To Hollywood, the MIdwest is that amorphous blob in the middle of country that allows for the satire of corn-fed American values. Whenever a place such as Iowa serves as a film’s setting, as it does in “Butter,” you can be sure that small-town life is about to get put through the ringer.

Some rule changes for eligibility as well as other factors could shake up the precedent for the Academy to award the high-profile documentaries, but the subject matters of these films are going to be quite familiar to you.

Wouldn’t it be nice if short films got the same publicity the other 11 months of the year? At least the Academy honors these films, even if they blow right through them during the ceremony, and some theater chains will screen all the nominees together. 

Man vs. nature is an ever-occurring theme in literature and film, but few dare tag on “vs. God.” Although to be fair, “Life of Pi” implies a certain connection between God and nature, that they aren’t exactly separate entities. Ang Lee’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s celebrated and oft-considered “unfilmable” novel tackles this crisis of faith […]

If the Academy is doing nothing else right, they’ve made up for it by restoring the Best Original Song category. After just two films were nominated last year, the rules changed as to how Academy members vote for the category, namely that they don’t. Now, the number of nominees is contingent on the number of […]

Time to finish out the technical categories with breakdowns of both the Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing categories. These people have a serious impact on carrying out the director’s vision both when it’s being shot and when shooting has wrapped and the scenes are actually being turned into a movie.