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Entries in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (43)

Saturday
Feb082020

Final Oscar Predictions! 

Hello beloved readers and fellow cinephiles. Sorry for this ultra-last-minute prediction post (which is cross-posted at Towleroad) but let it serve a dual purpose. It's to be read now and/or laughed at after the Oscars once I've shown that my crystal ball is totally defective.

One of these three films will win Best Picture

If you've been living under a rock the Best Picture field looks like so...

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Feb042020

1999 with Nick: Best Cinematography Falls on "Cedars"

This week, in advance of the Oscars, Nick Davis is looking back at the Academy races of 20 years ago, spotlighting movies he’d never seen and what they teach us about those categories, then and now...

Spotlight Movie: Snow Falling on Cedars

Today's case study from the 72nd Academy Awards is a less auspicious instance than yesterday's of a movie sneaking onto Oscar's ballot with just one nomination. I'd also call it an example of good filmmaking that, in context, arguably constitutes bad filmmaking, or at least disappointing and misguided filmmaking. Cinematographer Robert Richardson is not the exclusive or even the primary defendant in the case I’m going to make. He was probably executing to the best of his ability the mandates of a director and a producing team intent on the picturesque. Still, I’m not sure we needed to reward him for following such dubious orders. And now, as so often in this movie, we flash back...

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Feb022020

Best Picture in Monochrome

by Cláudio Alves

The trend of rereleasing critical darlings in black and white is apparently here to stay. After George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road and James Mangold’s Logan, it’s time for Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite to be revisited in sharp monochrome. The artistic value of such exercises is dubious, but they do offer a chance to reflect upon a film’s visual idiom and aesthetic construction. After all, do these works gain something by being in color? Is that an intrinsic part of their form or simply a consequence of convention? Would they be better, at least better looking, in black and white?

Those answers will have to remain unanswered, but as a fun exercise here are some from this year’s Best Picture nominees. They’ve been drained of color for your pleasure…

Click to read more ...

Friday
Jan312020

"Because you love movies"

by Cláudio Alves

There's something mercenary, a bit unseemly, about many Oscar campaigns. Nobody should be slighted for campaigning too hard or for showing they want the award too much, of course -- that's not what we're saying (no Hathahating here). Still, studio's FYC ads tend to feel pushy, more interested in vacuous hyperbole than a genuine celebration of any film's particular merits.

All of that said, sometimes a campaign hits the nail right on the head, negotiating the needs of clever promotion and cinephile wonderment with utmost ease. Such is the case of Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood's latest ads. As the final Oscar voting starts, Sony has played its last card in the campaign game. It's a rather simple one, focused on special screenings and a bunch of traditional paper ads as well as some internet banners. Their genius lies in the simplicity of it all, avoiding incomprehensible lists of critics' prizes in favor of a simple powerful message...

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Jan292020

Podcast: a conversation about list-making and polarizing Best Pictures

with Nathaniel R & Nick Davis

On this week's podcast, we check in with Nick Davis as he completes his "top 100 of the decade" list and also discuss the Oscar race, the shortened season, and the more polarizing nominees for Best Picture. 

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunesContinue the conversations in the comments, won't you? 

Making Lists and Best Pictures