The Oscar Buzz Celebrates Its Eighth Anniversary!

 

Scene from Hard Eight

Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to announce that the odometer has rolled over. We're entering my eighth year of running things here at The Oscar Buzz. Boy has life been sweet as I've continued to expand my area of interest here annually, finding new and exciting topics to explore as I wait for each season to start. As I do every year, I try to use numerology to figure out something interesting to explore about myself. This is a moment where I get personal and expand upon what I love about film. With the number "8," I've had a variety of topics to choose from, such as BUtterfield 8 or The Hateful Eight. However, those feel small, not allowing for me to really open up in significant ways that go back more than a few years.

Much like how I chose The Seven Year Itch for 2019 to explore my love for Marilyn Monroe, I have decided to use Hard Eight as an entry point into Paul Thomas Anderson. As long-time readers will know, I started this whole website because of The Master. It all started because I wanted to see Joaquin Phoenix get that Oscar win (seven years late, but we got there!). However, I have reserved criticism of that 2012 masterpiece to a certain upcoming anniversary (guess). For now, I am using Anderson's debut film to better explore the question: why do I love PTA so much? I'm sure everyone from my generation has an answer and those who know me personally likely already will find these key notes predictable. For everyone else, welcome to my anniversary piece, the one where I finally get to the heart of a very specific kind of movie love.

How Joaquin Phoenix Encouraged Me To Start The Oscar Buzz

Joaquin Phoenix

Among the many winners at last night's Academy Awards was Best Actor winner Joaquin Phoenix (Joker). For months following the release of the divisive film, he's been the category front-runner and in the process has excelled at giving some of the most memorable speeches. For as much as Brad Pitt made his run seem polished and charismatic, Phoenix chose to make his feel from the heart, addressing whatever issues came to mind. Who could forget his speeches detailing Australian forest fires, or the more recent backlash at The Academy where he called out their lack of diverse nominations? There is so much to take from Phoenix that it kind of makes up for the fact that I wasn't that impressed with his Oscar-winning performance. To me, Joker was mediocre and lacked any real substance that it was vying for. However, his win had a lot more power than simply recognizing a movie or an actor. Phoenix's win sort of brought a certain narrative regarding The Oscar Buzz to a close.

Theory Thursday: "The Ides of March" is George Clooney's Best Movie

Scene from The Ides of March

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. 

Ranking Amy Adams' 5 Oscar Nominated Roles

Amy Adams in Arrival

Today marks actress Amy Adams' 42nd birthday. Over the course of an impressive career, she has played everything from Disney princess to the wife of a cult leader. To say the least, her range is endless, and she continues to produce quality work on an almost annual basis. With the potential for a sixth nomination this fall with director Denis Villeneuve's alien invasion movie Arrival, there's no better time to be an Adams fan. While we wait for her next film to win us over, the following is a ranking of her current five Oscar nominations, of which shows off her charisma as well as argues the case as to why she doesn't have an Oscar yet. She more than deserves one.

Super Delegates: Mike Morris in "The Ides of March" (2011)

George Clooney

Welcome to Super Delegates, a bi-monthly column released on Tuesdays and are done in part to recognize politics on film, specifically in regards to Oscar-nominated works. With this being an election year in the United States, it feels like a good time to revisit film history's vast relationship with politicians of any era and determine what makes them interesting while potentially connecting them to the modern era. The series plans to run until the end of this 2016 election cycle, so stay tuned for every installment and feel free to share your thoughts on films worthy of discussion in the comments section.

Will "A Most Wanted Man" Get Hoffman a Posthumous Oscar Nomination?

Philip Seymour Hoffman

One of the saddest moments in film culture in 2014 was the passing of Oscar winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman (Best Actor - Capote). After dying from drug abuse, he left behind an impressive, enviable catalog of films that reflected charisma. He remains a towering figure to film and brought so much joy to his work. With the release of his last completed film to feature him in a leading role, director Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, there is a question to be raised. Is it possible that the actor is capable of joining the rare ranks of posthumous Oscar winners? From the sound of reviews so far, it does seem very likely.

Predictions: Who Should Get a Best Supporting Actor Nomination in 2013?

2012's Best Supporting Actor winner Christopher Plummer (Beginners)

We are in an exciting time for Oscar enthusiasts. We are officially one week away from the announcement of this year's nominees. In order to contribute some thoughts, I will be going down the major categories (Acting, Directing, and Best Picture) and predicting who will be the most likely to get nominated, as well as a few tidbits on why I agree with these decisions. Be warned that every story that I am going to write in relation to predictions will not actually feature any bias towards who should win. However, I will be detailing why I think each should be nominated. Also stay tuned for post-coverage in which I will actually be sharing my thoughts on the nominations and solidify who I believe should win in each category.

What Happened to "The Master"?

Amy Adams

*This will be my last piece for The Oscar Buzz for 2012. I want to thank everyone for making its brief existence so far much more successful than I planned. What I established as a website just to talk about the Oscars has evolved into something that I enjoy doing. Do know that I probably will be back later this week writing more, but I figured now was as good of a time as any to thank you, the reader, for choosing to join me. Here's hoping that success continues to be granted to this blog in 2013, and may the best movies win.

This entry marks the 50th entry in The Oscar Buzz. With that in mind, I thought that I would look back at the one film that started it all for me: director Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master, which is my second favorite movie of 2012 and features probably the best Joaquin Phoenix performance of his career. After initially a strong start with Oscar Buzz, it fell behind colleagues like director Ben Affleck's Argo and Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. Even in the acting fields, Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman have fallen upon hard times. It has gotten plenty of nominations, but not as many wins, despite making almost every critic's Top 10 lists. Today's installment is a personal analysis on what happened to The Master to move it from a strong contender to just another nominee.

Review: "The Master" is an Overlong Love Letter to Your Brain

Left to right: Joaquin Phoenix and W. Earl Brown

It is always tough to respect someone's follow-up to what is perceived as their best work on that movie's own merit. After hitting a formula, you'd expect them to pull it again in a similar vain. For director Paul Thomas Anderson's follow-up to There Will Be Blood entitled The Master, we would expect the loud vibrancy that came with Daniel Day Lewis' haunting portrayal of businessman Daniel Plainview. Instead, we get something more nuanced and different. There aren't any loud bangs or big set pieces burning to the ground. What we get is Joaquin Phoenix humping a pile of sand in the shape of a naked woman. 

"The Master" Starts off its Legacy by Breaking a Box Office Record

Left to right: Madison Beatty and Joaquin Phoenix

This past weekend, The Master opened in five theaters in Los Angeles and New York. Following a stream of positive feedback (A rating of 8.4 out of 10 on IMDb and 87% on Rotten Tomatoes), the movie has exceeded many expectations of the movie's simple debut. Following Paul Thomas Anderson's biggest achievement There Will Be Blood, the story follows a tale of a Naval veteran (Joaquin Phoenix) as he returns home distraught, looking for some semblance in the world, only to fall for a Scientology-inspired program called The Cause, lead by "The Master" (Philip Seymour Hoffman). How well did it do this weekend?

The Oscar Buzz Begins with "The Master"

Joaquin Phoenix

Sports fans have seasons when players fight each other for the championship. You can keep your baseball and football. I will take movies any day. Every year I get a thrill out of watching the best of the best compete for the top prize: the Oscars. At 84, the ceremony remains one of the most culturally revered American awards to be given to film on a yearly basis. While it isn't strictly given to movies released in the fall, I consider September to be the ultimate start of the Oscar Buzz. What better way to begin the competition than with revolutionary director Paul Thomas Anderson's latest The Master, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams: a big Oscar nominated pedigree coming off of the director's most praised film There Will Be Blood?