25 June, 2022
This is the final grouping of 50 to count down the 1000 Greatest Films of the first Century of Film (1912-2011).
The original introduction can be found here. Other parts can be found here.
The films in this portion rate at a 98 down through Modern Times and a 99 after that.
After some other posts, there will be an update that covers the years 2012-2016. Then after some other posts, there will be another update that will cover the years 2017-2021.
12 March, 2022
Getting close to the (initial) end of the Top 1000 list. The introduction is here and the rest of the list can be found by going here. Films through Inglourious Basterds (#174) are a 95 which is high ****. The rest are a 96. A 96 is, to me, worthy of a Best Picture win. That means any Oscar winners from that point on, even if they don’t win the Nighthawk, earn no complaints from me. Ironically, one of those films doesn’t even earn a Nighthawk nomination (The Hours) because 2002 is just that tough. There are also a few films that come 5th in their years while the only actual Nighthawk winners in this post are all 95 films. Things are so even across genres and major studios that only one film in this group of 50 is in the Top 5 all-time for its genre or major studio. (more…)
21 August, 2021
14 May, 2020
I’m certainly not going to discuss all of film history through 1929. That has been done in numerous books in far more detail than I could ever discuss here. There are some important dates that should not be ignored like 1912 (the release of Richard III, the oldest surviving feature-length film), 1915 (the release of The Birth of a Nation), the formation of the major studios (remember that what you think of as major may not meet that definition – it’s the five studios that both distributed films and owned theaters to which they could distribute the films and those were Fox, MGM, Warners, Paramount and RKO Radio, the last of which began releasing films in 1929, thus cementing the status of the five majors) and the double whammy of the introduction of sound with The Jazz Singer and the inception of the Academy Awards. (more…)
30 December, 2013
A couple of famous Oscar winners in 1939.
Introduction:
This is a companion piece to three different series. The first is the The History of the Academy Awards, in which I covered each category in individual posts. This was originally done in 2009 and additions were included in 2010. You can find links to all of these pieces in each individual category. I have grouped all of the categories together for the same reason that I did so originally – because most pieces on the Oscars don’t approach the awards through the categories, but through the years. This specific piece is designed to take a closer look at the decade (with a couple of extra years, since there was no point in doing a separate piece on the first two years of the Oscars) and how I think the Academy did in those years.
The second series is my Year in Film series. That is mentioned here because in those pieces I included paragraphs about the Oscars as a whole for each year and included a considerable amount of trivia. Since I had based my Year in Film series and eligibility as such on the Academy calendar, it all seemed very relevant. Also, starting in 1930-31, I started including various prizes (Worst Oscar, Worst Nomination, Worst Omission, etc) and I didn’t want to repeat myself, so following the links will bring you there. Those links are at the end of this piece, where I do a brief summation of each year and how the Academy did.
The third series is my History of the Academy Awards: Best Picture series, where I reviewed every film ever nominated for Best Picture (except The Patriot, which is lost). Those links are also down below, grouped by year. (more…)
12 May, 2013
You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. 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. Films in red won the Oscar in that category. Films in blue were nominated. But remember, there were only a handful of Oscar categories in this, the second year of the Oscars (and, in fact, several fewer than the year before).
Nighthawk Awards:
6 May, 2013
One of the brilliant scenes in Murnau’s Nosferatu that’s not in the original source.
My Top 5:
Note: There is only a top 5 for this year. There were more than enough adapted screenplays to have a Top 10 if the quality of the scripts had merited it. They do not. And there wouldn’t even have been 5 if I hadn’t seen L’Argent last week. (more…)
2 May, 2013
You can read more about this year in film here. The Best Picture race is discussed here, with reviews of all the nominees. 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. Films in red won the Oscar in that category. Films in blue were nominated. But remember, there were only a handful of Oscar categories in this, the first year of the Oscars.
Nighthawk Awards:
29 April, 2013
One of the beautiful and haunting images from Sunrise. Nothing to do with the script, but great to look at.
My Top 10:
17 April, 2013
You can read more about this year in film here. Since this is the pre-Oscar era, clearly there are no Best Picture reviews to link to. So, without further ado, here are the initial Nighthawk Awards, covering the entire pre-Oscar era. 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.
Nighthawk Awards:
note: A good year for films because there are so many. The next five, in order, are The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Birth of a Nation, Faust, The Last Laugh and Foolish Wives and the **** films go all the way down to #16. (more…)
This is the 11th part of the countdown of the Top 1000 Films of the first Century of Film (1912-2011). The introduction can be found 
News from the San Diego Becks 