tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37185420578553438612024-03-13T03:05:34.404-07:00Every Oscar EverOne man's attempt to watch every movie nominated for an Oscar in every category in every yearUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-18860803782706008002017-02-25T15:20:00.002-08:002017-02-25T15:20:32.195-08:00Theeb (2014)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film - Jordan
David Mackenzie’s exceptional Hell or High Water has received a great deal of praise for revitalizing the western, but with all due respect to this worthy entry into the genre’s pantheon, the film was a just a little late to earn this distinction. Naji Abu Nowar’s Theeb is in some ways an unconventional western, replacingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-83943862412127802252016-03-24T14:02:00.004-07:002016-05-09T17:06:04.879-07:00Stutterer (2015)1 Nomination, 1 Win
Win: Best Short Film, Live Action - Benjamin Cleary and Serena Armitage
Watching the nominees for Best Short Film, Live Action in any given year can be a relatively traumatic experience; of the five nominated films, three or four can be counted on to be gut punches of emotion, trying to outdo each other in what horrors they can foist upon the characters. This year's Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-85640180290471562402016-03-02T14:03:00.000-08:002016-03-02T14:50:14.912-08:00Chau, Beyond the Lines (2015)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Documentary, Short Subject - Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck
Watch Chau, Beyond the Lines on Netflix
In addition to the 24 competitive categories currently recognized by the Academy at the Oscars ceremony, over the past several years there has become an unofficial 25th category, that of "Most Difficult Shoot." This past year, The Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-26704744581263201122016-02-16T15:09:00.001-08:002016-02-18T20:26:35.424-08:00Salvador (1986)2 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Actor in a Leading Role - James Woods
Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen - Oliver Stone and Rick Boyle
It has been 24 years since the peace accords were signed that brought a cease-fire to the Salvadoran Civil War, and 30 years since Oliver Stone's Salvador was released in theaters. In that time, as El Salvador Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-80968905532577071272016-02-11T12:30:00.002-08:002016-02-11T12:32:38.275-08:00Richard III (1995)
2 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Art Direction, Set Decoration - Tony Burrough
Nomination: Best Costume Design - Shuna Harwood
There's nothing rare about a William Shakespeare play adapted into another time period on film, whether in original Shakespearean English (as in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet or Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labour's Lost) or in a looser sense (as in 10 Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-60146289409775664372016-01-24T08:42:00.000-08:002016-01-24T22:20:55.223-08:00The Wind Rises (2013)
1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film - Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
In many ways, The Wind Rises's adult-oriented, historically based storyline is a departure for Hayao Miyazaki, but in other ways it is the natural culmination of the legendary director's career. Though missing the fantastical elements of his previous output, the film brings the same Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-70217946243443229742016-01-17T19:32:00.000-08:002016-01-17T19:32:06.954-08:00Magnificent Obsession (1954)
1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Actress in a Leading Role - Jane Wyman
Every genre has a filmmaker or two who dominates all discussion of the genre, not by subverting or reimagining it, but by fully engaging in its conventions while introducing a previously unmatched level of artistry. Like John Ford with the western or Vincente Minnelli with the musical, Douglas Sirk is the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-8743086259055307472015-06-13T10:44:00.010-07:002015-06-13T10:44:49.810-07:00The Judge (2014)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Robert Duvall
Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Portraying difficult, overbearing fathers is right in Robert Duvall's wheelhouse, just as playing cocky and charming jerks with underlying hearts of gold is what Robert Downey, Jr. was born to do. When you partner two of the best actors of their respective generations in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-91188145246522237682015-02-12T15:06:00.005-08:002015-02-12T15:06:48.808-08:00Ida (2013)2 Nominations, Wins TBD
Nomination: Best Foreign Language Film of the Year - Pawel Pawlikowski
Nomination: Best Achievement in Cinematography - Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Compared to the lush, showy cinematography of its fellow nominees (Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Mr. Turner, and Unbroken), it's not immediately clear why Ida was nominated in the category. The film's stark Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-52428379968916208362015-01-15T14:54:00.001-08:002015-01-15T14:54:24.288-08:00The 5 Biggest Surprises of the Oscar NominationsMost who watch the Oscars find their greatest pleasure in judging the outfits worn by the stars, grading the monologue, or joking about the length of the ceremony. I've always found my greatest pleasure in decrying the snubs and questionable nominations by the Academy. I was not disappointed this year, as the Academy made several moves that I (nor most others) did not expect.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-49562878177921357392014-11-13T09:00:00.000-08:002014-11-25T09:30:58.630-08:00Contending With Variety's Best Documentary Feature ContendersWe are still two months away from the announcement of the 87th Academy Award nominations and three months away from the ceremony itself, but Variety is already weighing in on one of the least closely followed but always fascinating categories, Best Documentary Feature. The industry paper lists 18 films contending for a nomination, ranging from the usual Best Documentary fare (Middle Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-15202197248922318982014-10-19T21:43:00.001-07:002014-11-12T23:02:20.606-08:00Backdraft (1991)3 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing - Gary Rydstrom and Richard Hymns
Nomination: Best Effects, Visual Effects - Mikael Salomon, Allen Hall, Clay Pinney, and Scott Farrar
Nomination: Best Sound - Gary Summers, Randy Thom, Gary Rydstrom, and Glenn Williams
I was seven years old when Backdraft was released, and though my parents - in a rare but Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-10553850739822847902014-10-06T21:36:00.000-07:002014-11-12T23:02:46.712-08:00Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Photo: Alison Rosa ©2012 Long Strange Trip LLC
2 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Achievement in Cinematography - Bruno Delbonnel
Nomination: Best Achievement in Sound Mixing - Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland
Since watching Inside Llewyn Davis, I have read several glowing reviews and articles about the film, searching for an explanation of what I missed. The vast Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-68679861024623342752014-08-04T09:30:00.000-07:002014-08-04T09:30:01.383-07:00Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
Photo Courtesy Paramount Pictures
1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Stephen Prouty
Had Stephen Prouty won the Academy Award for his work on Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, it would have supplanted Three 6 Mafia's victory for the song "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" as the oddest victory in Oscars history. Sadly, we missed out on this Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-87237241428557040052014-06-23T09:30:00.000-07:002014-06-23T09:30:00.622-07:00Captain Phillips (2013)
Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips. Photo Courtesy Sony Pictures
6 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Motion Picture of the Year - Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca
Nomination: Best Performance By an Actor in a Supporting Role - Barkhad Abdi
Nomination: Best Achievement in Film Editing - Christopher Rouse
Nomination: Best Achievement in Sound Editing - Oliver Tarney
NominationUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-2024672004346409352014-06-17T14:47:00.002-07:002014-06-17T14:47:23.510-07:0020 Feet from Stardom (2013)
Photo Courtesy TwentyFeetFromStardom.com
1 Nomination, 1 Win
Win: Best Documentary, Features
It has long been a truism that if you are having difficulty picking the winner of either the Best Documentary Feature or Best Documentary Short Subject in your Oscar pool, choose the film that deals with the subject of the Holocaust or AIDS. Rather than judging the film that best documents itsUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-60895712290572862972014-06-16T14:41:00.000-07:002014-06-16T14:52:28.194-07:00Interview with Academy Award Nominee Jeffrey Karoff, Director of CaveDigger
Jeffrey Karoff, Academy Award nominated director of CaveDigger
Of all of the Academy Award nominated films I watched last year, none surprised me more than Jeffrey Karoff's CaveDigger, nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject. Prior to watching the film, I was unaware that the art of cavedigging even existed, let alone that there was a practitioner capable of such awe-inspring Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-43841013817224068072014-06-15T22:30:00.002-07:002014-06-15T22:32:33.448-07:00The Man Who Skied Down Everest (1975)1 Win, 1 Nomination
Win: Best Documentary, Features - F.R. Crawley, James Hager, and Dale Hartleben
The Man Who Skied Down Everest features one of the most heart-stopping and terrifying sequences I have ever seen on film, in which a man skis 6,600 feet down the tallest mountain on the planet in just two minutes and twenty seconds before falling 1,320 feet and finally arresting his Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-87322583051712044682014-06-06T14:35:00.003-07:002014-06-15T21:32:45.792-07:00Cutie and the Boxer (2013)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Documentary, Features - Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
Photo Courtesy CutieAndTheBoxer.com
I've watched a lot of documentaries following the stories of artists, and they almost always follow the same arc: a forgotten or unfairly overlooked artist is on the brink of a new exhibition that will finally earn him or her the recognition he or she Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-44601951658162801402014-06-05T22:04:00.001-07:002014-06-19T22:12:43.545-07:00The Lone Ranger (2013)2 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling - Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua Casny
Nomination: Best Achievement in Visual Effects - Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, and John Frazier
One of the challenges of the Every Oscar Ever project is that my expectations are almost always high at the start of a film. If the Academy admired the film Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-21042005741836291702014-06-03T22:32:00.003-07:002014-06-03T22:32:52.700-07:00Ieri, Oggi, Domani (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) (1963)1 Nomination, 1 Win
Win: Best Foreign Language Film - Italy
Had the producers of Ieri, Oggi, Domani - known in the English speaking world as Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow - released the film as three separate shorts instead of one compilation film, perhaps they could have earned three Oscar nominations in the Best Short Subject Live Action Subjects category, shutting out the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-3272029120409900312014-06-02T11:09:00.002-07:002014-06-19T22:13:35.390-07:00Iron Man 3 (2013)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Achievement in Visual Effects - Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, and Daniel Sudick
Photo courtesy Marvel Studios
In nearly every superhero film of the past two decades, the filmmakers have struggled with the scenes of the hero's alter-ego. Without the crutch of action-filled set pieces, most filmmakers have been unable to make the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-49698419813599659692014-05-27T00:12:00.005-07:002014-06-19T22:09:15.785-07:00Von Ryan's Express (1965)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Effects, Sound Effects - Walter Rossi
Photo Courtesy 20th Century Fox
April 18, 1966 was a great night for the crews of The Sound of Music and Doctor Zhivago, with the two films combining to win ten Oscars, including five in the technical categories (Color Cinematography, Color Art Decoration-Set Decoration, Color Costume Design, Editing, and SoundUnknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-89915505213865022642014-05-21T00:00:00.003-07:002014-05-21T00:00:38.110-07:00Open Heart (2013)1 Nomination, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Documentary, Short Subjects - Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
The Academy is prone to nominating documentaries and documentary shorts that tell amazing, inspiring stories, whether or not the story is told particularly well. I always hope the Academy will recognize filmmakers who tell their story particularly effectively, rather than rewarding theUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3718542057855343861.post-9851678018152213522014-05-18T22:49:00.002-07:002014-05-18T22:49:25.635-07:00Despicable Me 2 (2013)2 Nominations, 0 Wins
Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film of the Year: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, and Christopher Meledandri
Nomination: Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song - Pharrell Williams for "Happy"
For anyone with a radio, television internet connection, or just a pair of ears, it's been pretty much impossible to avoid the ubiquity of the Pharrell Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0