Author: Peter J Patrick
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Home Viewing with Peter #922
I am often asked what my favorite year at the movies was. The answer is I don’t have one but ask me what do I think the most interesting year at the movies was, and I will tell you without hesitation, 1968. What makes 1968 so interesting is that it was a transition year. The…
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Oscar Profile: Oscar In Memoriam 2025
Although there had been occasional tributes to recently deceased performers and other film greats through the years, the first In Memoriam segment at the Oscars where multiple actors and other film participants are honored did not occur until 1994. Each year, we look to this segment with lumps in our throats and tears in our…
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Home Viewing with Peter #921
Just days out from this year’s Oscars, you can find all but two of this year’s nominees for Best Picture and other major awards streaming on your TV in the U.S. and in most other places in the free world. Some are also available on Blu-ray. The two not yet available are A Complete Unknown…
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Oscar Profile: Demi Moore
Born November 11, 1962 in Roswell, New Mexico, Demi Gene Guynes’ father, Charles Harmon left her mother before her birth. She was named Guynes after her mother’s second husband, Danny Guynes. The future Demi Moore had an unstable childhood thanks to Guynes’ forcing them for move forty times as he went from job to job. …
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Home Viewing with Peter #920
Whether you’ve seen this year’s Oscar-nominated actors in their currently-Oscar-nominated performances or not but would like to see them in other projects, here’s a rundown of some of the films in which they also gave outstanding performances. Someone the other day remarked that Adrien Brody is the male Vivien Leigh. British acting legend Leigh played…
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Oscar Profile: James Mangold
Born December 16, 1963 in New York, New York, James Mangold is the son of artists Robert and Sylvia Plimack Mangold. He was raised in Washingtonville in New York’s Hudson Valley. After high school in New York, he attended the California Institute of the Arts film and video program under Alexander Mackendrick (Sweet Smell of…
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Home Viewing with Peter #919
Three of this year’s major Oscar nominees have just been given sparkling 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo releases. Universal is responsible for two of them, Wicked which it released theatrically, and Conclave, which was released theatrically by its subsidiary, Focus Features. Wicked was a box-office phenomenon that quickly became the highest grossing adaptation of a…
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Oscar Profile: Guy Pearce
Born October 5, 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England, Guy Edward Pearce is the son of an Australia father and an English mother. When he was just three years old, his family moved to Australia for two years when his father was offered the position of Chief Test Pilot for the Australian Government. The position became permanent,…
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Home Viewing with Peter #918
The Criterion Collection has released 4K Blu-ray upgrades of two legendary films of the last century, 1950’s Winchester ‘73 and 1990’s The Grifters. Anthony Mann, who rose to fame with such 1940s films noir as T-Men and He Walked by Night, turned to the western genre with the noir western, Winchester ‘73, his first film…
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Oscar Profile #731: Ralph Fiennes Revisited
Born December 22, 1962, Ralph Fiennes is the eldest of six children born to photographer Mark Fiennes and his wife, novelist Jennifer Lash. An eighth cousin of King Charles, with his mellifluous voice, Fiennes give the impression of a well-heeled British aristocrat when in fact he was brought up in near poverty. The family moved…
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Home Viewing with Peter #917
Kino Lorber has released two of 1958’s brightest comedies, Teacher’s Pet and Houseboat, on long overdue Blu-rays. Both films were nominated for two Oscars each. Both received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay, losing to The Defiant Ones. Teacher’s Pet was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Gig Young. Houseboat was also nominated for Best…
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Oscar Profile: Kieran Culkin
Born September 30, 1982 in New York, New York, Kieran Culkin is the son of former child actor Kit Culkin and Patricia Brentrup who never married despite having seven children: Shane (born 1976), Dakota (1978), Macauley (1980), Kieran, Quinn (1984), Christian (1987), and Rory (1989). Dakota passed away in 2008. The others are still alive.…
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Home Viewing with Peter #916
After several delays due to the horrific L.A. fires, we are just two days from the announcement of the Oscar nominations for films released in 2024. My expectation is that the ten films nominated for Best Picture will be Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, Emilia Pérez, A Real Pain, Sing…
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Oscar Profile: Sam Wood Revisited
Born Born July 10, 1883 in Philadelphia, PA, Samuel Grosvenor Wood married Clara Louise Rousch in 1908. He began his Hollywood career as an actor and assistant to Cecil B. DeMille in 1915, becoming a full-time director in 1917. He would eventually direct 82 films between 1920 and his death in 1949. Wood’s silent films…
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Home Viewing with Peter #915
It wasn’t until after World War II ended that televisions became affordable. By the late 1940s, most homes in the U.S. had a 12-inch black-and-white TV set. Although most programming was live, TV stations also looked to old movies to fill the gap. By the early 1950s, you could find lots of movies from the…
