28 June, 2017
Three parts of a life that equals one man.
The 89th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 2016. The nominations were announced on 24 January 2017 and the awards were held on 26 February 2017.
Best Picture: Moonlight
Most Surprising Omission: Deadpool *
Best Eligible Film Not Nominated: The Handmaiden
Rank (out of 89) Among Best Picture Years: #40 (more…)
22 June, 2017
Best traffic jam ever.
My Top 20:
note: All 20 films are ****. There were several high ***.5 films that I wish could have made the list – Captain America: Civil War, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Hail Caesar! and Passengers were among my considered choices. There are only a handful of films that earned any award nominations that I haven’t seen yet (I Daniel Blake, Certain Woman, Allied, Your Name, King’s Choice) so I don’t think this list will be changing (depending on Your Name, perhaps), unlike the last several years, when this list was written more closely after the Oscars. (more…)
11 June, 2017
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees but I also wrote more about the year, originally, here. First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end. If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year. Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section). Films in blue were nominated. Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.
I’m listing the top 20 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.
Analysis: A truly fantastic year. Brokeback ranks among the best ever #3 films, King Kong among the best #4 films and Kingdom among the best #5 films. A History of Violence would be a nominee in most years. The Top 5 is tied for 10th all-time. The Top 10 is second all-time behind only 2002. Downfall is the third best #10 film ever. The Top 20 is the best all-time as is the 11-20. Not only are all 20 of these films **** films, but there are actually a record 26 (the others are Sin City, Capote, Proof, Cinderella Man, Don’t Move, Elizabethtown).
I feel a little weird about this year. Brokeback is a brilliant film and I have thought so since I saw it in the theater, but except for the stretch from when I saw it to when I first saw Munich, it has never been my #1 film. It was Munich for years then eventually moved to Good Night and Good Luck. But all three films are just about a tie and they come one right after the other on my grand list of all Best Picture nominees. There’s no question, given how the year went, that it should have won Best Picture. It won three of the six critics awards and the other four awards groups. Only three films have more Consensus points without winning the Oscar and all three of those (LA Confidential, Social Network, Boyhood) lost the PGA and DGA and the first two also lost the Globe while Brokeback won all of those. It was the first film ever to sweep the other four awards groups and lose the Oscar (La La Land would later do it but it would lose to a film that won more critics awards and won the Globe – Drama). It joined The Aviator as only the second film to this point to win both the Globe and the PGA and fail to win the Oscar. It is the only film to win the PGA, DGA and WGA and fail to win the Oscar. Yet, it would lose to Crash, the film with the lowest Consensus point total to win the Oscar since 1995 and the first film since 1973 to win the Oscar without a Globe nomination and only the second Oscar winner to fail to be nominated for a Globe. In fact, ironically, the most comparable year to this one is 1995, when Ang Lee’s film also looked like it should have won but lost to a film that had not done nearly as well with earlier awards groups, though at least that year had been more telegraphed when Lee failed to earn a Best Director nomination at the Oscars.
Crash, at #101, becomes the fourth Oscar winner to fail to make the Top 100 for the year. It also finishes a period of twelve years when the Oscars awarded the worst of the five nominees a whopping seven times; it has not done so again since (through 2016). It joins 1989 and 2000 as years where the Picture winner isn’t in my Top 50 but the Director winner is my #2. (more…)
4 June, 2017
Pay no attention to the bunnies in the door.
The 78th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 2005. The nominations were announced on January 31, 2006 and the awards were held on March 5, 2006.
Best Animated Film: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Most Surprising Omission: Madagascar
Best Eligible Film Not Nominated: Steamboy
Rank (out of 16) Among Best Animated Film Years: #1
Oscar Score: 100
Alternate Oscar Score: 100 (more…)
20 May, 2017
The DiCaprio side of the DiCaprio-Scorsese collaborations takes a quantum leap.
You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. First there are the categories, followed by all the films with their nominations, then the Globes, where I split the major awards by Drama and Comedy, followed by a few lists at the very end. If there’s a film you expected to see and didn’t, check the very bottom – it might be eligible in a different year. Films in red won the Oscar in that category (or Globe, in the Globes section). Films in blue were nominated. Films (or directors) in olive are links to earlier posts that I don’t want to have show up in blue and be mistaken for a nominee. Films with an asterisk (*) were Consensus nominees (a scale I put together based on the various awards) while those with a double asterisk (**) were the Consensus winners.
I’m listing the top 20 in the categories but only the top 5 earn Nighthawk nominations.
Analysis: Ray and Eternal Sunshine actually tied for the 5th Consensus nominee spot. Million Dollar Baby, with a third place finish, is the first Oscar winner not to be #1 or #2 at the Consensus Awards since 1995, and no film has finished below 2nd since (through 2016).
All 20 of these films are **** and there are no other **** films. It’s a magnificent Top 10 and the third best Top 20 to-date. (more…)
6 May, 2017
The gang’s all here. And hey, look, Frozone found his super suit!
The 77th annual Academy Awards, for the film year 2004. The nominations were announced on 25 January 2005 and the awards were held on 27 February 2005.
Best Animated Film: The Incredibles
Most Surprising Omission: The Polar Express
Best Eligible Film Not Nominated: Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Rank (out of 16) Among Best Animated Film Years: #8
Oscar Score: 76.9
Alternate Oscar Score: 91.8 (more…)
30 April, 2017
Karin: Hush, hush! The actor is tuning up his lute. The Grave Gentleman bids us dance. He wants us to take each other’s hands and form a chain. He himself will lead us, and the actor will bring up the rear. Away from the dawn we shall go with measured tread, away to the dark lands while the rain caresses our faces. (tr. Randolph Goodman and Leif Sjoberg)
Note: There are 16 films on my list. Two of them are listed below, as they were Consensus nominees (Ben Hur – #11, Room at the Top – #14). The other four are all the way down at the bottom. (more…)
