By John H. Foote Films are often thought to be a purely escapist art form when in fact some of the greatest films ever made both comment and educate on historical and modern happenings, often bringing fresh light to a difficult subject. The Battleship Potemkin (1921), a masterpiece of the Russian cinema, is generally regarded as…
By John H. Foote Of the major contenders for Best Actor this year, five are previous winners, while another is a previous nominee. Collectively, a total of seven Oscars have been won by the actors listed here, while another near 20 nominations have been amassed by the group in the running for Best Actor this…
By John H. Foote I remember years in the seventies and eighties when the Academy was hard pressed to find five worthy Best Actress contenders, the problem being there were just not enough great roles and performances for women. For the last 10 years there has been a bounty of great work from actresses, enough…
By John H. Foote Once called “the conscience of American film” by George C. Scott, who accepted their award for his performance in Patton (1970) but refused to accept the Oscar, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their winners for the very bizarre movie year that has been 2020. Just one year ago the…
By Alan Hurst Oscar oversights are a favourite discussion points of cinephiles and have been for quite a while. I remember as kid constantly going through a dog eared softcover book on the Academy Awards and compiling my own lists of films and performers: who should have been nominated, who should have won, who should…
By John H. Foote There are five nominees in each of the four acting categories where artists vie for the Academy Award. If there was ever a year when it should have been expanded to beyond five, say seven to be fair, it was in 1974. The Godfather Part II (1974) dominated the category (and…
By John H. Foote In 1937, when 10 films were being nominated for Best Picture, MGM had five films nominated for Best Picture, winning with The Great Ziegfeld. It was a banner year, and in 83 years no one has tied that record. Now in fairness the number of nominees was dropped to five in…
By John H. Foote Who did win, who should have, in my humble opinion. Contrary to popular belief the Academy does not always get it right, and here we can see why. Granted I have the benefit of hindsight, and hindsight is almost always 20-20. Time is the greatest enemy of a film, of all…
By John H. Foote The answer is absolutely. The late actor, who passed away August 28 after a quiet, dignified battle with cancer, could very well be a double nominee this year, earning nominations for Best Actor in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and for Best Supporting Actor for his superb, haunting performance in Da Five…
By John H. Foote It has been a year at the movies unlike any other. 2020 will go down in history as the year the movies were forced, due to the pandemic, to welcome streaming to their industry. Knowing if they did not accept the new business, they would sink, they began streaming their films,…