Will the Academy vote for a film of importance, yet again?...
Awards Season, Opinion / 27.02.2017
The good, the bad, and the down-right ugly of the 89th Academy Awards
Good lord. Where to even begin? In the 20-odd years I've been watching (and obsessing over) the Academy Awards, I can truly say we have never witnessed a moment quite like what we saw tonight. The shock of what transpired has still not worn off, and it probably won't for some time. But we'll get to that later. For now, let's look at the other Oscars moments that unfortunately no one will really be talking about for the next few days. THE GOOD Moonlight winning Best Picture, minus the stuff-up....
Well, the time has come. Oscar night is upon us. Many will call this one of the more boring Oscar seasons in recent history, and they have a point. When you have one frontrunner for Best Picture (and the majority of the other categories) all season, it's hardly exciting to watch and discuss. Maybe it's simply because the last few years have been such a rollercoaster, particularly the madness of last year's Spotlight/The Revenant/The Big Short showdown. But, as you'll see from my predictions below, it's hardly all locked...
Awards Season, Opinion / 25.02.2017
The ‘La La Land’ backlash – a comment on the absurdity of being the frontrunner
Make no mistake about it. Winning the Academy Award for Best Picture is ultimately a game of skill. Yes, the picture still has to be "good", but that's only half the battle. At some point, you have to become the frontrunner. The likely winner. The unstoppable force. The one piece of cinema Academy voters want to vote for. The winning team everyone is desperate to back. It's when to become the frontrunner that's the tricky part....
Well, folks. Things went mostly to plan. When you pick 99 of the 123 nominees (I struck out in the Short film categories, so shoot me), you realise it was one of those predictable years. That's not to say there weren't a few shocks, surprises and snubs. Thankfully, there's far more to be happy about this year than previous years. So, let's get to it. The good There will be those that groaned when La La Land tied with Titanic and All About Eve in earning a record 14 nominations, but you know I...
Awards Season, Opinion / 24.01.2017
Final Oscar nominations predictions for 2017
Well it's that time of year again. On the eve of the Academy's big Oscar nominations announcement, I'm laying down my final predictions. There's a lot up in the air here, so take them with a grain of salt. Sometimes I get it right. Sometimes I'm way off. Films have been flying up and down on the buzz-meter the last few weeks. Hidden Figures and Lion are coming on very strong at the end, so it's possible they could both do better than I'm speculating. Silence is the...
Opinion, Reviews / 04.01.2017
The ten best films of 2016
2016. The year the world seemingly lost its damn mind. Natural disasters; terrorist disasters; and even election disasters. Losing brilliant entertainer after brilliant entertainer - most far too soon. Every single week, there seemed to be a fresh punch to the stomach, especially as the year drew to a close. My escapism from the madness of this world has always been (and will always be) the world of film. When life gives me lemons, I flee to the cinema. Thankfully, the cinema was always there this year, and...
It's all over for another year, and what a year it's been. The closest Oscar race in years, with some of the best films we've ever seen in the running. And yet, somehow it all pretty much went to plan. There's always a slight tinge of disappointment when this happens. We all want the deserving frontrunners to win, but we all secretly hope for a few shockers in the mix too, and this year, well they just weren't there. To predict 22 out of the 24 categories correctly...
Well folks, it's time. After going back and forth on pretty much every category this year, I must lay down my final predictions, and ultimately stand by them. Go hard or go home, that's how it must be done. As always, I must state that no matter how hard anyone tries to convince you, nobody knows anything with how the night is going to play out. We can predict these things until we're blue in the face, but anything can happen at the Oscars, and this year that...
Awards Season / 06.02.2013
The Jam Report’s 2013 Oscar Predictions
Well the time has come once again to put my Oscar obsessed brain to use and attempt to predict how I think this year’s awards are going to play out. As I always say, nobody knows anything when it comes to award ceremonies, so I could be completely spot on or I could get everything totally wrong…time will tell…so here we go! BEST PICTURE Amour Argo WILL WIN, SHOULD WIN Beasts Of The Southern Wild Django Unchained Les Misérables Life Of Pi Lincoln COULD WIN Silver Linings Playbook Zero Dark Thirty *Please note, due to my procrastination, I started...