Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
The Academy did not think it appropriate to feature Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking about Ukraine’s fight to defend democracy. Instead it featured a fight between Will Smith and Chris Rock to defend Smith’s “open” marriage. At Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony, Will Smith shocked the room by approaching the stage and slapping presenter Chris Rock… Read more.
Below are my picks for this year’s Oscars. But, as usual, I feel obliged to preface them by stating my abiding lament: Winning an Oscar is more about crass political campaigning than artistic achievement; box office receipts matter more than critical acclaim. And I have little regard for preening poseurs showing off borrowed frocks for… Read more.
Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s meditation on grief and the damaged American dream, won Academy Awards for best picture, director and actress at Sunday night’s surreal ceremony, a stage show broadcast on television about films mostly distributed on the internet. It was a sleepy event until the final minutes, when academy voters served up a dramatic twist… Read more.
First, a little gripe: No offense to screenwriters, cinematographers, makeup artists, et al, but I cannot overstate that most viewers watch only to see who wins the big six awards. Those, of course, are the ones for actor and actress in a supporting role, actor and actress in a leading role, achievement in directing and… Read more.
As usual, I feel obliged to begin with my annual lament, which I first presented over a decade ago in “My Review of the 2008 Oscars,” February 25, 2008: ____________________ With all due respect to critics and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Academy), how much a film makes, not… Read more.
I’ve been pooh-poohing the Grammys for years for being about as relevant to the music industry as Vinyls and CDs. Here, for example, is what I wrote five years ago in “The Grammys: a Friggin’ Snoozefest!” February 15, 2015: ____________________ Most performers apparently think the key to success is looking and behaving in a way off stage… Read more.
In my Sunday commentary on the Golden Globes, I noted that Oscar governors were praying to avoid nominations that would trigger another season of #OscarSoWhite memes. To be fair, though, they were not relying on prayer alone. Because Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy’s first black president, initiated A2020 in 2015 to diversify the entertainment industry… Read more.
I’ve been lobbying for years for movie awards shows to go the way of musicals on TV. And, that winners are so invariably lily white is the least of my complaints. I even attempted to put perennial complaints about #OscarSoWhite into perspective in “#OscarSoDiverse,” January 27, 2017. Granted, this attempt might now seem naïve given… Read more.
But first, in the interest of full disclosure, I’m obliged to share this from my commentary on the 2014 show: ____________________ I’m never going to waste my time watching the Oscars ever again. Because it amounts to Chinese water torture for the producers to make us sit through nearly four hours of boring TV just… Read more.
As usual, I feel obliged to begin with my annual lament, which I first presented over a decade ago in “My Review of the 2008 Oscars,” February 25, 2008: ____________________ With all due respect to critics and members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Academy), how much a film makes, not… Read more.
