who performed very poorly this past weekend.

Warren Beatty Returns After 18 Years With Underwhelming "Rules Don't Apply" Trailer

Scene from Rules Don't Apply

It has been awhile since we've heard from the multi-talented Warren Beatty. For a man whose career has given us cherished films such as Bonnie & Clyde and Reds, he seems to have become quiet in recent years. So quiet that we haven't seen him on the big screen since 2001's Town & Country, and behind the camera since 1998 with the rapping politician satire Bulworth. However, his long gestating film about Howard Hughes has finally broken his silence. With many wondering what's in store from one of cinema's richest voices, it's Rules Don't Apply: a film that looks far more comedic and slapdash than one could imagine for a director known for his meticulous nature. However, it looks to be good, even if it isn't quite the welcome home party that people waiting 18 years would want.

Is "Bulworth" (1998) the Craziest Best Original Screenplay Nominee Ever?

Left to right: Halle Berry and Warren Beatty

For whatever reason, I took it upon myself to watch director Warren Beatty's Bulworth. Before I get too far, I will accept that I knew about the "rapping Beatty" shtick that has created an umbrella over this film. Yet, I still felt the curiosity to watch this and understand just what this movie was. The results were predictably a mixture of my general thoughts on Beatty in general: bafflement and genius. Side by side, these things rode out through the movie until the credits started playing. It was then that I decided to do some research, which resulted in some appalling information. So to you, I ask the very tough question: Is Bulworth the strangest Oscar-nominated screenplay in history?