Ranking Alan Menken's Oscar Nominations

by Cláudio Alves

Alan Menken accepts the Best Original Song Oscar for BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Earlier this week, Alan Menken celebrated his 75th birthday. As a stage composer turned motion picture maestro, he's authored a number of original musicals, enchanting generations across the decades. Indeed, many could probably credit Disney's favorite composer with the soundtrack of their childhood – I know I can. For his efforts, Menken amassed 19 Oscar nominations and eight victories, many of which he shared with the writers who put words to his music. To celebrate the man's legacy, I shall give him the same treatment bestowed on John Williams a few months ago and rank all his nods, both in the score and song categories…

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A brief history of posthumous Oscars

by Cláudio Alves

Before the Oscar nominations were announced, some pundits predicted as many as four posthumous nominations. Obviously, there's Chadwick's Boseman's Best Actor bid for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. His feverish take on August Wilson's Levee was indeed nominated and, at this point in the awards season, feels bound for victory. The other potential posthumous honors, those that didn't effectively happen, were Jack Fincher (Mank) in Best Original Screenplay, Chadwick Boseman again in Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods), and Michael Wolf Snyder (Nomadland) in Best Sound. With that in mind, it's easy to wonder how common it is for AMPAS to honor artists who have already passed.

For trivia purposes, here's a list of all posthumous Oscar nominations divided by category. Only competitive prizes were included, so no honorary awards...

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Showbiz History: Ellen Burstyn's big month and Corey Stoll appreciation

8 random things that happened on this day, March 14th, in history...

1885 The Mikado, Gilbert & Sullivan's beloved comic opera, premieres in London. The Oscar winning film Topsy Turvy (1999) depicts its production in exquisite detail. Topsy-Turvy was a very late entry in the 1999 Oscar race and threw a lot of categories out of whack -- proving a formidable competitor to design heavy films like The Talented Mr Ripley and Sleepy Hollow. In the end it won Costume Design and Makeup and received nominations for Screenplay and Production Design. 1999 was a damn good film year, even if the actual Best Picture list was a sorry sorry slate... 

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Remembering Howard Ashman

by Cláudio Alves

On the morning of February 19th, 1992, the nominations for the 64th Academy Awards were announced. As always, the last category to be revealed was that of Best Picture and, just as Best Director lineup had done, it brought with it a historical event. Disney's Beauty and the Beast became the first animated feature to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, a momentous achievement that was applauded by the audience of journalists. It was the only Best Picture nominee to receive such jubilant cheer and it's easy to see why. While some had predicted the cartoon's glorious haul of nominations, the long-lasting prejudices of AMPAS against animation made its success seem impossible. Thankfully, even the Academy can get over itself from time to time, and honor truly deserving cinema. Beauty and the Beast is certainly deserving, being a masterpiece of American animation, as well as one of Disney's crown jewels.

Unfortunately, not everyone involved with its triumph was able to bask in the glory of the Oscar nominations. One of the men most responsible for the wonder of Beauty and the Beast was long gone by the time of the announcement…

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Today's 5: Frances Ha, Howard Ashman, Mr Dietrich...

Humpday for all your office drones. Need a distraction? Quick boost? Here are 5 anniversaries and a suggestion as to how to honor each. Try 'em out and see if they make the day go faster.

May 17th History

2013 Frances Ha finally opens in theaters after an excruciating wait from its rave reviews at festivals the fall prior. It was everything we hoped for and then some and did well in our annual awards right here. 

In its honor today: dance and leap run like Frances, especially when you're on the way to the ATM...

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