Nothing But the Best: "Chariots of Fire" (1982)

Scene from Chariots of Fire

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. Patty Duke (1946-2016)

Patty Duke

On March 29, 2016, actress and singer Patty Duke died at the age of 69 in Couer d'Alene, Idaho from an ruptured intestine. Over the course of her long and storied career, she has achieved a variety of things from being one of the youngest Oscar winners for her role in The Miracle Worker to appearing in edgier adult roles like The Valley of the Dolls. Her work was vast and always challenging, choosing to take on roles that were sometimes confrontational and contradictory to her squeaky clean child star image. She leaves behind an impressive body of work that is unmatched in terms of quality or charisma as well as serving as an advocate for mental illness. 

Best Song: "Say You Say Me" (1985)

Scene from White Night

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.

Best Song: "I Just Called to Say I Love You" (1984)

Scene from The Lady in Red

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.

Nothing But the Best: "The Godfather" (1972)

Left to right: Al Pacino and Marlon Brando

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. George Martin (1926-2016)

George Martin

On March 8, 2016, George Martin died in his sleep at the age of 90 in Wiltshire, England. While he had a prolific career working behind the scenes in music, he is easily best remembered for his work with The Beatles - of whom he was a frequent collaborator. At one point he was so popular that he was considered to be "The Fifth Beatle" thanks to his occasional input on how to orchestrate songs, such as adding an orchestra to "Yesterday." Beyond this, he helped to compose music for dozens of performers as well as composed the theme songs for several James Bond films. His work is likely so popular that you have already heard it once today on the radio. His work continues to live on, even if the status of how much involvement he had with crafting the hits seems to be suspected by his collaborators.

Best Song: "Flashdance... What a Feeling" (1983)

Scene from Flashdance

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.

R.I.P. Ken Adam (1921-2016)

Ken Adam

On March 10, 2016, production designer Ken Adam died at the age of 95 in London, England. Over the course of his career, and specifically between the 1960's and 1980's, he was known for designing some of the most iconic set pieces for the early James Bond films as well as additional work for Stanley Kubrick on the films Dr. Strangelove and Barry Lyndon, the latter of which he won his first of two Oscars for. He leaves behind an impressive, inimitable body of work that lasted for over 40 years and continues to serve as some of the most iconic imagery in sci-fi and action film history.

Best Song: "Up Where We Belong" (1982)

Scene from An Officer and a Gentleman

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.

Nothing But the Best: "The Sound of Music" (1965)

Scene from The Sound of Music

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.

An Open Letter From The Oscar Buzz

Clara Bow in Wings

As  you likely can tell, this year's Oscars season is at end. With my wrap-up coverage pretty much finished too, you're likely wondering what's the point of sticking around. Unless big news breaks, there isn't going to be too much to fuss over. However, in keeping with tradition, I am planning to do an annual hiatus. Well, not a hiatus in the traditional (even for me) sense. It will be more of a scaled-back output in which my content will be released weekly as opposed to daily so that I can spend some time working on other endeavors in other fields. What does this all mean? Well, I'll give you some ideas after the jump.

The Top 10 Worst Moments of This Year's Oscars

Sam Smith

While 2016's Oscars ceremony may end up going down as one of the best in recent years, it isn't like it was without any faults. Like most years, you have to take the good with the bad, and this year featured some noteworthy standouts. The following is a rundown of the 10 moments form the ceremony that were a little cringe-worthy and maybe will be the butt of jokes for when people think back on this year's Oscars. Is Sam Smith solely to blame for it, especially after he said that it was the worst night of his life? Not exactly, but his dozens of red flags definitely don't help either. He's just one problem in a series of problems.

R.I.P. Alice Arlen (1940-2016)

Alice Arlen

On March 29, 2016, screenwriter Alice Arlen died in New York, New York at the age of 75. She is best remembered for her work with director Nora Ephron, specifically on the Meryl Streep vehicle Silkwood, which earned Arlen an Oscar nomination. Her career spanned many decades and featured many films starring strong female protagonists. Her dramas were provocative and captured an empowering change in the societal climate. Over her career spanning 24 years, she wrote 6 screenplays that helped to shape and influence women in cinema going forward.

R.I.P. George Kennedy (1925-2016)

On February 28, 2016 actor George Kennedy passed away at the age of 91 in Middleton, Idaho from heart problems. Over the course of his career, he starred in over 200 productions in TV and film. He won an Oscar for his role alongside Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke; and is also remembered for his various other roles in films like Airport and The Naked Gun. He leaves behind an impressive body of work that shows his range from serious dramas to more comical performances, most of the time of which he was a straight man. His work remains influential to those looking for performances that complimented as well as enhanced the cinematic medium.