Rewatching Oscar

Well ... it took the Academy a while, but finally, 34 years after the last musical to win Best Picture, the Rob Marshall blockbuster Chicago took home Oscar's biggest prize in 2002.  What makes this film special? It all starts with the director's vision.  However, the cast, the editing, and of course the incredible songs and score helped make this Broadway smash hit a fan favourite on th...

SEVENTY years ago this movie dominated Hollywood and the Academy Awards.  It is a drama disguised as a war film.  From Here to Eternity is a movie that took home a boatload of Oscars back in 1953.  All the performances are incredible and the direction, editing, and cinematography is first rate.   But it's the story that really pulls you in.  The question is did it deserve to win best picture...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences loves to talk and pay respects to actors and films from a bygone era.  They had a huge opportunity to do so by honouring The Artist, a film that pays homage to the silent film era.  It won Best Picture beating out many greats of 2011.  The question is, even though stylistically it was close to perfect, giving us a look that even Chaplin would be prou...

There are films that deserve the Best Picture award and there are films that are just movies that shocked us that they even got nominated ... and then there are films like Driving Miss Daisy.  Wow! How could this small, cute, Hallmark-type film, be regarded as the best movie of 1989 by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?  Who knows the real reason?  Jack Ferdman has a lot to say about...

This film started the mega-ensemble cast craze.  But Grand Hotel is more than just 5 huge stars, led by the incomparable Greta Garbo  It not only won the Oscar for Best Picture of that year over nine decades ago, but it was also cinema's biggest box office draw. The fans loved it, and the Academy honoured it, but how does it hold up all these years later?  Does it deserve to be regarded as th...

It's one of the big years and films in Academy Awards history ... 1965.  Jack Ferdman dives into this big year and the legendary film that won the big prize, The Sound of Music.  This classic stayed in theatres upon its initial release for almost 4 years!!  It was the biggest box office winner of all-time surpassing Gone With the Wind. However, after almost 6 decades later, does it deserve to...

Well, it's time for film critic, Jack Ferdman, to go back 35 years and dive head-first into the movies that rocked us in 1988.  Ok, not every movie was great that year. However, most of us saw and loved the Academy Award winner from that year, Rain Man.  Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise definitely moved us with the story of two brothers reuniting after the death of their father.  Hoffman won the...

Who says low-budget smaller films can't win the big one? Well, this film proved all those naysayers wrong!  Marty, this tiny engine of a film, with tons of heart, won the Best Picture Oscar way back in 1955.  It's a special film that Jack delves into in this episode. It won the big prize back then, but will the great direction, amazing acting, and Oscar-winning screenplay by Paddy Chayef...

Jack is back!!  After a long nine-month hiatus dealing with the highs and lows of life (don't worry, he will share with all of you what happened), Rewatching Oscar returns! And wow ... what a film to return with.  One of the best films to win Best Picture in recent memory. No Country For Old Men, the winner of the 2007 Oscar, leaves a mark on all of us that never seems to go away.  From the d...

Here is a movie that is so powerful and so devastating to watch that it haunts for days after you see it.  Jack has seen this film several times and had to endure another screening so he could share his thoughts with all the cinefiles out there.  Platoon is one of the great war films ever made.  It is emotional. It is raw.  There are many incredible films that have won the Best Picture Oscar over...

This film may be 75 years old, but the topic of antisemitism still resonates today.  Daryl F. Zanuck brought to the screen a story about a writer who goes undercover as a Jew to find out what it's like to live a life where you are hated for the reason of your religion.  Listen to Jack's take on this classic from 1947. Will it win his Rewatch Oscar? If not, what film does he think was the...

WOW!  This was one Oscar broadcast for the history books!  Download and listen to Jack's take on this crazy night ... otherwise called the 94th Annual Academy Awards that took place on March 27th, 2022.  Yes, CODA did win Best Picture, Dune took home 6 Oscars, and The Power of the Dog only took home 1 award out of the 12 it was nominated for.  But everyone is talking about Will Smith and the...

There are many incredible films that have won the Best Picture Oscar over the 93 years since its inception. However, there are a select few of those winning movies that are truly special.  Films that not only stand the test of time but also that have a special place in our hearts.  Rocky is one of those films.  The 1976 winner has it all: great acting, an amazing script, amazing direction, and a s...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman Not every movie that is expected to win the Best Picture Academy Award ends up winning.  That is obvious.  However, there are some that when the film is announced as the winner, it leaves our mouths open in shock.  Crash (2005) is one of those films.  Was it THAT good? Did it deserve the top prize at the Oscars? Most critics today believe that it didn't.  So...

In this episode, Jack revisits Tom Jones, the Best Picture winner in a year where Hollywood films were not of their highest quality.  This bawdy British comedic adventure showcases the talents of Albert Finney as well as the stylistic efforts of director Tony Richardson.  Tom Jones is a one-of-a-kind film that doesn't seem to fit into the typical Best Picture formula by the Academy.  The ques...

In this episode, Jack goes all the way back to 1935 where he revisits the Best Picture winner of that year as well as the top box office smash hit, Mutiny on the Bounty.  The star power of the three leads is undeniable: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone.  The exciting film full of action, drama, and adventure pleased audiences to no end. However, does it hold up today? Jack delves d...

In this episode, Jack focuses on the little British Film that took the hearts of so many film fans around the world, Chariots of Fire.  The film is about the 1924 Paris Olympics and how two British track and field athletes wanting the same thing are driven to achieve it by two different methods.  This film, with its many themes, has belief (both in religion and of oneself) as its core. Jack revisi...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode,  the first of Season 2, Jack shares with you his take on the mega-blockbuster hit of 1994, Forrest Gump.  He has seen it many many times ... so how will that affect his rewatchable rating.  The incredible cast, the tight script, the iconic lines, the brilliant soundtrack, and those amazing scenes ... Jack covers them all.  But will Forrest Gump t...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode, Jack talks the amazing and moving film whodunnit, that took away the Academy Award for Best Picture for 1967, In the Heat of the Night.  He discusses the importance of the film being released during the tumultuous times of mid-1960s America between whites and blacks, as well as the incredible performances of the two leads (Sidney Poitier and Rod...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode, Jack talks about the Best Picture winner from 2015, Spotlight.  This movie is important both historically and cinematically, as it dives into the four-person team that headed Spotlight, an in-depth journalistic branch of the Boston Globe who did research uncovering the abuse of children by the Catholic Church in Boston.  It's a heavy topic t...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman Not every Best Picture stands the test of time. In this episode, Jack takes on 1956, and more specifically the film adaptation of the famous Jules Verne classic, Around the World in 80 Days. This film is one that is long, poorly scripted, and mostly a bore ... unlike the producer of the film, Michael Todd, who made this Academy Award winner despite all the odds s...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode, Jack takes on 2004, and more specifically Million Dollar Baby.  His love for Clint Eastwood is definitely evident here as he talks about his style and as both an actor and director of this film and his previous work.  He also tackles the controversial ending where it divided a nation politically.  From the great direction, brilliant acting, and i...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman Just in time for Halloween!! In this second bonus episode of Rewatching Oscar, Jack goes off-script! He checks out all the cemeteries, dungeons, and unlit cobwebbed basements, opens up every casket, and then dusts off each and every VHS,  to make sure he hasn't missed any movie that could make his Top Ten Scariest Films of All-Time. Let him know if you agree...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode, Jack goes in-depth about a very serious and sensitive topic... addiction, and more specifically alcoholism.  He delves deep into how important the film The Lost Weekend is (the Best Picture winner of 1945) and how  Billy Wilder's style of filmmaking handles this issue that plagued so many Americans after WWII.  It's an important film in...

Rewatching Oscar with Jack Ferdman In this episode, Jack talks about divorce.  No, not his! He focuses on Kramer vs. Kramer, the first film to tackle divorce from the man's perspective.  Great performances by Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and deliciously cute Justin Henry, and with amazing direction and a great script, Jack goes even deeper discussing how important this movie was at the time....