The Runner-Ups: Fred Melamed in "A Serious Man" (2009)

Scene from A Serious Man

Every Oscar season, there are a handful of actors who get tagged with the "snubbed" moniker. While it is always unfortunate to see our favorites not honored with at very least a nomination, there's another trend that goes largely unnoticed: those who never even got that far. The Runner-Ups is a column meant to honor the greats in cinema who put in phenomenal work without getting the credit that they deserved from The Academy. Join me every other Saturday as I honor those who never received any love. This list will hopefully come to cover both the acting community, and the many crew members who put the production together.

Theory Thursday: "A Serious Man" is The Coen Brothers' Best Movie

Michael Stuhlbarg

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. 

The Directors Project: #2 - Joel and Ethan Coen

Scene from Cinema Paradiso

With the many lists and essays written on the subject of film, there has been one thing that The Oscar Buzz has tried to understand: Who is my favorite of the film world? For 10 weeks this summer, I will be exploring this with a countdown of the Top 50 names based on a numerical ranking of ratings from various sources, the following is a list of directors who rank above everyone else. With occasional upsets, this is intended as both a discussion opener as well as a better understanding of me as a film critic and fan. Please enjoy and leave any comments you have regarding the entry's selection.

My 10 Favorite Best Picture Losers (2004-2013)

Ladies and gentlemen, we are officially 10 days away from the big ceremony on Sunday, March 2. With everyone rushing to catch their last few missing pieces, I have decided to commemorate the final stretch by looking back at a top 10 different from the one most people are talking about: My Top 10 Favorite Best Picture Losers (2004-2013). What does this entail? It simply means that of the numerous nominees in the category, these are the ones that made the cut, but left the ceremony without the big trophy. With the 86 years being a daunting task to compile a singular 10, this is a look at the past decade and highlighting the ones that I either loved more or revisit with some regularity.