The Oscar Watcher

02/06/2025

Since it's Pride Month, and since it was the drag queens who started it all, my first June Favorites theme is Drag Films!
What are your favorites?

01/05/2025

This months "Favorites" theme is:
SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS

What are your favorites?

My profile on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/n5qZ

03/04/2025

This months "Favorites" theme is:
BEST PICTURE WINNERS

(April Fools edition)

What are your (LEAST) favorites?

My profile on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/n5qZ

22/03/2025

I've had jury duty since the day after The Oscars, and I forgot to post this. This months "Favorites" theme is:
BEST PICTURE WINNERS

What are your favorites?

03/03/2025

🇧🇷

03/03/2025

Did they just get "In Memoriam" right? 🤯

02/03/2025

Here are my final predictions for tonight. It's been an unforgettable season; one I am happy to put in my rear-view mirror. There have been some excellent highs, and lows I'd just as son forget about.
Some of my favorite highs:

-It was the best year for Animated Feature that I can remember. My least favorite films could be winners in other years.
-The Academy's embrace of horror. Seeing love for 'The Substance' and 'Nosferatu' warms my cold heart.
-Outstanding Documentaries and International Features, for the most part. 'Sugarcane' was especially beautiful and heartbreaking.

The worst:

-The Academy's short-term memory. Films like 'Dune: Pt 2' & 'Challengers' should have made a bigger splash.
-The scandals. I could do without that kind of negativity going forward. I let it get to me, and it soured me on the entire season. I tuned out for a couple of weeks.

What were your favorites/least favorites?

I hope the show is a good one. I think we're in good hands with Conan. Fingers crossed! Have a great time, everyone!

17/02/2025

The Oscar Nominations 2025
DOCUMENTARY SHORTS

I saw the Documentary Shorts program last night. It's an excellent crop this year. They are all so different. It's going to be tough to choose a favorite, never mind a winner.
(If you can't find these in theaters, four are available for streaming in the US.)

INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART (YouTube)
Dir. - Ema Ryan Yamazaki
The winner of the IDA Best Short Film, follows Ayame, a first grader who is under a great deal of pressure as she learns to play an instrument during a transition ceremony to the second grade. It's a glimpse into the Japanese educational culture that may seem traumatic to western eyes and is simultaneously difficult and exhilarating to watch.

INCIDENT (YouTube)
Dir. - Bill Morrison
Hard to watch, haunting, and infuriating. The film tells the story of the murder of a black man bay a rookie policeman in Chicago, all through surveillance and body-cam footage. Everything is caught on film, exposing the lies the police told to justify the shooting.

I AM READY, WARDEN (Paramount+)
Dir. - Smriti Mundhra
Possibly my favorite of the five, this short is an examination of the death penalty. We see a condemned man during his final days, his son, his spiritual advisor, and his victim's son all try to reconcile the past with the sentence, especially when that sentence becomes reality. A heartbreaking tragedy that doesn't offer answers, but shows the terrible toll it takes on everyone involved.

THE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA (Netflix)
Dir. - Molly O’Brien
The lightest of the lot, this is a biography of Orin O'Brien, the first woman to perform with the NY Philharmonic in the 1960s, under Leonard Bernstein, no less. It's an interesting look at her life as she approaches retirement at after 55 years in the orchestra. Filmed with adoration by her niece, her only living relative.

DEATH BY NUMBERS (Theater only)
Dir. Kim A. Snyder
Inspired by the diary of Sam Fuentes, who survived the Parkland shooting, this may be my least favorite. That is not to say it is in any way bad, but something has to be #5. I felt that it didn't really delve into the issue, other that to show the effect it had on one victim of the shooting. It is poetic and powerful, and it left me wanting more. Maybe that's a sign of how good it is. It just needs more time than a short film allows.

Have you seen these yet? If so, what do you think of them?

16/02/2025

I love reading these every year. It's fascinating to see how what we see on screen started. You can read all 10 nominated screenplays here.

The 2025 Oscar nominations include a powerhouse lineup of screenplays, with seven of the 10 Best Picture nominees also scoring writing noms.

16/02/2025

The Oscar Nominations 2025
PORCELAIN WAR (In Theaters)
Dir.- Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
1 nomination - Documentary Feature

Unlike what the title suggests, there's not a lot of porcelain in this film; it's mostly war. It is the story of a pair of artists who are pulled into a war they didn't ask for but one that landed on their doorstep. They are part of a civilian brigade defending their home from what they describe as an evil invasion.
This film feels like a counterpart to last year's Oscar-winner "20 Days in Mariupol." Where that film was focused on the devastation and the human toll of Russia's invasion, "Porcelain War" is about the people fighting on the ground. It is mostly filmed by its subjects, and there is some incredible footage, including one jaw-dropping drone strike.
I appreciated getting into the heads of the people who are fighting an invading army and seeing this war from their point of view, and there's no doubt that this is an important film. However, as a film it didn't really come together for me. I am glad it was nominated, though, as I do think it deserves to be seen. But I also think there were better documentaries among the nominees that have a better shot of taking home the award.

16/02/2025

The Oscar Nominations 2025
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (AMC+)
Dir.- Adam Elliot
1 nomination - Animated Feature

I was not familiar with Adam Elliot's Oscar-winning short film "Harvey Crumpet" (availabe on YouTube), so I went in to "Memoir of a Snail" wit zero expectations. I was pleasantly surprised, and a little disturbed. (Pleasantly disturbed?)
This film is a singular vision. (It was a good year for those.) As I said in an earlier post, I love stop-motion animation, and I fell in love with the design and style of this film right away. What I wasn't prepared for was the adult nature of the story and some of the dark turns it took. This is not a film you should bring your kids to see. I mean, there's nothing really offensive in it, but the grown-up themes will probably lead to some uncomfortable conversations if you do. Nothing wrong with that either; just be prepared.
This film takes the viewer on a roller coaster of emotion, sometimes literally. It is a tragic story that is funny, sad, heartbreaking, infuriating, but most of all, hopeful. It explores themes of love, loss, grief, and mental health. Ultimately, it's about hope and finding happiness from within.
This is the type of film that The Academy nominates and never gives the award. I don't see this being any different this year, but the nomination will get a lot more eyes on the film, and this film deserves to be seen. It's the story of a life that I think most people will find something in it to relate to.

15/02/2025

The Oscar Nominations 2025
WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL (Netflix)
Dir.- Merlin Crossingham & Nick Park
1 nomination - Animated Feature

Full disclosure: stop-motion animation is my favorite style of animation, and we have not one, but two films of this style nominated this year, although they couldn't be more different.
This film is everything you'd expect from a Wallace & Gromit film. It's funny, charming, and full of sight gags. It really needs more than one watch to catch them all. It is a sequel to their 1993 short film "The Wrong Trousers". After Wallace and (mostly) Gromit foiled an attempted robbery in that film by Feathers McGraw, the evil penguin escapes from jail to enact his revenge on our heroes. The result is a slapstick escapade, this time involving Wallace's latest invention, AI garden gnomes. As usual, Gromit must try to save the day, and this puts him in some real danger, which leads not only to thrills surprising emotional moments.
I love Aardman studios, and this is one of their best films. They are frequently nominated but under-awarded, (not as criminally under-rewarded as Laika Studios, bit that's a story for another day). "Vengeance Most Fowl" is absolutely worthy of the win, and it probably would win in another year, but the competition is stiff this year. It's up against two of the best animated films in recent memory. Aardman is going to have to be happy to be at the party, I'm afraid. I'm sure they are.