The First Trailer for "In the Heights" Sets Off An Exciting Block Party

Scene from In the Heights

For all intents and purposes, the phenomenon of Lin-Manuel Miranda started over a decade ago with In the Heights. Yes, his later work on stage and in film may be more revered, but there's no denying the seismic shake that came with his story of a man named Usnavi living his life in Washington Heights. It wasn't just in the story. It was the way that the music fused classic Broadway motifs with contemporary sounds of salsa and hip-hop that reflected a new era of musicals. Suddenly America was culturally diverse and free to embrace their passions. In the Heights was a celebration that won Tony Awards and set Miranda up on his path to bigger things, most notably Hamilton. While audiences haven't likely memorized the soundtrack as well as any about the ten-dollar founding father without a father, be prepared to learn why In the Heights was a smash. The first trailer has finally arrived, and it's looking to be one of the best block parties of 2020. 

Best Song: "Shallow" (2018)

Scene from A Star is Born (2018)

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.

A Rundown of Who's Performing on The Academy Awards this Sunday

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper

Things are getting exciting. With approximately 48 hours left until this year's Oscars ceremony, it's time lo look forward to the ceremony. Knowing that there isn't any host, what is there to look forward to? Well, there's good news (and some bad) in regards to this year's music performers. As of this moment, four of the five songs will be performed at the ceremony. While some would think this is a side effect of the infamous cuts that the show temporarily had, it's merely a side effect from scheduling. To find out who is still on the show, please feel free to read on and prepare for what is shaping up to be one of the oddest ceremonies in the modern era.

Composing Greatness: #5. Oscars 2019 Edition - "Mary Poppins Returns"

Scene from Mary Poppins Returns

Welcome to a very special edition of Composing Greatness. In this limited series, I will be looking at the five scores nominated for this year's Best Original Score category. To avoid favoritism, the list will be done in alphabetical order of composers and feature the same guidelines as the original series. This is meant to explore the music behind the great films of 2018, and provide insight into what makes each of them special and whether or not they deserved to be nominated at all. Join me all week as I listen to the  music, leave some thoughts, and hopefully sway you to check out these wonderful, wonderful scores.

Coming Soon: Composing Greatness Looks at This Year's Nominees

Terrence Blanchard

In what will become an annual tradition, it's time once again for Composing Greatness to revive itself for a week of covering every Best Original Score nominee from this year's ceremony. Given the great diversity in styles, it's going to be fun to look through what's here and find the heart of why these scores were nominated. So feel free to join in, starting the week of February 18 as I cover all five of the scores in alphabetical order by title. How will BlacKkKlansman, Black Panther, If Beale Street Could Talk, Isle of Dogs, and Mary Poppins Returns compare with previous nominees? You'll have to wait and see.

*NOTE: Due to Composing Greatness' return, this month's Legitimate Theater has been cancelled. Please feel free to enjoy it next month when it returns.

An Update on The Academy Awards Ceremony's Many Strange Decisions

Scene from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

In every sense of the word, the three weeks leading up to the Academy Awards ceremony should be a time of excitement and anticipation. After all, the nominations have been revealed and everything should be in place for the broadcast. However, this year has been a bit of an uphill battle for most, as the past year has embodied a series of bad decisions lead by Academy President John Bailey that culminated in a Best Popular Film category that was rightfully laughed out of the conversation. However, it also brought with it a need for serious change that is unfortunately a bit baffling. Less than a week after it was announced that only two of the Oscar-nominated songs would perform, the ruling has been reversed. However, it does come with a bit of a price, especially if what has been said is to be believed. There's a lot wrong with the broadcast's proposed plan and part of that is cutting the music down to 90 seconds.

The Academy Rumored to Be Limiting Music Performances at Ceremony

Kendrick Lamarr

With the Oscar nominations firmly upon us, The Academy has found a way to make the final month-long stretch to Oscar Night more frustrating than trying to guess who will win. With theaters boycotting Roma, and the current plan of the show having no host, one has to wonder where the controversial decisions end. It didn't happen yesterday when a rumor surfaced that the show would be going without another key piece of the puzzle. While there hasn't been any confirmation as of yet, there's a report from Variety that there will be limited performances by the Best Original Song nominees. It makes sense then why people are once again annoyed by this decision, The Academy Awards is a place to celebrate film from over the past year. If they won't acknowledge the music that goes into a film, then what will they recognize?

A Look Back at my Final Oscar Nominations Predictions: How'd I Do?

Scene from BlacKkKlansman

This past Tuesday marked the announcement for this year's Oscar nominations. If you're like me, it was quite a wonderful day full of surprises both great and awful. While there will be plenty of prognostication to come, there is a certain thing that is true: my predictions are now dated. I previously posted how my predictions from August 2018 are now even more of a joke. So, before we get too far into the final stretch of Oscar season, it's time to look at the last grasp to guess the wildness of this year's nominees, or lack thereof. How did I do? Join me in looking back and laughing at what I got wrong and how things actually turned out.

Review: "Mary Poppins Returns" is a Dazzling Good Time

Scene from Mary Poppins Returns

There is something daunting and rare about director Rob Marshall's Mary Poppins Returns. It's a sequel to Oscar-winning beloved family film that has become one of Disney's towering achievements (they even made a movie called Saving Mr. Banks to remind us of this). So, where could Marshall possibly go with 50 years of distance and generations hooked on some of movie musicals' most memorable music? The answer is simple. It goes for the whimsy, trying its best to capture the enthusiasm of the original while attempting to make a new story that compliments advanced technology to bring the landscape to life in ways not available in the mid-60's. While the music isn't quite on par or the performances as immediately iconic, Marshall has continued to prove himself one of the premiere musical directors of the 21st century with a quaint new holiday treat that may not match the original, but serves to entertain for a few hours as best it can.

A Roundup of Movie Trailers for Oscar Season Hopefuls

Margot Robbie in Mary Queen of Scots

With the end of August upon us and the Venice Film Festival currently going on, it's time to get prepped for the 2018 Oscar season. That means that there'll be a lot of returning goodies (see this post for all of the details) and a lot of prognostication as the season heats up. But before the summer ends officially, it's as good of a time as any to look back at the trailers that premiered in the past few months and have already promised to make this Oscar season a fascinating and exciting one. The following is a rundown of the films that have already staked their claim in the race, making it difficult for the films that still need to make their presence known, such as Adam McKay's Dick Cheney biopic Backseat. But for now, these are the films that may be worth keeping an eye on, at least until the film festivals say otherwise.

Best Song: "Chim Chim Cher-ee" (1964)

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins

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.

Birthday Take: Julie Andrews in "Mary Poppins" (1964)

Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

A Look at "Saving Mr. Banks" and Why it Will Be a Front Runner

Tom Hanks

For those that have been reading The Oscar Buzz in the past few months, I have claimed from time to time to have a vague theory as to how director John Lee Hancock's Saving Mr. Banks is going to sweep the ceremony, provided that patterns hold up. While I am excited to be disproved by the recent buzz around 12 Years a Slave, I still believe that the film has the potential to be one of the big films. It is not based off of any quality mark, but just a look at recent trajectory based on the past few years of Best Picture winners. While I doubt that it will win, here is an elaborate theory as to why I believe that we're looking at one of the biggest contenders and don't even realize it yet.