It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when liking our leaders became more important than respecting them. I am no expert on politics, but I have always gauged that moment to have occurred in 1992, when then-candidate Bill Clinton answered a question from the audience during a campaign appearance about whether he wore boxers or briefs. Later, President George H.W. Bush refused to answer the same question, believing his underwear to be none of anybody’s business. He was right, of course, but he lost the election anyway. Clinton went on to become a two-term president, and Bush went home…
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Greeting and salutations movie lovers! This article represents the first of an ongoing column looking back at past years in film. While the focus, of course, will be on Oscar-nominated films, we will also take a glance back at further interesting endeavors from Hollywood and beyond. These will include forgotten gems, overrated riffraff, and flat-out embarrassments to the flat screen. As usual, this column will probably generate a few squabbles here and there, but your comments, blessings and general disaccord are always welcomed and encouraged. The years will be tossed around at random, and so the first week will tee…
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Welcome to those of you visiting the site for the first time from the 9rules network. Dave and I started OscarFrenzy a little over a year ago to bring our on-going Oscar conversation online.

If you are here for the first time, a brief introduction is in order. OscarFrenzy is a website dedicated to predicting the Academy Awards. Using statistical analysis, insider information, and historical Academy Award trends and traditions, our experts give you the edge in forecasting the biggest races of the year. In the last few months, we have expanded our focus and started…
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After lacerating rock musicians, small town theater troupes and dog shows, Christopher Guest’s new film “For Your Consideration” takes on Hollywood and a topic near and dear to this website’s heart… Academy Award buzz. After a movie website predicts Oscar gold for the B-List cast of a movie that hasn’t even finished filming, the set is thrown into a tizzy… with predictable results.

Very predictable results. While watching this toothless satire, I was reminded of a tagline from a film noir poster that read: “No one is who they seem.” The opposite is true here. Every character is exactly…
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Well, here we go, trying to deconstruct the most challenging and potentially unpredictable Oscar race in years. When is the last time mid-December rolled around without a clear frontrunner? “Dreamgirls” seemed poised to trump the competition and roll through the Oscar season Chicago-style, but its opening last week was met with solid, yet unspectacular reviews. Now it’s just another likely nominee. Of course, being the early favorite hasn’t always been a good thing. Just look at “The Aviator” and “Brokeback Mountain” from the last two years. So when it comes to this year, the big question is, has this year’s…
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It’s official. We have the most wide open Oscar race in nearly a decade. With “Babel” surprisingly leading the nominations with 7, there is no clear-cut frontrunner for Best Picture. Most experts predicted “Dreamgirls” to lead the nominations. Not only did it fail to do so, its director (Bill Condon) wasn’t even nominated, a very bad sign. “Letters From Iwo Jima” did the best it could, scoring nominations for foreign film and best director (it wasn’t eligible for best picture). But it’s still a little hard to imagine a foreign language film triumphing at the Oscars, especially one that portrays…
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“Bobby” and “Little Children” garnered their first recognition of the Oscar season at this morning’s Golden Globe nominations. As we predicted, neither of the 9-11 films – “United 93” and “World Trade Center”— were able to snag a nomination. In addition, although Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers” did not earn a best picture nomination, the director is nominated twice in the best director category for both “Flags” and “Letters from Iwo Jima.”

Below is an incomplete nomination list. The full list will be made available later today.

Best Picture – Drama
Babel
Bobby
The Departed
Little Children…
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The Hollywood Foreign Press announce their nominations early Thursday morning. As most of you know, there are two categories for Best Picture, drama and musical/comedy. Getting nominated usually provides a healthy boost for a film and increases its chances dramatically at landing an Oscar nomination. Here are our predictions.

Best Picture (Drama)

Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Flags of Our Fathers
The Queen

Best Picture (Musical/Comedy)

Borat
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
A Prairie Home Companion

Analysis: Many people are predicting “World Trade Center” for drama, but we think the overall poor…
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The Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations are in and “United 93″ is continuing its rise to Oscar contention. “United 93″ has now been recognized by both the Broadcast Film Critics and the New York Critics Circle.

Oscar Frenzy correctly picked eight out of the ten nominees for best picture. We did not anticipate “Blood Diamond” or “Notes on a Scandal” to take home prizes. Until one of these films wins additional recognition, they will remain off of our Oscar radar.

Best Picture
Babel
Blood Diamond
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Children
Little Miss Sunshine
Notes…
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