Check It Out: Watch Videos From The Academy's Governors Ball 2016

Jackie Chan

This past weekend, The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) held their annual Governors Ball to hand out Honorary Oscars to individuals in the arts who have done superb work. This year's group featured Jackie Chan, Frederick Wiseman, Anne V. Coates, and Lynn Stalmaster along with celebrities introducing them with monologues detailing each recipient's achievements. Thanks to the fine work over at The Academy's YouTube page, you can watch highlights from the ceremony right now, including each recipient's speech as well as the introduction by AMPAS President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.

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.

Is Washington Ready to Take "Flight" into the Acting Category?

Denzel Washington

It has been awhile since we've had a likely candidate for Best Actor. Along with director Steven Spielberg's upcoming Lincoln, we are looking at that field to be closing fast. With Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) and John Hawkes (The Sessions) almost guaranteed and with a possibility of Anthony Hopkins (Hitchcock), it seems like movies like director Tom Hooper's Les Miserables will need to do double time to break the mold. However, this weekend sees the rise of the next possible candidate: Denzel Washington in director Robert Zemeckis' return to live action film Flight about an alcoholic pilot who averted a plane crash. Are we looking at the return of the acting juggernaut who last won Best Actor for director Antoine Fuqua's Training Day, or is the same old Washington that we've come to expect?