Category: Oscar Winner

Posted on | No Comments |

The Virgin Spring (1960)

After the brutal rape and murder of his teenaged daughter, the devout Christian Max von Syndow stumbles on an opportunity to enact a furious revenge on the perpetrators. For a film with such a simple plot and short runtime, in it lies a deep exploration of religion and classic views on vengeance and innocence. Even beyond the medieval setting, the film presents the tale as a bit of age-old folklore. Unsurprisingly, Ingmar Bergman’s inspiration for the film was taken from a ballad describing the origins of a 12th century Swedish church.

Oscar Win: Best Foreign Language Film

Oscar Nomination: Best Costume Design, Black-and-White

Posted on | No Comments |

Top Gun (1986) – Rewatch

Accepted into an elite fighter pilot training school with his best friend Anthony Edwards, cocksure Tom Cruise must battle with his own personal demons regarding his father’s heroism during the Vietnam War to succeed. I wanted to watch this again before delving into the new sequel and it did not disappoint. Certainly an artifact of its times as a Cold War relic, it makes the best use of Cruise’s talents. Further bolstered by a hard-working supporting cast (Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Kelly McGillis), a soundtrack that hits all the right notes, and dizzying action sequences, it’s easy to forget it’s all in support of the military industrial complex.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song

Oscar Nominations: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

Posted on | No Comments |

The Time Machine (1960)

At the dawn of a new century, scientist Rod Taylor sets out to prove to his friends that he has figured out a way to travel through time. There is so many to delight in during this film: the design of the iconic time machine, the passage of time using incredible stop motion effects, and Taylor’s heartfelt relationship with botanist Alan Young that spans the decades. It’s a shame that he makes his main stop with the bland Aryan nation of the Eloi. I really didn’t care what the underground Morlocks were subjecting them to because the Morlocks were really the more interesting of the two. It is more wondrous than I remember the 2002 version being though still managing to delve into effects of war on the future. I will continue to ponder the best three books to take on such a voyage.  SciFi  Adventure

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Posted on | No Comments |

Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (1994)

In 1981, 21 year old college student Maya Lin’s design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen over almost 1500 other submissions. Though Maya continues to design and create to this day, this structure remains the one for which she is most well known. The structure of this documentary is somewhat unique in that it spends a good part of its time concentrating on the Wall: the history of its creation, Maya’s design philosophy and the controversies over her visionary ideas. Since the film was made fairly early in her career, it then only briefly touches on her later work and an equally small part on her background and personal life. Regardless, Maya proves to be an appealing subject, candid and more than willing to discuss and show her artistic process.

Oscar Win: Best Documentary, Features

Posted on | No Comments |

Thunderball (1965)

Sean Connery returns as James Bond, travelling to the Bahamas to recover two atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE agent Emilio Largo (portrayed by Adolfo Celi). Stealing all the best notes from Goldfinger (entertaining title sequences, fantastic theme songs, female characters bent on revenge), it doesn’t do much new with them. There’s a fantastic early scene in the SPECTRE headquarters that again have obvious comparisons to Dr. Evil’s lair in the Austin Powers series. The Bahamas provides an obviously gorgeous setting and its underwater scenes are creative especially an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, but they impart a couple of problems. First is an inability to tell characters apart under all their gear and second, it slows down the action in an action film to a crawl making for an unnecessarily bloated runtime.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Visual Effects

Posted on | No Comments |

Mighty Aphrodite (1995)

After learning his adopted son is a genius, Woody Allen becomes obsessed with finding the child’s birth mother, who turns out to be simple-minded, sex worker Mira Sorvino. His obsession then changes to turning her away from her current career. It’s a Woody Allen movie so both his mistress and his wife, played by Helena Bonham-Carter, are much younger, much more attractive, and have better personalities than him. I generally like Sorvino as an actress and she does what she can with a strange role, but it makes for an unusual Oscar win . The Greek chorus that chimes in through the story gives the likes of F. Murray Abraham and Olympia Dukakis an opportunity to shine, but it’s also an odd choice that didn’t really work for me any more than the rest of the film did.

Oscar Win: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Oscar Nomination: Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Posted on | No Comments |

Goldfinger (1964)

In his third outing as James Bond, Sean Connery encounters Gert Fröbe’s titular character, a bullion dealer whose obsession with gold eventually leads him to the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. I’ve never watched a James Bond film before but decided recently to try to catch at least the ones which have received Oscar nominations. Seeing that Prime was going to remove them at the beginning of September sped my watching up to a mini-marathon. I was really surprised at how entertaining this outing was. The villain is great, the theme song and intro are incredible, and the locations are scenic. Even with names like Honor Blackman’s infamous Pussy Galore, the women are extremely capable outside the bedroom though they are disposable, as are a number of the male characters. I have seen all of the Austin Powers films, but I was not ready for how little those films felt like parody in comparison with direct interpretations, such as Harold Sakata’s Oddjob. I fear that this may be a highlight of the series but I’ll continue on with much more anticipation now.   Action

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Sound Effects

Posted on | No Comments |

Portrait of Jennie (1948)

Impoverished painter Joseph Cotten struggles to find heartfelt inspiration for his work until meeting young Jennifer Jones in Central Park. He’s fascinated by the mysterious girl who seems to come from another era and ages years in the short periods between their meetings. I hadn’t gone into this with too much expectation, but was delighted by the simple, time-bending love story. The romantic hints early in the relationship are somewhat off-putting but they at least remain chaste until the age difference is no longer pronounced. There’s a beauty in the artistic inspiration that the mysteries of Jennie provide for Cotten the artist.   Fantasy  Romance

Oscar Win: Best Effects, Special Effects

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography, Black-and-White

Posted on | No Comments |

Let It Be (1970)

It is not surprising that after watching Get Back I finally get around to watching this concert film which was the original result from all that footage. A commercial release of this unfortunately hasn’t existed since the 1980s so it’s unfair to compare the two on technical merits as the copy I was able to procure was so much darker and less clear than the recent miniseries. Regardless, it’s sad to think that for the longest time with all that footage available all that was available to the public was this hour and a half shoddily edited movie. There is little context given to anything that comes before the concert on the roof. The concert on the roof is the strongest piece of this film, but I’m still not sure which of the two renditions I prefer. This is more focused on showing the performance while the miniseries again gives context with the setup, more views and reactions of the audience, and even more footage of the police action. Regardless, they both end on such a melancholic note to know that’s more or less the end.   Music

Oscar Win: Best Music, Original Song Score

Posted on | No Comments |

Camelot (1967)

Preparing for battle with his old friend Sir Lancelot (portrayed by Franco Nero), Richard Harris’s King Arthur reflects on the circumstances that led him to the destruction of his Camelotian ideal. I generally care less about the Arthurian legend, but it’s somehow a little more palatable in musical form. The costumes and sets are gorgeously bright and creative. I particularly fell for the early winter scene where Harris first meets Vanessa Redgrave’s Guinevere. Redgrave is beautiful and strong willed, believably carrying on romances with both of the men who aren’t bad in their roles either. I love that many years after becoming romantically involved on this set, Redgrave and Nero later married, adding an extra dash of romanticism to a continued story.  Musical  Romance

Oscar Wins: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration; Best Costume Design; Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment

Oscar Nomination: Best Cinematography; Best Sound

Scroll to Top