Composing Greatness: #4. Thomas Newman - "American Beauty" (1999)

Scene from American Beauty

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.

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.

R.I.P. Curtis Hanson (1945-2016)

Curtis Hanson

On September 26, 2016, writer and director Curtis Hanson passed away at the age of 71 in Los Angeles, California. With a career spanning over 40 years, he has produced some of cinema's most exciting films from the James Ellroy adaptation L.A. Confidential to hip-hop drama 8 Mile and the romantic comedy In Her Shoes. Throughout his career, he did a fine job of mixing comedies and dramas that often explored harrowing figures going through complicated situations. His films were always exciting yet challenging, proving the power of what cinema could be without defining himself to one style. His massive appeal continues to be felt as his films continue to inspire and be discovered by new audiences. He definitely left a great mark on what film truly can be.

20 Years Later, Fincher's "Se7en" is Still a Sick, Sad Masterpiece

Scene from Se7en

There was a time when the name of director David Fincher didn't mean much to people. While he had done various jobs in the 80's on franchise films for Star Wars and Indiana Jones, his only real claim to fame was shooting music videos and disturbing anti-smoking ads. In what is now a reverse career trajectory, Fincher made his cinematic debut with the conflicted Alien 3 - of which he disowned, and vowed never to make another movie. Thankfully for us, he came back a few years later and changed the crime drama with one of the most astounding, shocking, and smart stories of the 90's. 20 years later, Fincher continues to shock with films like Gone Girl, but it is his sophomore film that proved once and for all that he was an aggressive, voyeuristic force to be reckoned with.

Nothing But the Best: "American Beauty" (1999)

Mena Suvari in American Beauty

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.

Theory Thursday: "The Usual Suspects" is Overrated

Kevin Spacey

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.