OSCAR MADNESS

In a matter of days, we will finally know the winners of The Oscars. In the meantime, here's a bit of information regarding the film industry that I found interesting:

The Criterion Collection has long been considered the gold standard for films as they focus on recognizing and preserving classic and contemporary films from across the globe. With their collection of over 1200 thoughtfully curated movies on DVD, filmmakers long to be a part of their prestigious catalog while cinephiles covet to collect each of their selections. Criterion pioneered the special features found on DVDs that included the use of trailers, deleted scenes, alternate endings and, most importantly, commentary tracks. The New York Times has examined the company, founded in 1984, from when Criterion began with laserdiscs, the short lived, home video format and has grown to now having their own subscription streaming service.

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How the Criterion Collection became the film world’s arbiter of taste

After many years of campaigning for recognition by the Oscars, casting directors have finally succeeded and the Academy have created a new category (the first in twenty-four years) for Best Casting and will be presented during the 2026 ceremony. Another group that have also been vigorously fighting almost as long to have a category for themselves during the Academy Awards are the stunt people, the men and women who have risked their well-being to create realistic looking falls, fights and crashes. So far, they remain unsuccessful but with casting now being honored, hopefully stunt work will not be far behind and will soon have their moment. In the meantime, Vulture have created the Stunt Awards to make up for this oversight. This began last year and was such an astounding success that the awards has been expanded with more entries and a larger voting body.

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And the Winners of the 2024 Vulture Stunt Awards Are …

Here's a photographic look back at the history of one of the most coveted afterparties on Hollywood's biggest nights; Vanity Fair's Oscars party. The magazine looks back at their first party in 1994 which came together not long after the passing of talent agent, Irving "Swifty" Lazar who had held an exclusive Oscars viewing and after party for many years. Graydon Carter, then the editor of Vanity Fair, and the producer Steve Tisch came together to fill the void and these parties have been going on, becoming bigger and more glamourous, ever since. They have put together an incredible collection of photos from these gatherings with all of the beautiful movies stars, athletes, musicians and celebrated figures of the day all having a grand, extravagant time.

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30 Years of Vanity Fair’s Oscar Parties

And finally, Vulture has ranked fifty of the most memorable, crazy, thought-provoking and moving acceptance speeches from all of the many awards shows over the last fifty five years. Not surprising, The Oscars have a large number of entries here but all of them are wildly entertaining.

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The 50 Greatest Awards-Show Speeches

OSCAR MADNESS

The Academy Awards is finally just one day away. So while you wait in anticipation and to help fill the time until then, here is some silly trivia and fascinating information about the Oscars to distract you until the big show:

If you win an award, you are expected to give a speech. And over the many years of the Oscars, there have been many wild, moving, rambling, inspiring, and confusing speeches given. Joe Reid of Vanity Fair tries to figure out why some of these words of thanks and gratitude have become popular viewings on the official Oscars YouTube channel, listing the current top-ten speeches along with the number of views.

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How Did These Becomes The Most Popular Oscar Speeches

It's seems like it's been a long time since the Oscar race has been this wildly unpredictable on who will be the actual winners, particularly in the acting categories this year. There have been times when there is one actor who appears to be a sure thing in taking home the gold prize after winning most of the other cinema awards and critics prizes. Yet on Oscar night, somebody's else name is called to pick up the coveted award. Vulture has highlighted nine of the most shocking upsets over the last twenty-five years of the Academy Awards.

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The Nine Most Chaotic Oscars Acting-Category Upsets

And this year marks the 50th anniversary since the release of "The Godfather", the 1972 Best Picture winner which is considered by many to be one of the greatest works ever in cinema. On March 25, 1972, the first film in Francis Ford Coppola's trilogy of the crime drama saga about the Corleone family was released, receiving immediate acclaim from critics and audiences, making it become a highly influential, groundbreaking film. There is a rumor buzzing around that there might even be a cast reunion during this year's Oscar telecast (let's hope). The New York Times takes a look back with an interview with the eighty-two year old Coppola who discusses the extensive process it took to get "The Godfather" looking as close as possible to what it did during it's original release in time for it's golden re-release. And there is a fun, trivia quiz about the film that tests your knowledge on this classic. 

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Restoring 'The Godfather' to Its Original (Still Dark) Glory

'The Godfather' Quiz Nobody Asked for

OSCAR MADNESS

The Oscars are finally happening in a matter of days after a delay of almost two months. It appears that this year's show will attempt to be the closest to a traditional program despite the on-going threat of COVID-19 in our lives with Oscar producers, Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins taking every measure to make sure all nominees and participants will be safe during this Sunday's live event. I'm thrilled and can't wait to see this glamourous celebration of the moviegoing experience.

In the meantime, I'm going to share some interesting links that involve discussions on the long history and the potential future of the Academy Awards:

The New York Times takes us on the journey of how the Academy Awards evolved from a low-key fifteen minute ceremony to a three-hour plus event, with it's move to television in 1953 helping to create the grand spectacle of the show and solidify it's cultural importance.

NYT: From a 15 Minute Ceremony to a Marathon

Nate Jones of Vulture looks at the cultural and artistic debates involving the Oscars, which he reveals to be hardly a new development with these complaints about the lack of diversity, category fraud, cancel culture, political speeches and honoring "popular" movies have been previously discussed over the last seventy years.

Vulture: We’ve Been Having the Same Fights About the Oscars for 70 Years

The Los Angeles Times goes back to the Oscars twenty years ago with the three way battle between "Traffic", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Gladiator" with film critics, Justin Chang and Glenn Whip discussing how these ultimate choices have aged and the beginning of internationalism in the movie industry.

LAT: 2001 Oscars Heads Back to the Arena

LAT: 2001 Oscars Rewind: What Won and What Should Have Won

After a year of the proliferation of streaming channels and watching new films at home, what does this mean for the future of cinema and the Oscars? Wesley Morris of The New York Times examines the movies that were nominated despite the lack of traditional theatrical distribution and critical buzz from film festivals and the concern of more mid-budget titles bypassing movie theaters completely.

NYT: In the Year of Streaming, What Do The Oscars Mean?

And with two women nominated in the Best Director category this year (making that a total of seven in the ninety-three year history of the awards), Joy Press for Vanity Fair looks back at a time in the 1970's when female filmmakers like Claudia Weill, Joyce Chopra, Barbara Loden, Joan Micklin Silver, Penelope Spheeris, Martha Coolidge, Joan Tewkesbury and Julie Dash were emerging to make their first movies, thrilling and inventive works, and the difficult struggle for them in trying to continue with their careers.

VF: Promising Young Women

TEN LGBTQ MOVIES THAT AREN'T ABOUT COMING OUT

June is LGBTQ month and usually a time for massive celebration. But with parades and parties cancelled over health concerns, watching cinema can be a nice back-up plan. There have been plenty of films over the years which told moving stories on the difficulties and struggles in coming-out to the world. However there is much more to the gay experience which sometimes can be complicated, messy and dangerous.

Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair has assembled ten movies that focuses on other moments that people in the LGBTQ communities may encounter in their lives. There is also included a listing of all of the sites that are currently streaming each of these titles.

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10 LGBT Steaming Movies That Aren't About Coming Out

OSCAR MADNESS

The Oscars, one of the biggest nights in entertainment and certainly one of the most prestigious awards given in cinema, is almost upon us. Movie fans from all over the world can't wait to tune in to see all the glamour, beautiful stars and who's going to take home awards on Sunday, February 24th. Here are a few links to inform and keep you entertained until the big night.

First up, the point of the Best Picture Oscar is to honor the very best movie of any given year, a film that will endure and represent the finest that cinema has to offer. But what about the other exceptional films that earned a nomination? Vulture has gone back through the past ninety Best Picture winners and then picked a second film (or Best Loser) from the list of nominees of each given year that would have been just as worthy of the the top Oscar prize. This is a fun look back at movies that deserve a second look and reasons why they would have made a perfect companion (or in some cases, a better selection) to the ultimate winner.

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The Best Movies That Lost Best Picture Oscars

This year marks the twenty-fifth year of Vanity Fair Magazine's Hollywood Issue. One of the articles in that issue celebrates twenty-five scenes from movies of the last twenty-five years that would become iconic and influential. Vanity Fair's film critics, Richard Lawson and K. Austin Collins have selected these moments that would go on to change cinema forever.

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The 25 Best Movie Scenes of the Last 25 Years

Finally, what is winning an award without an acceptance speech? There have been many, many given over the last ninety years at the Oscars but Vulture has narrowed down to eight of the very best and memorable words spoken by a winner of an Academy Award:

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We Pick The Most Memorable Oscar Speeches