"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" in 30 Perfect Shots

by Cláudio Alves

Years ago, as part of the dearly departed Hit Me With Your Best Shot series, the Film Experience hosted a celebration whose theme was the 1977 Best Cinematography Oscar nominees. Much was written about the contenders' beauty, their visual storytelling, and aesthetic vices. None was more praised than Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind, whose lensing earned Vilmos Zsigmond a well-deserved Academy Award. It was the film's only victory on Oscar night, partly because another seminal work in American sci-fi stole its thunder. Even so, Spielberg's creation endures, as miraculous as it ever was.

American audiences now have the privilege of revisiting the film in a new 4K restoration. Last weekend, it played in selected theaters as a special event, and there's an encore this Wednesday. Oh, how I wish I could experience it on the big screen. In lieu of that, I re-watched the film at home and decided to write about thirty of its best shots – and there are so many perfect ones! Consider this my lengthy and much-delayed contribution to that Hit Me With Your Best Shot of years past…

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Oscar Trivia: Which films received the most nominations yet missed Best Picture?

by Nathaniel R

We love to throw random Oscar trivia at you. We love you for not even trying to dodge it! So here's a top ten for you. Here's something we were pondering the other day quite randomly: pictures that Oscar voters obviously loved but somehow skipped in the Best Picture race. This trivia is now a different game entirely given that there are so many Best Picture nominees each year. Unless Oscar returns to the days of 5 nominees, we aren't likely to see this list change ever again. But do you think any film this year might see a lot of nominations without a Best Picture bit. Anyway here is the all-timers list of such things...

The "Most-Nominated" Films That Missed Best Picture

01. Nine nominations
THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY (1969)
Director Sydney Pollack would make multiple classics in his career, among which The Way We Were (1973) and Tootsie (1982) are arguably the best loved today, and win two Oscars for Out of Africa (1985). His fifth, which preceeded those "greatest hits" catapulted him into greatness. This bleak masterpiece about a Depression-era dance marathon is still an intense watch a full half century after its debut. The performances by Jane Fonda, Susannah York, and Gig Young are sensational and the film is never less than riveting. It was nominated for 9 Oscars, more than any of the Best Picture nominees that year save Anne of a Thousand Days, but won only supporting actor for Gig Young. Perhaps it was too bleak... or those Academy members with a taste for grit and edge were all already in Midnight Cowboy's pocket that year?

02. [TIE] Eight nominations plus a non-competitive special achievement Oscar

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Netflix in November: Doctor Strange, 16 Candles, Children of Men, etc...

Time to play Streaming Roulette. Each month, to survey new streaming titles we freeze frame the films at random places with the scroll bar and whatever comes up first, that's what we share!

Here's what's new on Netflix...

When you leave, you should forget me.

The English Patient (1996) won 9 Oscars. Nine! As much as that's a wonderful movie -- and my god it hurts to look at these two (Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas in they're prime) they're so superhumanly gorgeous -- 9 is a lot. I'm glad Oscar has recently moved away from giving all the statues to one movie. It's been 10 years since we've had that kind of overkill (Slumdog Millionaire with 8)... and lately things have been winning closer to 3-5 which is more than enough for most movies, even the great ones...

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