Nothing But the Best: "Gandhi" (1982)

Scene from Gandhi

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.

Why I'm Sick of "The Revenant," Even If It's Not Out Yet

Leonardo DiCaprio and the non-rapist bear in The Revenant

Listen, I am looking forward to December's onslaught of movies as much as the next person. I acknowledge that we've seen a lot of great stuff so far. With December 25 being yet another day with an embarrassing amount to offer, it seems like director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's The Revenant is taking up a lot of attention. It does make sense, as initial reports started drizzling in last week with many giving mixed-to-negative reviews of the director's follow-up to Best Picture winner Birdman. To be honest, I did want to see The Revenant. I've gone on record before of thinking that Leonardo DiCaprio is one of those last great movie stars. However, I have to confess, I am SICK of hearing about this damn movie. The recent allegations about a bear raping scene just pushed it over the edge for me.

A Look at the 15 Final Titles Vying for Best Documentary

Scene from Amy

Back in October, The Academy released their short list of 124 titles all vying for the Best Documentary nomination. As the deadline gets ever closer, it has been announced that there are now a final 15 duking it out for the final five positions. While there's plenty of the familiar big subject fare that you've come to expect from this category, it also features a few more zeitgeist-prone entries. The following is a list of those entries followed by a few thoughts of what's likely to come from all of this.

My Top 10 Favorite Woody Allen Movies

Left to right: Woody Allen and Meryl Streep in Manhattan

Love him or hate him (I'm more in the former camp), Woody Allen has remained one of the most prolific and distinguished directors in American comedy. From his earliest days writing for Your Show of Shows to his later successes with films such as Annie Hall and Manhattan, he has made an enviable career with a film-a-year schedule that means that he has more misses, but his hits aren't without mention. Today marks the multi-hyphenate artist's 80th birthday, and with that, I am going to share my personal Top 10 favorites. Keep in mind that while I have seen 24 of his films, that's only half of his impressive total - meaning that I likely haven't seen all of the greats. If I'm missing one that's more obscure, please feel free to reference it in the comments section.