First of the Best: 1944, Part Four

January saw our first Best Director nominee, and now May has our first Best Picture nominee!

The Brooders: 1944, Part Three

A movie that haunts me, a movie I’ve memory-holed, and a movie beloved by Steven Spielberg:

Embattled Broads: 1944, Part Two

Whether stationed abroad, entertaining the attentions of the troops, going to therapy, or committing MURDER, the films of 1944 truly believed women could play it all. I'm reminded that a frequent frustration of Old Hollywood fans is the dismissal of women’s roles at the time, despite there being so many varied, complex parts - in this lineup alone! As in:

The Imitation and the Real Thing: 1944, Part One

Of our first eleven films that qualified for the Academy Awards honoring the films of 1944, five were released in late 1943. Of the six released in 1944, one of them is the reason we're here - Lifeboat, the second film for which Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director. We'll get more into the specifics of Lifeboat's production and Hitchcock's nomination when we discuss the Best Director category in a couple of weeks. For now, let us just take in these eleven releases, from November 1943 through January 1944, running the gamut from musical to thriller, original to remake, Hitchcock himself to Hitchcock proteges. 

One thing you'll see, as I mentioned yesterday, is how some films referenced the War even when they didn't have to. Sure, The Fighting Seabees is specifically about a military unit, and Lifeboat is a tale of survival on the Atlantic - but Sherlock Holmes and the Spider Woman includes a visual joke, The Desert Song rewrites its plot to accommodate the times, and our first flick even gives a tongue-in-cheek apology for being a fantasy:

We're Back!: An Intro to 1944

If you're here, chances are you've been here before. I started retrospective Oscar years in 2011; my last one was in September of last year, the next one begins right now - the longest I've gone between retrospectives in three years.

But here we are! As voted on by you, the next three retrospectives will all focus on the years in which Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director. 

Despite being heralded as one of the greatest (and certainly most influential) filmmakers of all time, Hitchcock never won a competitive Academy Award, despite five nominations (he did win the non-competitive Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1968). All five nominations came within a 20-year period, beginning with his first Hollywood feature, 1940's Rebecca (as we covered in 2024), and ending with his most famous film, 1960's Psycho (which we will cover in July). 

In addition to Rebecca and the films of 1940, - which, by the way, include Hitchcock's second Hollywood production, Foreign Correspondent - we've also already looked at his nomination for Rear Window and the films of 1954. Which means only three years to cover, beginning with his second nomination: Lifeboat, 1944.

Now, recall - or learn, if it's your first time here - we don't just focus on just the one film or the one category or even the one ceremony. No, I've watched 89 films released in 1944, and we're going to look at all of them, the good and the bad. We're gonna look at Charlie Chan films. We're gonna look at almost-nominated buzzworthy films. And, of course, we're gonna talk about World War II, still ongoing, though this would be the final full year of the war. Of the 89 films I screened, at least 49 either depict or reference - or are an allegory for - the War.

We'll get into it, starting tomorrow. But I do want you to know what we're talking about, so here are the 90 films we'll cover:

Too Early Oscars: Next Year's Nominees Could Be...

It's the beginning of April, which means it's once again time to try to predict next year's Academy Award nominees - way too early!

Last year, on April 23rd, I accurately predicted four Best Picture nominees, two Best Director nominees, seven Acting nominees (albeit one in the wrong category), and three Screenplay nominees. Among my proudest predix: Sentimental Value in Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, and Actress. Sometimes I get lucky like that...

This year, who knows? Here's what I think could be up for the Oscars in Picture, Director, Acting, and Screenplay:

Who's Gonna Win at the Oscars?

Another Oscars ceremony is upon us. I didn't do so poorly with my nominee predictions, and I hope I don't do too poorly with my winner predictions, either. 

Lots of hemming and hawing and handwringing over whether One Battle After Another or Sinners will win the Big Prize, or, indeed, how much each is going to win. Makes sense: the former's been racking up one industry award after another, with top prizes from the British Academy, Producers Guild, Directors Guild, even the Art Directors and Costume Designers Guilds, while the latter is one of the Top Ten highest-grossing films of the year and the nomination leader. They're both great movies, career highs for their helmers: Paul Thomas Anderson, who's been nominated 14 times in various capacities for seven of his ten films, and Ryan Coogler, nominated for the first time as a writer-director despite this being his fifth film serving in such capacity (he's also up for Best Picture as a producer; previously, he was nominated as a producer for Judas and the Black Messiah and as a songwriter for "Lift Me Up" from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever). The feeling is that, despite the wave of precursor awards for One Battle After Another, there's no denying the passion for Sinners, especially in the actors branch: peep the standing ovations for the film's wins at The Actor Awards, mirroring other triumphant Best Picture longshots like Parasite and Crash, both of which went on to win Best Picture. Could its record-breaking sixteen nominations mean an equally impressive haul? Or is Hollywood eager to crown one of its most beloved and acclaimed indie auteurs, proving himself with a mega-budget studio picture tackling issues of The Day?

Speaking of the Actors Branch! Sean Penn and Jessie Buckley seem locked up, but what do we do with Supporting Actress or, even more so, Actor? The buzz all year seemed to suggest Timothée Chalamet would easily sprint his way to the Oscar for his best work yet, but, significantly, only the Golden Globes and Broadcast Film Critics have come through for him. Otherwise, the industry's been split, and of Oscar's five nominees, only Leonardo DiCaprio - the only previous winner and the lead of the Best Picture favorite! - has no precursor honors to his name. As for Supporting Actress, it could be another field of battle in the One Battle vs. Sinners war, or Weapons' Amy Madigan could continue her streak and win for a role that actually crossed into pop culture. Skeptics say horror roles rarely win Oscars and she's her film's only nomination, but if a role like that is popular enough to be nominated in the first place...

 

Anyway, all that is juggling about in my brain as I make these final predictions: