Category: The Oscars Journey
-
The Academy’s Century: “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930)
To understand what All Quiet on the Western Front meant in 1930 — and what it still means — you have to understand the climate in which it arrived. The Academy Awards were, at that point, barely more than a novelty. The third ceremony, honoring films from 1929 and 1930, was a different beast from…
-
The Academy’s Century: “The Broadway Melody” (1929)
The second Academy Awards ceremony, held in April 1930, was a quieter, more perfunctory affair than even its already modest inaugural predecessor. The Academy was still working out what it was for, what it was rewarding, and why anyone should care. Somewhere in that institutional uncertainty, The Broadway Melody slipped through — the first sound…
-
The 98th Academy Awards: On Cinema, History, and the Improbable Luck of Being Here
There is a version of this piece that opens with a complaint. A lament about the speeches getting cut off, about a bit that went nowhere, about Sean Penn winning an acting prize for playing a racist and not bothering to show up. That version exists. But I don’t think it is the right one,…
-
The Academy’s Century: “Wings” (1927)
There is a peculiar injustice that history has visited upon Wings. The film is well-documented, widely available, yet it lives in the shadow of a movie it technically predates. Wings premiered in New York in August 1927, two months before The Jazz Singer arrived in October like a thunderclap and rendered almost everything that preceded…
-
Between Grief and Fury: The Cinematic Crossroads of the 2026 Best Picture Race
In most years, the Best Picture race functions like a polite procession: a few respectable prestige dramas, a technical marvel or two, perhaps one crowd-pleasing juggernaut that reassures everyone the Academy still enjoys a healthy box-office narrative. These races feel less like debates than foregone conclusions, the outcome often legible months in advance. But once…
Show Me Cinema 