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SHOWBUZZDAILY Review: 10 Thoughts On The Oscars

Posted February 28, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  As the last notes of the not-remotely-accidentally-chosen “Fight the Power” fade from the closing credits of the 88th ACADEMY AWARDS telecast, 10 quick thoughts on the show and awards. 1.  Sometimes smart is all but indistinguishable from lucky, and that was the case for the Academy this year, which had chosen Chris Rock to […]

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OscarLand: The Day Arrives

Posted February 28, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  Provocative, almost existential questions have circled this year’s Oscars since seconds after the nominations were announced.  Should the awards, and the Motion Picture Academy’s voting membership, mirror the actual state of the film industry, which is overwhelmingly dominated by older white men, or a Platonic ideal embodying a more diverse vision of what the […]

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Oscarland: The Nominees

Posted January 14, 2016 by Mitch Salem

  It was a bad morning for some veterans (Harvey Weinstein, Ridley Scott), and a good one for others (George Miller), as well as for quite a few newcomers.  Let’s dig in: BEST PICTURE The Big Short Bridge Of Spies Brooklyn Mad Max: Fury Road The Martian The Revenant Room Spotlight Neither of the Weinstein […]

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OSCARLAND: Do the Oscars Need To Be Popular?

Posted February 23, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  Here’s a factoid:  during the 1970s, that halcyon decade when the rebel filmmaker inmates finally, if briefly. took over the Hollywood studio asylum, viewed by movie history ever since with wistful nostalgia, every single winner of the Best Picture Oscar was one of the Top 10 box-office grossers of its year.  This includes big-budget productions like […]

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SHOWBUZZDAILY Review: The Oscars

Posted February 22, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  There were no surprises of any scale at tonight’s ACADEMY AWARDS (a full list of winners is here) , and that went for the telecast, too.  Neil Patrick Harris was as personable a host as anticipated, and he/his writers were sometimes quick on their feet, as when he had a gag ready about a Documentary […]

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Oscar Ballot Tip Sheet

Posted February 22, 2015 by Mitch Metcalf

In case you are staring at an Oscar ballot this afternoon or this evening and have no idea what to select, especially in the “down ballot” categories such as documentaries, foreign language film, or the technical awards, never fear.  Lean on the professional oddsmakers to help to separate the wheat from the chaff.  Instead of […]

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OSCARLAND: The Nominees

Posted January 15, 2015 by Mitch Salem

  The race is officially on, with Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel (both from Fox Searchlight) tied for the lead with 9 nominations (The Imitation Game has 8, while Boyhood, not so much a technical showcase, has 6), and although with just a couple of exceptions (not even an Animated Film nomination for The […]

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OSCARLAND: Post-Mortem on Hollywood’s Yearly Selfie

Posted March 3, 2014 by Mitch Salem

  The only thing more boring than a typical Oscars is one without surprises, and the closest thing to a major upset this year turned out to be Disney’s loss in the Best Animated Short category.  (The studio almost instantly rebounded with the much more important Animated Feature prize for Frozen.)  All the conventional wisdom […]

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