My Top 25 Favorite Films of the Decade

Scene from The Master (2012)

The following is an excerpt from my new e-book "A Decade Now Available for Streaming: Celebrating the Films That Helped Define the 2010's," which is currently available for $2 on Amazon. It's a celebration of the best films of the past decade, including these 25 films that stand out as something special to me personally. If you want to read more, the e-book goes into detail on 75 more films that defined the decade and made going to the cinema an exciting past time. 

Why "Inside Out" is My Favorite Pixar Movie

Scene from Inside Out

It's that time of year again. It's when the internet gathers together to make the argument for which film exemplifies what makes Pixar brilliant. It's an exciting, thought-provoking period because, on the one hand, there is no right answer. Who's to say that WALL-E  is greater than Finding Nemo? The diversity of each film is astounding and explains why they're towering giants in the American animation market. However, this is my chance to make the argument not only for why I think that their 2015 film Inside Out is yet another masterpiece, but is a masterpiece that explains most succinctly why Pixar remains a vital company in the 21st century. It's got everything perfectly in place and does so with the familiar formula better than it's ever been.

"Finding Dory" Breaks Animated Box Office Records on Opening Weekend

Scene from Finding Dory

When it comes to Pixar, there are few films as beloved as Finding Nemo. It isn't just one person's opinion. The film holds a 99% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes and the film grossed nearly $900 million in 2003, making it the highest grossing animated film at its time. By the looks of this past weekend, its sequel Finding Dory may prove to be a legitimate threat to any and all records that the original achieved 13 years ago. For starters, it broke the single best opening for an animated movie ever, as well as several others. Not too bad for a fish with short term memory loss. Read on to find out more.

The Top 10 Pixar Directors

This weekend marks the release of Pixar's 17th feature Finding Dory (review coming soon). Following the highly successful Finding Nemo after 13 years, it continues to see Pixar's influence on the zeitgeist being held strong and true. But what about the voices behind these now iconic films? With a strong and diverse roster of talents, it feels important to recognize the voices that brought the works to life. The following is a list of my Top 10 favorite Pixar directors based on how I ranked every entry. While the Top 5 features the familiar heavyweights, the bottom half manages to feature some lesser known talents that will hopefully continue to make quality work and find themselves further up on the list. For those missing, it was an often close competition and hopefully they will pose a threat as the studio enters its third decade of quality animated work.

Happy 1,000th Entry!: A Look at My Favorite Films Since 2012

Scene from The Master

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that this marks the 1,000th entry from The Oscar Buzz. Over the past 3.5 years, I am proud to have covered all things Academy Awards as well as expanding to its history and my own personal tastes. It has been a fun ride, and I hope to continue to provide insightful content for my readers. For now, I thought that I would do as I do with every odd anniversary and celebrate by sharing a little bit more about me through film. In this case, I am going to share my 10 favorite movies since 2012 when this blog first started up. Admittedly, it's hard to narrow down the list, but these 10 films in some ways represent what I look for in films. Some of them extend beyond Oscar-nominated fare. Some of them were ironically inches from winning Best Picture. Whatever the case, these are the ones I enjoy. If you'd like, feel free to share your favorite film of the past few years and why that is in the comments below.

Here is the Official List of Every 2016 Oscar Winner

The cast and crew of Spotlight winning Best Picture

There you have it, everyone. Another Academy Awards ceremony is in the books. With a competitive, unpredictable year, it was nice to know that the winners this were just as random as the moments leading up to it. But, who won all of the awards? Who won the most? Spotlight walked away with the Best Picture, but very little else, while Mad Max: Fury Road left with six. If you wish to know who won in every category, click the jump to see the results. Also, I will answer the proverbial question that comes with each post-ceremony recap: how did I do? To say the least, it wasn't my best year even if I'm not mad at who won.

Theory Thursday: Dreamworks Movies are More Enjoyable Than Pixar

Scene from Kung Fu Panda 3

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. 

How Did I Do?: A Look Back at My August Oscar Predictions

Scene from Carol

Back in August, I wrote my premature, pre-Oscar season predictions for the main categories for this year's nominees. To say the least, it's an interesting list that manages to miss the point, ignoring films like Room, Brooklyn, and The Big Short all together. But, did I really do as bad as I have made it out to be? The following is a rundown of the list that will feature my original picks first followed by the actual results. If there's any embarrassing or profound comment to accompany this, I will also share them. So, step into the time capsule and recognize just how surprising 2015's Academy class ended up being and how rapidly things could change between August and January.

My Predictions for This Year's Top 6 Oscar Category Nominations

This is it, everyone Tomorrow is the day when we finally discover who all of this year's Oscar nominees are. What has made 2015 a very interesting season is that while we've had a front runner (Spotlight), we haven't had as clear of a road map for every other category. With that said, this could either become yet another conventional year, mirroring last year's "Oscars So White" backlash; or we can be seeing a random year where Mad Max: Fury Road and other blockbusters manage to compete for Oscar gold. The following is my predictions for the six big categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. It's a difficult year to predict, and I am likely to be wrong in some ways (as I usually am). However, join in the fun and share the picks that you feel are deserving of nominations, and return to The Oscar Buzz tomorrow morning for in depth reporting and commentary on every high and every low.

Check This Out: "Inside Out" Cuts Out the Emotions for Interesting "Outside Edition"

Scene from Inside Out

There wasn't an animated film that was more acclaimed and beloved than Pixar's Inside Out. For many, it was seen as a return to form for the studio, producing their best work since 2010's Toy Story 3. While its Oscar chances are inevitable (and will be announced later this month), it's intriguing to look back at the film and its form. While the story helped to make an abstract concept about emotions somehow explainable, it's intriguing to wonder if the story that they're telling on the other side holds up. Well, thanks to Jordan Hanzon, it has been edited to exclusively focus on the outside journey. Thankfully, the story is just as impressive without the gimmick, and can be seen after the jump.

Check Out the 112 Finalists on the Best Original Score Shortlist

Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs

The short lists keep on coming. While yesterday saw me tackle a variety of categories, I am choosing to focus solely on one for the Best Original Score list. More than the other field, this category is probably too subjective and controversial for me on a year-to-year basis. While there's certain ones that give me problems (the definition of "original"), I do think that sometimes The Academy gets it right, as the music used to emphasize emotional or action sequences are important to the film. This year's shortlist features 112 scores, including the absence of one of this year's biggest contenders (The Revenant, by Ryuichi Sakamoto). The following is a list of every contender, followed by the composer in parenthesis. There will also be opinions following the list for the ones that stand out to me.

Happy 600th Article! Here's My Predictions For the Upcoming Oscar Season

Scene from Suffragette

Ladies and gentlemen, I have reached another mini-milestone. I have reached my 600th article for The Oscar Buzz. Okay, maybe there's not a lot of honor as there is for the 1,000th article or even an anniversary entry. However, it feels like a special correlation has just happened where I can celebrate this achievement by talking about something that I do best here: The Oscars. Not just any Oscars, but the upcoming season that will be dominating conversation and filling our time endlessly with speculation (and the return of Failed Oscar Campaigns!). So, I figured that there wouldn't be any better way to celebrate this honor than predict what the line-up will be for the five main categories. 

Review: "Inside Out" is Pixar's Great Meta Commentary on Why We Love Pixar

Among the many anniversaries coming in 2015 is Toy Story's 20th anniversary. While it may just seem like an honor bestowed upon a really good film, it is also an indicator for Pixar's growth and legacy. There was a time where that film could have been a fluke. Yet 14 movies later, they are still willing to charm us and reinvent the wheel, making us sympathize with new things whether anthropomorphic or abstract. This is why director Pete Docter's Inside Out feels not just like a film, but as its own meta retrospective on the first two decades of a studio that has a widely regarded almost perfect track record. Thankfully, it still is a really good example about why Pixar is leagues ahead of its competitors.