A24 A-to-Z: #31. "Krisha" (2016)

Scene from Krisha

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

Composing Greatness: #37. John Williams - "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" (2001)

Scene from A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Composing Greatness: #36. John Williams - "The Patriot" (2000)

Scene from The Patriot

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

A24 A-to-Z: #30. "Remember" (2016)

Scene from Remember

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

An Open Letter from The Oscar Buzz

Scene from Gentleman's Agreement

Well, well, well... it's that time of year again. The Oscar season has wrapped up and everything that needs to be said has been said (for now). It leaves one major question in the balance: what is there left to do for The Oscar Buzz now that there's some significant downtime? Long time readers will recognize that it's during this time that I take a break from Oscar coverage, and that pattern is likely to hold true this year as well - with some exceptions. Yes, it's hiatus time once again, and I hate to say goodbye for awhile. I hope in this time that I will be able to get my ideas together and prepare for an eventful off season once again. The following is a look into what I have planned for the interim between now and my return.

Composing Greatness: #35. John Williams - "Angela's Ashes" (1999)

Angela's Ashes

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

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.

A24 A-to-Z: #29. "The Witch" (2016)

Anya-Taylor Joy

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

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.

The Story of Frances McDormand's Stolen Oscar

Frances McDormand

There's no denying that one of the big moments of this year's Academy Awards ceremony was when Frances McDormand won Best Actress for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. It wasn't just that she had given a great performance, but her speech capped off a year of Hollywood being obsessed with equality. It featured such memorable moments as her asking female filmmakers in the audience to stand, and later the inclusion of the phrase "inclusion rider." But it wasn't the end of her Oscar story. It was briefly stolen after the ceremony, which proved to be a briefly harrowing situation.

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.

What "The Shape of Water" Winning Best Picture Means to Me

Credit: Naki for Variety

There's certain things that people have come to expect from a Best Picture winner at The Academy Awards. They are prestigious dramas conveying deep and conflicting resonance of the moment it came out. It's supposed to be serious, often contextualizing a piece of history through an artistic prism. But, as someone who has loved classic monster movies, I've also known that another thing is true: genre movies don't win. Comedies or musicals maybe, but never sci-fi, horror, fantasy, or anything considered niche. After all, the Best Picture winner is something agreed upon of thousands of people from differing tastes. So to see The Shape of Water win two of film's most prestigious awards this past Sunday gave me an incredible feeling. Somehow it validated the idea that The Oscars have always preached: all movies matter. For the first time this millennium, that's felt like more than hyperbole.

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.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: The Weinstein Company

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.

Long Shot Week: Best Picture - "Lady Bird"

Scene from Lady Bird

Welcome to the first Long Shot Week, where I will attempt to persuade you to think outside of the Oscar box. While it's too late to change voters' minds, I believe that audiences need to take a moment to look at the other contenders in any category and give them a chance. Long Shot Week is designed as a way to highlight these talents that likely don't stand a chance of winning, but more than deserve a chance to be appreciated for what they bring to the game. In a way, this is my list of "Films that should've won," though it's not always indicative of my favorite. Join me all week as I look at different categories and pose the question "Why not?" in hopes that The Oscars still have a few surprises up their sleeve.

A Round-Up of My Reviews for Oscar-Nominated Movies

With today being Friday, it would be a good enough reason to look forward to the weekend. However, most people are also looking forward to this Sunday for one reason. After a lot of speculation, the Academy Awards ceremony is finally upon us! Considering that you've likely seen all the movies and have your own thoughts, it's time to start finalizing predictions and placing bets. While I will be sharing my predictions tomorrow, I decided to dedicate this entry as a little primer, or a reminder, for those wanting to know my thoughts on the Oscar-nominated movies. This is mostly a place for me to share links from both The Oscar Buzz and Optigrab, where I wrote about the more pop culture-centered movies. Enjoy and good luck with your balloting. 

Long Shot Week: Best Director - Jordan Peele ("Get Out")

Scene from Get Out

Welcome to the first Long Shot Week, where I will attempt to persuade you to think outside of the Oscar box. While it's too late to change voters' minds, I believe that audiences need to take a moment to look at the other contenders in any category and give them a chance. Long Shot Week is designed as a way to highlight these talents that likely don't stand a chance of winning, but more than deserve a chance to be appreciated for what they bring to the game. In a way, this is my list of "Films that should've won," though it's not always indicative of my favorite. Join me all week as I look at different categories and pose the question "Why not?" in hopes that The Oscars still have a few surprises up their sleeve.