During TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar every year I like to keep a running log of what I see. It’s a great chance to check off a number of films I should’ve seen already. My goals are: At least 31 films, 100 nominations accounted for by the films seen. As of this writing I’ve not yet seen a TCM selection this year. When I see either those or something from my To Be Watched list I’ll try to guess what the nominations are as I watch the film.

In 2024, I made a huge dent in the Best Animated Short category seeing all the shorts I’d not yet seen through 1969. I will be logging these films both here and on my Letterboxd.

1 Nickel Boys (2024)

A film shot in the POV of Elwood and Turner two boys who meet in the late 1960s at a boys reformatory in Florida. The cinematography in this film is engaging, breathtaking and unique. It was seriously snubbed of a nomination in that category. However, the Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nods are richly deserved as the film is engaging and flows brilliantly.

Nominations: 2

Wins: ?

2 Is it Always Right to be Right? (1970)

Aside from obvious stylistic choices of the era, this film could be about America now.

Nominations: 1

Wins: 1

3 The Shepherd (1969)

Nominations: 1

Wins: 0

4 Seven (1995)

This addition is a bit of a cheat, but I went to see the 30th Anniversary re-release of Seven today. When I went to log it on Letterboxd and realized it wasn’t a movie I’ve marked as seen. I knew I had seen it if not beginning-to-end in pieces on cable long ago.

Coming out of it, I speculated on it’s nominations and I’m shocked it was only one. I know it’s become more beloved over the years, but still…and that one in Editing one of the most important categories and shutout elsewhere is stunning.

Nominations: 1

Wins: 0

5 I’m Still Here (Ainda Estou Aqui) (2024)

Finally got to see Brazil’s most nominated film ever it and it was more than worth the wait.

Nominations: 3

Wins: ?

6 Evolution (1971)

Nominations: 1

Wins: 0

7 Kama Sutra Rides Again (1972)

Nominations: 1

Wins: 0

Overall Totals

Films Viewed: 7

Nominations: 10

Wins: 1+

There are plenty of series of shorts, both animated and live-action, you can discover in the silent era. One I was unfamiliar with until recently was the Bobby Bumps series by Bray Productions from 1915-1925. I came across them by accident on the Internet Archive. While inspired by R.F. Outcault’s Buster Brown there is also a bit of hand-of-the-animator didacticism which was present in a few animated silent shorts. Enjoy!

This is just what’s available at the Internet Archive. There are others on YouTube and elsewhere online. For a full list of titles go to the Wikipedia page.

It’s a shark attack movie.

Not to disparage it in the synopsis section but that’s what it is. It’s one in the Open Water mold and while the performances are good a very believable the film takes the concept of slow burn a bit too far such that it burns out. It becomes completely and totally uninteresting and after a while downright boring. There’s only so much of people treading water, or even swimming, that you can take before it becomes mind-numbing shark or no shark. The score does nothing to heighten the tension and there’s really no drama to the whole affair. I will grant that it’s more realistic than most of the goofy shark movies as of late and more interesting but it still doesn’t make it good.

4/10

A woman will do anything to get her dream home.

This is almost like two different movies entirely. I get how they connect but while I appreciate the bit of time traveling done by the narrative in the beginning, and the subtext at the end in the nice simple button, but I really just could not get into this one. The film goes out of its way to explain why this means so much to her and thus we identify but it all seems so superficial. It is rather suspenseful, the kills are great but it ends up feeling a bit vacuous. It almost would’ve been better if the film tried its hand at subtext more and didn’t get so cutesy with the whodunit. Instead, we eventually get all the pieces, put them in place and say “So what?” Sometimes I’d rather be confused and intrigued at times than lucid and unimpressed.

5/10

I’m sorry but I just do not understand all the vitriol about Kevin Smith. You can say what you like about his P.T. Barnum act with taking this film on the road and the rest of it but I think this is solid stuff and very different than all his prior works. It has a horror aspect, occasional laughs, political overtones and some darn solid acting from James Parks, Kyle Gallner and Michael Angarano. Most of them being involved plus hockey makes Hit Somebody something to look forward to indeed.

9/10

A truly odd little film that can’t escape comparisons to Kick-Ass. While it never does metamorphose fully into a superhero film (and that’s fine) its quirk never really clicks as well as it should and the resolution (meaning the denouement not the climax) is a bit unsatisfying. A very good performance by Rainn Wilson but the film could’ve been much better.

6/10

My favorite film of this post has the same distributor as this film, which just goes to show you that family-geared entertainment can really run the gamut quality-wise regardless of budget and production values. In fact, it also shares a cast member with the aforementioned film (Mira Sorvino), and while her part here is larger, it’s not quite up to par with her turn in Jeremy Fink, wherein she also played a mother albeit an eclectic one.

Comparisons aside, for they are ultimately irrelevant, Smitty stays middle-of-the-road at best and what’s frustrating is that it wouldn’t have taken much to make it pretty good. There’s a director who’s had notable works (The Sandlot, Radio Flyer [uncredited]) and an experienced, award-winning and -nominated cast members like Peter Fonda and Louis Gosset, Jr. but the script is tepid, standard and repetitive, and doesn’t give the actors a lot to work with. There are some curious structuring decisions, which doesn’t even include the “non-guffin” of the local hoods, who serve minimal purpose except to bloat running time and coax our protagonist into bad choices, dramatically as well as morally.

The film could be decent, fairly light family fare but as indicated above there are many missteps, and it also falls into the standard family film mold in this way: the young lead being the bright spot. Brandon Tyler Russell is raw, but quite convincing in his emotional moments and perhaps the most under-served by the script, in as much as many of his scenes are hard to believe textually much less when played. However, there is a lot of potential there and it’d be great to see him with better material supporting him.

Not to sound cute but, Harley’s Hill really is run-of-the-mill. It’s your standard low-rent family geared entertainment. In it you have a girl and a found horse and you can likely fill in the rest of the blanks yourself. What makes it even more standard is that from the adult ensemble has forgettable and at times regrettable performances while the few young performers are much better on the whole and do have their moments to shine. Most notable in the youth ensemble is Kirstin Dorn in the lead and main sidekick Lexi Di Benedetto, they are also well supported by very promising turns by Jacob Rodier and Elmo Riley. There are a few weak spots in the script but for the most part it sticks to its prefabricated plot fairly well. What is refreshing is that there are several passage of time montages, which although in need of tightening, allow the film to be more visual than anticipated. Typically, when a film is innocuous enough, as this one is, the line between a good rating and a bad one is very hazy. This film likely would’ve been for more enjoyable were I in the target demographic, however, seeing as I’m not and I found some issue with it I must give it:

5/10

With the caveat that I would recommend it if asked. It’s likely to be enjoyable for younger viewers and I did really enjoy the fact that it focuses on the equestrian discipline of dressage that you don’t see often on film.