Category Archives: Oscar

“La-di-da, la-di-da, la-la.”

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I fell for Diane Keaton the minute I heard her speak that line in Annie Hall. She won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as the title character in Woody Allen‘s 1977 classic. Keaton’s wardrobe, her own creation, started a whole new trend of women utilizing men’s clothing that made a mark on fashion and popular culture that survives today.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Allen won for Best Director and shared with Marshall Brickman the award for Best Original Screenplay.

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Robert Redford

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If you want to take a master class in film, you need only watch the movies of Robert Redford. Redford passed away peacefully on September 16, at the age of 89, at his beloved home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah. He was more than a Hollywood icon. He was a visionary who reshaped American cinema and left an indelible mark on the cultural landscape.

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Two Giants

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Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

We lost two giants of the entertainment world in the month of September, actors who I admired for decades. They each graced both stage and screen. And both filled their mantels with a large collection of awards.

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Remakes. Why?

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Have you ever seen a remake that was better than the original? Or at least as good as the original? Neither have I. So why do they continue to go down this road? Has Hollywood run out of new ideas?

The entertainment business is a land of superlatives. So, let’s get this out of the way. Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest film directors of all time. Stephen Sondheim is one of the greatest composers/lyricists of all time. West Side Story, in its various incarnations, the book of the 1957 Broadway musical the work of Arthur Laurents, is a modern implementation of the outline drawn by William Shakespeare in his drama Romeo and Juliet and as such, one of the greatest romance stories of all time. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music. Jerome Robbins was the choreographer along with Peter Cennaro. More of the greatest.

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Favorite Movies

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Oscar season brings out the annual comparison of favorite movie lists and I figure we may as well play the game together. I’ve become so compulsive on this subject that when asked about my top ten I can quickly produce a list of a couple of hundred films and about fifty television series. The secret is that I’ve built a home server system to hold files from my DVD collection so I don’t have to search through boxes of discs to find a favorite when I’m in the mood.

So click the more button to see my list. This game only works if you play along.

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Me Academy. Pick Me.

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Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

I respectfully submit my name for your consideration as the host of the 91st Academy Awards broadcast. I know you’ve had some difficulty filling this role. In fact, your track record in this area is pretty shaky. It’s another nice mess you’ve gotten yourself into!

Its hard to understand why finding a host for the movie industry’s biggest night, and one of the highest rated television broadcasts of any year, should be so difficult. But the rumor mill says many very big names in the entertainment industry turned you down this year. Oscar, you have a problem.

This year’s announced choice, comedian Kevin Hart, withdrew. Those darn social media posts from the past just keep coming back to haunt you. What you got here is a failure to communicate. I’m gonna make you an offer you can’t refuse.

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