Two summers ago I visited the Ba'Aka Pygmies in the deep south of the Central African Republic (CAR), along with my two adult sons, Elijah and Aaron, British filmmaker Richard Gayer and Dr. Martin Kollmann, a Nairobi-based German ophthalmologist who also specializes in neglected tropical diseases. Our mission was to...

In this appealing Québécois comedy, we first meet David Wozniak (Patrick Huard) when, as a 20-year-old, he is earning money by vigorously donating sperm. Flash forward and David is now a likable but irresponsible 42-year-old who works as a delivery man for his father's butcher shop, plays soccer on the...

After the Oscar winners accept their awards and deal with the TV people, they come to the Press Room and answer questions from the written press, radio and international media. Here are my five favorite backstage comments of the night.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor: Lincoln)

Asked if there...

Three of this year's five documentary short nominees have connections with New York. Three of them were produced by HBO and a fourth premiered on HBO. If there is an underlying theme to all five, it is that, with all of the negativity in the world, there are still a...

Unlike last year, this year's set of live action shorts nominees are on the serious side with the notable exception of one and a half comedies, which, as usual, I prefer.

Asad (South Africa/USA)

A young boy living in a coastal village in Somalia, Asad wants to go out...

This year a record 71 countries submitted entries in the Best Foreign Language Film category. I managed to see 61 of these films. Although there were many entertaining movies, the overall mood was bleak. As one of my viewing companions put it, it's as if the stories were conceived during...

The favorite in this category is Searching for Sugar Man, simply because it is such a good story. However, I hope that more people will get to see some of the other nominees, in particular 5 Broken Cameras.

Searching for Sugar Man (Sweden/United Kingdom) is the only one...

This year produced a relatively weak bunch of nominees skewed towards animators with big studio experience.

Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare(USA)

Madge drops off Maggie to spend the day at the Ayn Rand School for Tots. A bit of background for those who are unfamiliar with Ayn...

Many documents produced by the U.S. government are confidential and not released to the public for legitimate reasons of national security. Others, however, are kept secret for more questionable reasons. The fact that presidents and other government officials have the power to deem materials classified provides them with an opportunity...

Unlike last year, this year's set of live action shorts nominees is dominated by comedies, which was good news for me since I am a fan of short comedies.

Tuba Atlantic (Norway)
Oskar, a misanthropic farmer who is obsessed with killing seagulls, learns from his doctor that he has...

I have to recuse myself from giving objective opinions of this year's animated shorts nominees because one of them, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, is so close to my heart that I'm not a proper judge of the others. First, here's a look at the other four.

I saw 50 of the 63 films entered in the Best Foreign Language Film category and I am happy to report that this was an exceptionally good year. If there was no single masterpiece that stood out, there were a couple dozen good films that I would recommend for film...

With this year's nominees clocking in at an average of 34 minutes, the Academy might want to rename this category Documentary Mediums rather than Documentary Shorts. Perhaps because of their length, they are a solid bunch.

The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom

In a sense, The Tsunami...

In the days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many people I spoke with simply could not understand why anyone, anywhere, would not like Americans, even if it was just a few dozen fanatics. In one form or another, they asked: Why do they hate us?

Back in...

Here is one more example that the gap between the super-wealthy in the United States and the rest of Americans is growing wider and wider.

A group of 25 hedge fund executives in 2010 managed to earn a combined $22.1 billion -- an amount equivalent to 441,400 American...

This year's documentary shorts nominees are, well, earnest. All five of them center on uplifting responses to difficult situations.

Killing in the Name (USA)
You might recall the 2005 terrorist attack in Amman, Jordan, in which an Iraqi terrorist blew himself up in the middle of a wedding party...

This year's animated shorts nominees include two children's cartoons, two non-U.S. entries noteworthy for their skillful and creative animation, and one political satire.

Day and Night (USA)
If you've seen Toy Story 3, you've probably seen Day and Night, the Pixar short that accompanied its showings. When...

This year's live action shorts nominees are a strong bunch, and there's even one comedy to break up the serious fare.

The Confession (United Kingdom)
In The Confession, nine-year-old Sam, the son of a farmer, and his best friend are preparing for their first confession. The problem...

This was not the best of years for foreign language entries. There were a lot of good films, but so many of them were bleak and depressing, a reflection no doubt of the downturn in the global economy. As for the nominees, the group is tainted by the inclusion of...

The recent fall from the sky of thousands of dead birds in Arkansas and Louisiana appears to be a disturbing development. However, incidents of unexpected substances falling from the sky have a long, long history. Here is a sampling.