Tag: movies

And Then There Were Ten: 2008, The Animated Exception

And Then There Were Ten – in which our intrepid hero goes back and expands the Academy Award Best Picture nominations to ten nominations, and goes about filling those hypothetical slots. This time – it’s 2008. Check out the previous entries here.

Chapter 3: The Pixar Touch of Gold (WALL*E)

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WALL*E, our unconventional hero (image: Pixar Wiki)

Since the days of Steamboat Willie to the CGI movies of today, very few films have received top recognition in a Best Picture nomination. But the medium has also changed considerably during this time period. It’s hard to imagine the complicated and super-sad Anomalisa up against the bright songs of The Land Before Time, also super-sad in its own right. There are the children’s singalongs, hand-drawn for Disney from yesteryear, and there are the emotionally-wrought, complex and funny character studies that Pixar makes today for Disney.

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In Defense of…

​At themediabyus, we pride ourselves on our disagreements. These sticking points can be anything from an unforgivable preference for La La Land to Brent’s penchant for playing Skyrim (still) to Topher Grace. I tend to plant my flag in the ground more often than I should when it comes to preference in media. I am rarely lukewarm on a series and instead opt for blind advocacy. Continue reading “In Defense of…”

And Then There Were Ten: 2008, The Actors’ Showcase

And Then There Were Ten – in which our intrepid hero goes back and expands the Academy Award Best Picture nominations to ten nominations, and goes about filling those hypothetical slots. This time – it’s 2008 – the previous entry is The Dark Knight (Box Office Hero).

Chapter 2: Actors Acting for Acting Actors (Doubt)

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Streep, Amy, and Hoffman on their debut EP cover art (image: fanart.tv)

The Actors’ showcase is a great way for a film to get its foot in the Academy door. More than that, an actor-friendly film is an established pathway to not just multiple acting nominations, but typically a Best Picture nomination as well. The Academy has only about 6,000 members – nearly a fourth of the members are actors. It is not a stretch to posit that Academy members are capable and even pre-dispositioned to recognize its own department as the key to an exceptional film. Our beloved statistics bear this out as well.

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And Then There Were Ten: 2008, The Box Office Hero

And Then There Were Ten – in which our intrepid hero goes back and expands the Academy Award Best Picture nominations to ten nominations, and goes about filling those hypothetical slots. This time – it’s 2008

Chapter 1: The Box Office Hero the Academy Deserves, Not the One It Needs Right Now (The Dark Knight) 

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This candidate is my entire reason for coming up with this series. And many believe that this candidate missing out is the reason for the expansion. If you want to drive ratings for the broadcast ceremony, you want to select a movie that people have seen – and seen again – to the tune of over a billion in global box office. That would be nice. It also helps when a well-known movie is good.

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