Many decades ago, when I was a kid, I found the Oscars exciting. It was a time when people went to the movies more than they do now, and when the movies that got nominated for Oscars were, to a…
The Oscars played it safe with a return engagement of Jimmy Kimmel as the master of ceremonies for the 96th Academy Awards. The jokes were plentiful, although a few were in questionable taste (such as the ones about Robert Downey…
After a summer of Barbie, Ken is the real winner. Ryan Gosling, whose portrayal of Ken in the 2023 summer blockbuster Barbie was labeled iconic by many, is set to perform “I’m Just Ken” live at the 2024 Academy Awards…
Last week, I watched Laura for maybe the twentieth time, during Turner Classic Movies’ glorious annual 31 Days of Oscar marathon. The 1944 film-noir gem is a master class in the lost trade of screenwriting and film construction. People forced…
Despite recent claims that the Academy Awards excluded women from coveted categories — claims made by none other than #Hillary Barbie — the nominations suggest an unprecedented appreciation of films made by or for women. Sure, Barbie’s Greta Gerwig is…
Reno 911! actress Niecy Nash made all the headlines for her impassioned speech after winning an Emmy for her supporting role as Glenda Cleveland in Netflix’s Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story last week. The award was well-deserved, in my…
For Americans of a certain age — that is to say, Americans who were born and grew up during what Henry R. Luce called the American century — the annual Academy Awards ceremony wasn’t just another overblown TV spectacular. Like…
If you’re like me, you’ve always been somewhat dissatisfied with the annual Academy Awards telecast — and, for that matter, with the Emmys and Golden Globes — because they waste precious time handing out trophies to all kinds of boring…
The world is divided between those of us who get slapped in time and those who do not. The slap triggers a blocking effect on the imbeciloidal gland, which is in charge of secreting stupidity into the human body. Traditionally,…
Will Smith’s assault on Chris Rock at the Academy Awards ceremony Sunday night would have been the slap heard round the world — if people still bothered to watch the event. But as I cited yesterday, very few do now….