Best Song: "White Christmas" (1942)

Scene from Holiday Inn

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.

Review: "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a Bottled Version of Genuine Insanity

Back in 2008, a young director named Christopher Nolan released the highly successful The Dark Knight. It not only reinvented the superhero genre, but created the most iconic depiction of its main character. It posited that comic book movies could have more than silly action set pieces and basic plot structures. It was revolutionary in a way that has come to define modern film making. It has been years since a late entry franchise film has made a dent in the zeitgeist. Who is the latest to revolutionize the action packed visuals that may become cliche within the next 10 years due to overkill impersonators? If you were thinking of director George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road, you may be onto something. It does to car movies what The Dark Knight did to superheroes: amplify its potential.

Birthday Take: Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven" (1992)

Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Annette Benning in "The Kids Are All Right" (2010)

Annette Benning in The Kids Are All Right

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Watch This: Check Out the First Eight Minutes of "Aloha"

Left to right Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone

Well, after initial buzz that director Cameron Crowe's latest Aloha could have been his return to the Oscars race, it looks like it may not be happening now. If the critics' reviews are to be believed - or at least serve as a quality barometer - this is not going to look too well. With discussion of a ridiculous third act plot device and incompatible chemistry between Oscar nominees Bradley Cooper (Best Actor - American Sniper) and Emma Stone (Best Actress - Birdman), this may prove to be a little more challenging. With critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes pinning the movie at a lowly 19%, it may be looking closer to the Razzies at this point. However, if you are on the fence about seeing it, Sony has giving you a little enticement. That is, you can watch the first eight minutes for free right now.

A Look at 20 of Rick Baker's Noteworthy Achievements in Film

Center: Rick Baker as Dino the Gorilla in Kentucky Fried Movie

Yesterday marked the announcement of legendary makeup artist Rick Baker's retirement from film. While there's a chance you are likely wondering who he is, there's a strong chance that you have seen his work in some of the most iconic films of the past 40 years. With seven Academy Award wins (and 12 nominations total), he is one of the most recognized artists in Oscars history. While he has done great work in blockbusters, he's also integral in revolutionizing and even creating an identity for various actors' careers, including Eddie Murphy. For those who still don't know who he is, here is a brief look at 20 times you have seen his work without realizing it.

The First Trailer for "The End of the Tour" Promises to Go Deep

Left to right: Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel

Among the current directors that are out there making movies, I find director James Ponsoldt to be one of the more interesting. Starting with his excellent debut Smashed, he created complicated characters without much of a budget or spectacle and elevated the form to something far more interesting with a story about a recovering alcoholic. His follow-up was the even better The Spectacular Now, which may have been the young adult equivalent of Smashed, but found him coming into his own form with a heartfelt love story. With his latest, he ditches alcoholism, at least directly, and chooses to focus on the life of writer David Foster Wallace with Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Segel in tow. How does the first trailer stack up?

Films to Watch Out For From This Year's Cannes Festival

As the case with every year, the Cannes Film Festival remains the peak of international cinema. More than Sundance or Toronto International Film Festival, the award embodies a prestige that few other awards can get. In a long and storied run, the festival has awarded some of the finest in world cinema including last year's winner Winters Sleep and the previous year's more successful Blue is the Warmest Color. With the festival now wrapped up, it feels like as good of a time as any to look back on the few films that may likely be worth checking out when they finally arrive stateside. 

Birthday Take: John Wayne in "True Grit" (1969)

John Wayne in True Grit

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Nothing But the Best: "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)

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R.I.P. John Forbes Nash (1928-2015)

John Forbes Nash

This past Saturday, mathematician John Forbes Nash and his wife for close to 60 years Alicia died in a car crash. With an impressive career that earned him a Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics, he influenced the the math world with his radical new ways of thinking with Game Theory. It even came to be that he earned the nickname of The Phantom of Fine Hall for his desires to scribble arcane equations in the middle of the night (a reference that made it into Rebecca Goldstein's "The Mind-Body Problem"). For a man with such a storied career going back to the 50's with a published paper on non-cooperative games, he left a valuable mark on the world that would be hard to properly summarize. This is largely because despite an amazing career with a lot of revolutionary ideas, he also developed mental illness - a notion that makes his achievements all the more interesting.

Best Song: "The Last Time I Saw Paris" (1941)

Scene from Lady Be Good

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.

Birthday Take: James Stewart in "Harvey" (1950)

James Stewart in Harvey

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Watch This: David Letterman at the Oscars

David Letterman

After an impressive 33 years, late night talk show host David Letterman will be retiring from his job as the host of The Late Show. For many, it is the end of an era that was full of anarchy and very odd comedy choices. Unlike his competition, specifically that of Jay Leno (The Tonight Show), he was influential in making pranks and lists into an art form for hilarity. With all of this in mind, it is interesting to note that his Academy Awards hosting gig has gone down as one of the worst, yet is it considering the countless names that have come since (Ellen Degeneres, James Franco, etc.)? Along with celebrating the 20th anniversary of that frightful gig this year, it is as good of a time as any to revisit it as we lose one of the most inimitable and ornery talk show hosts in American history.

Birthday Take: "When Harry Met Sally..." (1989)

Left to right: Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally...

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Best Song: "When You Wish Upon a Star" (1940)

Scene from Pinocchio

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.

Birthday Take: Henry Fonda in "12 Angry Men" (1957)

Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

A Few of My Favorite Non-Oscar-Nominated Films By Decade

For those who don't know, today is National Classic Movie Day. Started by Classic Film and TV Cafe, today was started as a grassroots movement to celebrate the classics "from the silents to the seventies." While I have no affiliation with the website or its production today to run several articles as part of its blogathon (more information at link), I have decided to take part in my own way by listing two of my favorite films from each decade. The one catch is that instead of picking the familiar favorites, I am choosing to pick those that haven't been nominated for Oscars, if just to give you a better understanding of who I am as a film fan. So please, check out their writing as well as mine and leave your own favorites in the comment section below.

Nothing But the Best: "Gigi" (1958)

Leslie Caron

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Birthday Take: Grant Heslov in "The Ides of March" (2011)

Ryan Gosling in The Ides of March

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Cate Blanchett in "The Aviator" (2004)

Left to right: Leonardo DiCaprio and Cate Blanchett in The Aviator

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Alan Ball in "American Beauty" (1999)

Left to right: Mena Suvari and Thora Birch in American Beauty

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Katharine Hepburn in "The Philadelphia Story" (1940)

Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Irving Berlin in "White Christmas" (1954)

Scene from White Christmas

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Watch This: The Oscars Pay Tribute to Mothers

Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond

Today, May 10, is Mother's Day. There's a strong chance that if you are reading this, you have someone who loved you and raised you. In fact, it is likely that they are with you at your house right now, enjoying a barbecue and enjoying a day meant entirely to honor their achievements and sacrifices in their life. While I unfortunately didn't have time to compile a list of great Oscar winning mothers (the most recent would have been Julianne Moore in Still Alice), I have found a video that proves that even the greatest of artists have taken some time to pay tribute to their mothers. Follow after the jump to watch a video dedicated to honoring the woman who raised you for all of those years and making you the person you are today.

Best Song: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (1939)

Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz

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.

Birthday Take: James L. Brooks in "Terms of Endearment" (1983)

Left to right: Jack Nicholson, Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Michel Gondry in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"

Left to right: Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Gary Cooper in "Sergeant York" (1941)

Gary Cooper

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Nothing But the Best: "Crash" (2005)

Left to right: Ludacris and Larenz Tate

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Birthday Take: Orson Welles in "Citizen Kane" (1941)

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Nothing But the Best: "Gladiator" (2000)

Left to right: Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Birthday Take: Adele in "Skyfall" (2012)

Daniel Craig in Skyfall

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Nothing But the Best: "Hamlet" (1948)

Laurence Olivier

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

R.I.P. Michael Blake (1945-2015)

Sometimes it takes only one film to make an impact. While Michael Blake may not be the most prolific or recognizable writer in pop culture, his brief resume features the Best Picture winner Dances with Wolves. Following the story of a man who learns to befriend and cooperate with Indians, it was a story of tolerance that would come to define Blake's career following the film. While his IMDb page is sparse, his achievements are very noteworthy and has contributed a lot to the literary world, most recently with the 2011 book "Into the Stars." 

Birthday Take: Audrey Hepburn in "Sabrina" (1954)

Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Nothing But the Best: "Going My Way" (1944)

Bing Crosby in Going My Way

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Best Song: "Thanks For the Memory" (1938)

Scene from The Big Broadcast of 1938

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.

Review: "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" is Bigger and Louder in the Best Ways Possible

In 2015, cinema has reached an oversaturation of comic book movies to the point that even the very best are suspect to consistent criticism. But the question is raised: what makes a great comic book movie? Is it the ability to mold itself into high art, or is it to stick to the stylized universes of which these stories take place on a page? It seems harder than ever to distinguish between the two, especially with director Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is his swan song from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a way, it is high art and style shoved into one film with uneven results that are at times too stuffed. However, Whedon once again puts out a challenge to everyone else by showing how to make a comic book movie that can have depth and still be extremely exhilarating.

Birthday Take: Stephen Daldry in "The Hours" (2002)

Nichole Kidman in The Hours

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Birthday Take: Wes Anderson in "Fantastic Mr. Fox" (2009)

Scene from Fantastic Mr. Fox

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.