Category: Academy Awards
-
1996 at the Oscars
1996 was the perfect Oscar season for those who like to be kept guessing until the last moment. There was no clear front-runner among the year’s top contenders. The National Board of Review got things going with a split vote for the Australian made Shine as Best Picture while Fargo’s Joan Coen took the Best…
-
Oscar Campaign Breakdown: The Traditional Indies
In this final article, I’m going to give you some info on the studios that are so small and so vastly underfunded that they can truly claim the Indie title. Most of these companies won’t be that familiar to the general public, but their available titles, though not always huge contenders, are certainly noteworthy. The…
-
Two Nominees No One Is Mentioning?
Two performances seem to be untouched so far with Oscar followers that I think need to be considered as serious contenders for a nomination. Both come from long-time Hollywood performers who have yet to make it to the Oscars. Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. After a much stronger than expected opening this weekend, Bullock…
-
1995 at the Oscars
It’s difficult to fully comprehend what happened in 1995. Early speculation focused on possible Oscar wins for Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking, the true story of a nun who acts as spiritual advisor to death row inmates; Leaving Las Vegas, Mike Figgis’ account of an alcoholic’s descent into hell; Ang Lee’s much admired adaptation of…
-
Oscar Campaign Breakdown: The Mini-Majors and Specialty Divisions
In my second article covering the contenders the studios have for this year’s Oscars, I’m taking a look at two groups: the mini-majors (DreamWorks, Lionsgate, Overture Films and The Weinstein Company) and the big studio specialty shingles. The Mini-Majors Although DreamWorks feels like a Major, it isn’t. It doesn’t have its own distribution arm, forcing…
-
1994 at the Oscars
A good movie is a good movie and will appeal to almost anyone of any age, but there are degrees of appeal that age sometimes plays a part in. In 1994 most people were either in the Forrest Gump camp or the Pulp Fiction camp. The former appealed primarily to the baby boomer generation, which…
-
1993 at the Oscars
For the first time in ten years, Oscar’s Best Picture winner was a foregone conclusion. Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, his most serious film to date, a true story about the Holocaust featuring a coda with real life survivors of Auschwitz, was a highly acclaimed work that swept all the precursors. The only question was what…
-
1992 at the Oscars
1992 was a year in which everyone agreed Emma Thompson was the year’s best actress in James Ivory’s film of E.M. Forster’s Howards End, but agreements on the other categories, particularly the year’s Best Picture and Director were difficult to come by. The L.A. Film Critics were the first to announce his year. Those chose…
-
Oscar Campaign Breakdown: The Majors
With the first precursor awards just around the corner (Satellite Award and Annie Award nominations on Nov. 30), it’s about time to talk seriously about the Oscar race in terms of what each studio has on its plate that they could and possibly will push. For all the latest precursor dates (with a few unconfirmed…
-
Documentary Feature Finalists Announced
Beverly Hills, CA (November 18, 2009) — The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards®. Eighty-nine pictures had originally qualified in the category. The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title,…
-
1991 at the Oscars
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde couldn’t do it. Psycho couldn’t do it. Rosemary’s Baby couldn’t do it. The Exorcist couldn’t do it. Finally, in 1991, a horror film won the year’s Best Picture Oscar. It was, of course, The Silence of the Lambs. The film, which opened in February, was considered a clear front-runner for…
-
1990 at the Oscars
Other films may have been better, but in 1990 you were either in the GoodFellas camp or the Dances With Wolves camp. By this time there was a general agreement among certain influential critics that Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull had been the best film of the 1980s. They were flummoxed by the fact Scorsese and…
-
Animated Feature – The 20 Semi-Finalists
The Academy announced today the 20 semi-finalists for the Animated Feature Oscar. It’s enough to open the category to 5 nominees. This expands my earlier predictions as follows. After my predictions, please find the Academy’s press release on the matter. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Coraline The Fantastic Mr. Fox The Princess and the…
-
1989 at the Oscars
Born on the Fourth of July was the most eagerly anticipated film of 1989. Oliver Stone’s previous Vietnam War movie, Platoon, had cleaned up at the Oscars just three years earlier and this film about war hero turned anti-war activist Ron Kovic, was expected to follow suit. The film was supposed to have been made…
-
1988 at the Oscars
1988 had probably the most diverse group of winners in awards history with none of the major pre-cursors agreeing on anything. The L.A. Film Critics were the first out of the box this year. They declared the two-part British import, Little Dorrit, directed by Christine Edzard from one of Charles Dickens’ lesser known novels, to…
