Rewatching Oscar

Film critic and historian, Jack Ferdman, loves this time of year!  He's a proud Torontonian ... so why wouldn't he love early September?  It's not just because of the beauty of fall in his hometown.  It's mostly because he goes to his favourite event every year ... The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).  And 2024 was no different.  It's one of the best events for...

Biopics Biopics Biopics!  The Academy loves biopics.  There are so many that have been nominated for Oscars ... and even some that have won the top prize, Best Picture. And in 2001, there was one that did just that.  Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind won the hearts and, pardon the pun, minds of so many film fans worldwide.  It was a huge box-office success. This story about mathematician and Nobe...

There are a lot of Best Picture winners that are big, bold, and epic in size. Well, in 1936, MGM made something pretty big ... and long.  A film that brought people to the theatre to enjoy the spectacle of Broadway, especially if they weren't able to see a show live ad in person.  The Great Ziegfeld, at the time, was the longest talking film ever made! It was a box-office success!  Looking ba...

There were tons of great films that came out in 1984.  However, there was one that took away 8 Oscars at the Academy Awards. Amadeus won the hearts of both fans and critics with its amazing story and brilliant performances by Tom Hulce and Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham.  However, 4 decades later, should it still be regarded as the best film of 1984?  Listen to film critic Jack Ferdman's take...

Bing Crosby was the biggest star both in music and in film of the 1940s.  Going My Way put him on an even higher level of popularity.  The film earned him the Best Actor Oscar, which was the first of three nominations in his acclaimed career.  His charm, his demeanor, and of course his beautiful voice, was a huge reason for the movie's success. However, has the movie stood the test of time? D...

Here is another Bonus Episode, and this time it's all about ... the one, the only ... Meryl!!  Meryl Streep is undoubtedly one of the greatest performers to have ever graced the silver screen.  From her start on Broadway to her stints on television, it's her brilliance in movies that we know her work.  She has been nominated for an astounding record 21 Academy Awards for her various role...

Many great films came out in 1978 ... several because  Hollywood began to tell stories of what soldiers experienced both during the Vietnam war that had just ended a few years before, and also how they dealt with coming home.   The Deer Hunter was one of those films.  Director and screenwriter Michael Cimino created a layered, powerful, and very raw film about three men dealing with this situation...

First, it was the famous novel by Charles Dickens back in 1838, then it hit the silver screen with many silent and sound ones.  Then it hit Broadway with the well-known musical version ... until finally it came back to theatres and won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1968. Oliver! is the fourth musical of the 1960s to win the top prize.  Its mixture of the dark story of a young boy escaping an orpha...

The year 2020 was a very strange one ... for all of us.  The world for all intents and purposes, felt like it was put on pause. COVID-19 was really the only thing on our minds.  And because of it, even movie theatres and the film industry as a whole struggled.   Filmmakers began making films that were more personal, more meaningful, ones that represented how we felt as a society during these tryin...

In 2009 the Academy Awards increased the number of films that could be nominated for Best Picture.  For over 6 decades there used to be only 5 films selected.  However, the Academy decided that more films should be at least acknowledged with being honoured with a nomination.  So from here on out, there would be at the very least 5, and at the most 10, films that would get that honour.  The top two...

There have been good, great, and even brilliant Best Picture winners over the past century.  Many stay with us forever, and we love watching them over and over and over again.  And then, well, there are films like The Broadway Melody.  Those who have seen it understand.  However, its importance and influence in the history of cinema is undeniable.  It was the first full-length musical with synchro...

What an incredible year in cinema! There were so many great films to close out the decade.  It was a time when Hollywood turned a new page and began making deeper, darker, and more rich films.  And one of those films was this classic starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman ... Midnight Cowboy.  This movie rocked a lot of people when it came out with its risqué story with homosexual overtones.  Desp...

There have only been three films that have swept the "big five" Oscars.  And this one, the ONLY so-called horror film to win, is the last to win Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay.  The Silence of the Lambs scared us all when we first saw it in the theatres in 1991 ... and we keep coming back for more.  We love the story, we are blown away by the performances, and we...

Another Oscar broadcast for the history books!  Download and listen to Jack's take on the 96th Annual Academy Awards that took place on Sunday, March 10th.  Oppenheimer rocked the night with 7 awards including the big prize. Jimmy Kimmel did a great job in his fourth time hosting, but who will come back next year? Jack recaps the night and also gives his suggestions to the Academy whom Kimmel...

In 1980, legendary actor Robert Redford made his directorial debut with a film that moved so many and gave us great dramatic performances from Donald Sutherland, newcomer Timothy Hutton, and even comedy sitcom star Mary Tyler Moore.  The film is of course the moving Ordinary People. It took home four Oscars, including Best Picture. However, after more than 4 decades does it still resonate with us,...

Many directors fit certain categories of filmmaking ... when you think of films that focus on the little guy overcoming obstacles and beating corporations or banks or the rich ... well, you think of Frank Capra.  Capra won three Academy Awards in 5 years and the last win is likely his least-known film for movie fans of today, You Can't Take It With You.  This zany screwball comedy has a messa...

Westerns are not as popular amongst movie-goers over the past 40 years ... but there is one that changed the way we look at the Wild West.  Clint Eastwood gave us Unforgiven. It's a film that turns the Western tropes of the past on its head.  It's a wonderfully written, acted, and directed film that blew everyone away.  It was nominated for nine Oscars and took home four.  Should it stil...

The 1970s were the dawn of a new generation of filmmakers.  The era between 1967 and 1979 is known as New Hollywood cinema.  Directors and screenwriters began making films with fewer reigns on them and trying new riskier stories, with styles used predominately in European films.  The French Connection is a perfect example of how darker and edgier stories with anti-heroes as the protagonists became...

Well ... another year has passed and we finally are here.: The announcement of the Academy Award nominations for the best films of 2023.  Yes, there weren't many shockers ... but there are always a couple that stir the pot. Fans lose their minds and they complain and complain about their favourite films or performers not getting recognized. The Academy can't please everyone! Lol!  Listen...

There were a lot of films that were released after WWII from all different perspectives of what went on during that time.  However, during the early 1940s, many films did the same DURING wartime.  There were several that were extraordinary.  Mrs. Miniver (1942) was one of those special films.  Although very much a propaganda-like film released not only to entertain movie fans everywhere, it also p...

Well ... season 4 starts off with a bang! One of the BIG Oscar winners of all-time.  It's epic in size, and was loved by so many when it came out.  Is this romance/disaster film still all as great as it was all those years ago? Was it ever that great?  Are the effects by Director James Cameron really just a mirage for a screenplay that isnt that very good?  Do we still love the story of Jack...

Jack loves being a film critic ... analyzing both the good and the bad of everything that is cinema.  The Best Picture Oscar winner of 1951, An American in Paris, covers both ends of that spectrum. The music of George Gershwin, the dance sequences, and many of the scenes really project this film forward ... but was all of that enough to deserve the accolades it received from the Academy, including...

Sometimes films go above and beyond just being a source of entertainment.  Some movies are not just pieces of art put on celluloid for all film lovers to watch, but they are important ... educational, and even a piece of historical reference.  Schindler's List is not a documentary, but it feels a lot like one. Steven Spielberg's epic 3+ hour story about one man who saved 1100 Jews from d...

There are films that seem strange when you read the plot outline.  You think to yourself, why would this be made? Then you find out that the perfect guy for this story is the director, so you think it could work. Well, Guillermo del Toro made this fantasy about a mute woman in 1962 who falls in love with an Amphibian Man.  The Shape of Water is a great film full of wonderful performances ... howev...

It has been 25 years, but there are still many who believe that the 1998 winner for Best Picture should NOT have been Shakespeare in Love.  Jack revisits this controversial winner and tells us how good it is after all these years, and if it deserves the terrible reputation it gets from those who love the Oscars.  Which film does he think is the best of that year? Download and listen to his take on...