I originally started these posts to express my tongue-in-cheek disinterest in the Oscars, especially who the winners were (since I’d watched so surprisingly few). However, over the years, I’ve shifted to genuine interest in the nominees (though I still don’t care that much about who wins) and look on them as a checklist of films…
Tag: Oscars
Oscar Schmoscar 2021
Much has been said (and will be said) about how extraordinary this year’s Oscar nominees are (in terms of diversity, and because “smaller” films got to break through due to studio films being delayed by the pandemic). For me that has also meant unprecedented access to the nominees through streaming services (mainly Netflix) for my…
Oscar Schmoscar 2020
After a few years off, I’m back trying to catch some nominees for this year’s Academy Awards before the show on Sunday. Traditionally I have had a love-hate relationship with Oscar films: I want to love them (like the world does), but I find myself lacking appreciation for those movies that get everyone’s votes. This…
Oscar Schmoscar 2017
Each year, when I do these quickie reviews of Oscar nominees that I’ve seen, a few of them are marginal categories — like sound editing, or costume design — but this year I think I’ve got a better slice. I still may not necessarily love the winners, but I’m glad that doing my Oscar-viewing “homework” gets me to…
Oscar Schmoscar 2016
I’m really cutting it down to the wire this year (since the Oscars are tomorrow) to give my two little cents on some of the nominated movies. As usual, please don’t expect me to predict the winners or have some Oscar-calibre comments. I started this series of annual posts when I didn’t really care about…
Oscar Schmoscar 2015
It’s Academy Awards time, and that means it’s once again time for me to weigh in with my ignorance and inability to appreciate an Oscar-worthy performance. If you’re like me, you’ll want to cram-watch a few more of the nominees in time to at least have an opinion for the awards next week. Let me…
Oscar Schmoscar 2014
This year, I wasn’t sure that I’d have an “Oscar Schmoscar” post as I had hardly seen any of the major nominees. I don’t know why this year seemed to be the year of “individuals going through incredibly difficult ordeals”. From being adrift in space, to being held hostage by pirates, to being abducted and…
Oscar Schmoscar 2013
Each year I write this post for two reasons: 1) to show how much I don’t really care about the nominees (not really true) and 2) do quickie reviews of the nominated movies that I haven’t already reviewed separately. Back when there were fewer Best Picture noms, I tried to watch all of them by…
Oscar Schmoscar 2012
Last year’s nominees had a few pleasant surprises that I would have regretted missing out on if not for the noms. This year, nothing really compelled me and it’s unfortunate that I didn’t find the Best Picture nominees to be much of a checklist for exploration. Even the critics don’t love them all, since Hugo…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 