Oscar nominations: What we learned

The nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards were announced this morning, and it was the usual mix of surprises, snubs and things expected. Several categories had an overabundance of potential nominees, so there were bound to be a few films shut out despite recent momentum for some of those films. The category that actually wound up surprising us the most was one that left out two seemingly-surefire titles. While nothing this year seems to have created the firestorm that erupted upon Ben Affleck's not being nominated for Best Director last year, that doesn't mean there wasn't a lot we learned about the Academy's thinking when it comes to the films, performances and overall work of 2013. Let's take a closer look.

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "No Country For Old Men" (2007)

Joel & Ethan Coen are considered genius writers and directors. They should be. They have given us some classic films over time, many of which have been award-winning. However, for the most part, Oscars eluded them. Sure, they would get nominations, but until the 2008 ceremony they didn't find themselves accepting the awards. That changed with No Country For Old Men, a combination crime drama/western set in 1980 throughout the state of Texas. It is based on Cormac McCarthy's 2005 novel. Many critics hailed this as the best film of their careers, and the Coen mantles wound up quite heavy with prizes as a result of it. I personally was not all that thrilled with the movie when I first saw it. I found it lacking in some character development, and moreso I found it lacking in closure. I was obviously in the minority, however.

BEST PICTURE SHOWCASE: "Midnight Cowboy" (1969)

When I decided to start this project of blogging all the Oscar winners for Best Picture, I knew there would be a few films that I'd seen some or all of but couldn't remember well, and I knew there would be a few films that were individually unique. The first film I drew at random was one that filled both of those qualifications, 1969's Best Picture winner Midnight Cowboy. I know somewhere in my late teens I watched at least some of this movie, and I know the exact reason why I did. It was rated X! Wow! An X-rated film won the top prize! Naturally, to my blooming post-pubescent mind, this meant the film was going to be a sex-filled romp with enough F-bombs flying around to make Martin Scorsese wave the white flag. As it turns out, this is not the case. However, the film does have a pretty sizable amount of nudity for its time. Nothing full-frontal, but plenty of bare ass, both male and female. Also, several scenes of implied homosexuality exist. So yes, I can see why this film was given an X-rating back in the day. At the time, however, "X" just meant that no one under 18 was admitted under any circumstances, and there were many movies that were given that rating. For instance, A Clockwork Orange was initially released with an X-rating. Years later, when the porn industry exploded (no jokes, please), "X" pretty much wound up going just onto those films. Even Midnight Cowboy itself is tame by today's standards, and in fact was reclassified in 1971 as an R-rated film with no edits made.

The 2014 Blog Project of Hollywood Coyote

Good Lord, what is he doing now? I'll tell ya what. I'm blogging. Regularly, even! My wife, who is fantastic beyond words, pitched an idea to me that I thought was great. Blog about all the Best Picture Oscar winners during this year. This way, I'll be blogging more often, and I'll finally get to achieve my goal of seeing all of the films that won the top Academy Award. Hey, why not? So last week, I decided it was time to start. All the films were written onto pieces of paper, the papers were all folded up, and all of them went into a bowl. I'm going to draw them out at random, watch the film and then discuss it. Hopefully you'll have fun taking the ride with me. Hey, you might discover a great new/old film you didn't know about. Hell, so could I! The first film drawn out was 1969's "Midnight Cowboy". That blog will be coming shortly. Oh, and for the record, these blogs will include a film synopsis, so prepare for spoilers!

Be Kind, Rewind

2013 is almost in the books, and Oscar season has begun. Most guilds have announced their nominations, and in a few week's time most of those guilds will have also presented their award winners, which will lead us to the one that ultimately matters most, the nominations and winners of the Academy Awards. There will be plenty of great films to watch, performances to marvel at, screenplays to watch unfold. However, right now I want to take a break from 2013. What about 2012? There were quite a number of great films that year that didn't get a lot of awards love, for one reason or another.  In some cases here, I don't necessarily think the films were Oscar-worthy, but I just feel they were and are underrated.  I don't specifically mean the blockbusters like The Avengers or The Dark Knight Rises. They were great films too, but most people probably have seen those. I want to highlight some that didn't have those $300M box office grosses. So before we fast-forward to the 2013 awards, let's rewind to 2012...

Season 11 critical for "Top Chef"

Cooking shows used to be found pretty much exclusively on PBS back in the day.  Julia Child, The Galloping Gourmet, Martin Yan ("...Can Cook!") and others were chefs with shows that I stumbled onto and discovered an early love of food and wanting to cook it.  With the advent of cable in the 1980's and 1990's, these cooking shows found larger audiences on many other channels.  Then with the subsequent advent of reality television, cooking competition shows started up too.  One of the first was "Ready, Set, Cook!" and it ran for years.  Nowadays that show seems primitive compared to what's out there, but frankly, most of what's out there now just isn't too exciting.  "Chopped" is OK.  "Iron Chef America" too (although a pale comparison to the original Japanese series that really was the single show that put Food Network on the map).  One show stood out.  Debuting in 2006 on the Bravo network, "Top Chef" was the first cooking competition to be of marathon proportions, and ultimately the food is what mattered.  It was an instant smash, and many of the winners (plus a few non-winners) have found their careers to flourish after competing on the show.  By the time Seasons 6-8 rolled around, this was legitimately one of the best, if not THE best, competition shows on TV, period.  As always seems to be the case though, producers always want to tinker.  And tinker.  And tinker.  And the result usually ends up a stinker.  And stinker.  And stinker.  In just over one year's time, "Top Chef" went from the heights of awesomeness to audience revolt.  And the worst of it is, Season 10 almost got it right and washed out the nasty taste of Season 9 from everyone's mouths.  But then that finale...ohhhhhh, that finale...

Les Misérablog: 2012 Oscar Predictions (February 24, 2013)

One of the more surprising Oscar seasons in recent memory comes to a close this Sunday night with the 85th Annual Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles at the Dolby Theater. A wide-open race going in, there's a clear favorite for Best Picture now despite the fact that that film's director did not himself get a nod in the Best Director category. Unlike previous blogs, I'm stealing the format from Entertainment Weekly magazine and choosing who I think will win, but also perhaps commenting on who SHOULD win, and why. So without further adieu...