Author: Peter J Patrick
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Classics Oscar Failed to Recognize Revisited
When I think of classics from Hollywood’s Golden Age that Oscar failed to recognize, I’m not talking about films that like The Wizard of Oz and It’s a Wonderful Life, modest hits that were nominated for Best Picture Oscars but failed to win the top prizes, but films that weren’t even nominated for those awards. The Wizard of…
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Home Viewing with Peter #982
Sony has finally released Nancy Meyers’ 2003 film, Something’s Gotta Give, on Blu-ray. The prolific writer of 1980s comedies like Private Benjamin and Baby Boom, made her directorial debut with the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap for which she also wrote the screenplay. The next film which she both wrote and directed was Something’s…
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Oscar Profile: Jack Nicholson Revisited
Born April 22, 1937 in Neptune, New Jersey, Jack Nicholson was raised by his maternal grandparents believing them to be his parents and his showgirl mother his older sister. He grew up on the Jersey shore, attending high school in Manasquan. He learned the truth from a reporter in the mid-seventies after both his mother…
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Home Viewing with Peter #981
Conincidentally, from old movies on Blu-ray to current miniseries on Netflix, most of what I watched this past week has involved children. Newly released from Kino Lorber, 1969’s House of Cards, directed by John Guillermin (The Towering Inferno), is a fast-paced thriller about the kidnapping of an 8-year-old boy from a novel by Stanley Ellin…
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Oscar Profile: Annette Bening Revisited
Born May 29, 1958 in Topeka, Kansas, the youngest of four children of a church soloist and an insurance salesman, Annette Bening grew up in San Diego, California. She began acting in junior high school where she played the lead in The Sound of Music. She began her professional career with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in…
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Home Viewing with Peter #980
Criterion has released a 4K UHD Blu-ray of Ernst Lubitsch’s 1932 film, Trouble in Paradise. The vintage film has never looked better than in this New 4K digital restoration with uncompressed monaural soundtrack restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. The disc…
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Oscar Profile: Lucile Watson
Born May 27, 1879 in Québec City, Canada, Lucille Watson was the daughter of an officer of the British Army who went to New York against her father’s wishes to enroll in a drama school. On Broadway for many years, Watson was married to actor Rockliffe Fellowes from 1906-1922. She had an uncredited role in…
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Home Viewing with Peter #979
Kino Lorber has just released a 4K UHD upgrade of Richard Attenborough’s 1977 film, A A Bridge Too Far. A Bridge Too Far received 8 BAFTA nominations including Best Film and won 4. It did not have anywhere that kind of success with U.S. awards bodies, and in fact received no Oscar nominations at all.…
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Oscar Profile #790: Aline MacMahon Revisited
Born May 3, 1899 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Aline MacMahon was of Scottish-Irish and Russian-Jewish descent. Her father Marcus MacMahon was a telegraph operator who became editor-in-chief of Munsey Magazine, her mother Jennie Simon MacMahon, who lived to 107, was an actress. Growing up in McKeesport, a suburb of Pittsburg, and later Brooklyn, New York, MacMahon…
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Home Viewing with Peter #978
Listed among the top ten independent films of 2025 by the National Board of Review, Max Walker-Silverman’s Rebuilding has been released on Blu-ray by Bleeker Street. The film is set in a FEMA camp set up in the wake of the San Luis Valley wildfires of 2018. The valley runs through Colorado and New Mexico.…
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Oscar Profile: Ryan Gosling Revisited
Born November 12, 1980 in London, Ontario, Canada, Ryan Gosling is the son of a secretary and a traveling salesman. Homeschooled by his mother, he attended several high schools including a vocational school where he excelled in drama and fine arts. Gosling performed in several talent shows eventually landing a spot on The All New Mickey…
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Home Viewing with Peter #977
Nominated for 2 Oscars for Best International Feature and Best Original Screenplay, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident is now streaming on HBO Max. The 2025 Cannes Film Festival winner starts out intriguingly with a well-dressed man and his pregnant wife driving home in the Iranian countryside at night with their young daughter when…
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Oscar Profile: Amy Madigan
Born Amy Marie Madigan on September 11, 1950 in Chicago, Illinois to Dolores and John J. Madigan, her mother was an amateur actress ,and her father was a journalist who worked for Newsweek and provide political commentary on such shows as Meet the Press and Face the Nation. During high school, Madigan performed in school plays. …
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Home Viewing with Peter #976
It’s always interesting to compare this year’s Oscar winners with those of previous years. In that spirit, let’s look at the 1965 Oscars and see how the 98th Academy Awards compares to the 38th. This Oscar winner for Best Film of 2025 was an anti-fascist comedy-drama. The winner for Best Picture of 1965 was an…
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Oscar Profile: Sean Penn
Born August 17, 1960 in Santa Monica, California, the second son of actor-director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, Sean Penn is the fourth actor to receive three Oscars and the first since Walter Brennan to win all three on successive nominations. The actor’s older brother is composer Michael Penn (born 1958). His younger brother…
