January 18, 2014

2014 Oscar Nominees You Can Watch at Home

    2014 Oscar Nominees You Can Watch at Home on DVD, Blu-Ray or Instant Streaming

    The nominees for the 2014 Academy Awards were announced this week and as my cousin Jennifer and I were discussing the nominees, we mentioned our curiosity as to which ones are already available to view at home (whether on DVD/Blu-Ray or instant streaming).  There are quite a few. Unfortunately, all of the big contenders (films with four or more nominations) are unavailable for now, but three of the biggest movies (Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity) will be available for home viewing before the Oscars air on March 2. I'm missed all of those in the theatre, so I'll be taking advantage of that.

    Realistically, I'm not going to make it out to more than one or maybe two movies between now and the awards, so (based on nomination count) I'm going to shoot for seeing American Hustle and maybe 12 Years a Slave. There's a rumor that Nebraska will be released in February. Most of the remaining major nominees are projected to be released in March or April.

    So here they are in order of nominations. I didn't include any of the films in the Short categories, because they're always difficult to find. I'll update this list as more dates become available.


    Already Available
    • Blue Jasmine (Actress, Supporting Actress, Orig. Screenplay)
    • The Grandmaster (Score, Costume Design)
    • Despicable Me 2 (Animated, Song)
    • The Great Gatsby (Costume Design, Production Design)
    • The Lone Ranger (Makeup/Hairstyling, Visual Effects)
    • All Is Lost (Sound Editing)
    • The Act of Killing (Documentary Feature)
    • Before Midnight (Adapted Screenplay)
    • The Broken Circle Breakdown (Foreign - Belgium)
    • The Croods (Animated)
    • Cutie and the Boxer (Documentary Feature)
    • Dirty Wars (Documentary Feature)
    • Ernest & Celestine (Animated)
    • The Hunt (Foreign Feature - Denmark)
    • Iron Man 3 (Visual Effects)
    • Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Makeup/Hairstyling)
    • The Lone Ranger (Makeup/Hairstyling, Visual Editing)
    • Prisoners (Cinematography) 
    • The Square (Documentary Feature)
    • Star Trek: Into Darkness (Visual Effects)
    • 20 Feet From Stardom (Documentary Feature)

    Coming Soon

    • Captain Phillips (Picture, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing) - 01/21
    • Dallas Buyers Club (Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Orig. Screenplay, Editing, Makeup/Hairstyling) - 02/04
    • Gravity (Picture, Director, Actress, Score, Cinematography, Editing, Production Design, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing) - 02/25

    See it in the Theatre

    • American Hustle (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Orig. Screenplay, Costume Design, Editing, Production Design)
    • 12 Years a Slave (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Costume Design, Editing, Production Design)
    • Nebraska (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actress, Orig. Screenplay, Cinematography)
    • Her (Picture, Orig. Screenplay, Song, Score, Production Design)
    • The Wolf of Wall Street (Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay)
    • Philomena (Picture, Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Score) - 03/04
    • The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, 
    • August: Osage County (Actress, Supporting Actress)
    • Frozen (Animated Feature, Song)  - 03/18
    • Inside Llewyn Davis (Cinematography, Sound Mixing)
    • Lone Survivor (Sound Mixing, Sound Editing)
    • Alone Yet Not Alone (Song)
    • Book Thief (Score) - 03/11
    • The Invisible Woman (Costume Design)
    • Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Song) - 03/18
    • The Missing Picture (Foreign Feature - Cambodia)
    • Omar (Foreign Feature - Palestinian Territories)
    • Saving Mr. Banks (Score)
    • The Wind Rises (Animated) - 05/22

    August 21, 2013

    All I can say is... "Soon."

    I used to make fun of Axl Rose & Dr. Dre for taking so long to finish their albums. Axl took 15 yrs. It's been 20 since Dre's last. It's been one year for me. But it's almost ready. I mean it.

    I didn't mean to lie. I really didn't. I've stated so many dates that were going to be the official release of the EP. The truth is I just wasn't ready. There are many reasons for this. One is that I just wasn't completely satisfied with the way the EP sounded.  Don't get me wrong, it sounded great. I just knew it could sound even better. You've heard it in its present form. It's good. I like it. But it's not all that it can be. So even as I thank you for your patience I ask for more patience.

    Last week I set up a studio at my church and recorded a ton of new stuff for the EP. I don't mean new songs, I mean new parts for several of the songs. But I will also be recording new music to include as bonus tracks as well.

    As soon as the music is finished I will send it off to get the CDs printed and once I get those back I will send out the rewards to Kickstarter backers and the music will be on iTunes shortly after that.

    Thank you for your continued support. It means the world to me.

    July 13, 2013

    It's finally coming out!

    It was going to be November. Then December. Then January. Then March.

    The EP is finally going to be released to the world this month!

    Truth be told, I just haven't had enough money. Still don't really, but we're going to make it happen. When I created the Kickstarter campaign, I set the monetary amount for the bare minimum for finishing the recording, mixing and mastering. I did the bare minimum because the Kickstarter campaign I had done before that was not successful and I really needed to finish the process. The thing is, it costs a lot more to actually release a music pro ject, not to mention to pay for all the promotion.

    If you would like to help fully fund this you can donate with PayPal to eric(at)ericcoomer.com.

    I'll be promoting the music by booking concerts and interviews, and starting a new YouTube campaign with music videos and covers. If you are interested in helping me book some shows, whether at a traditional venue (club, church, etc.) or a house show, please let me know.

    Oh and yes, that's a brand spanking new cover up there! For more info,  go to the official Eric Coomer website.

    April 4, 2013

    Roger Ebert



    Roger Ebert made me love the art of film more than I already did.

    I admired him so much.

    I loved his impassioned reviews of movies he loved and hated. I loved his arguments with Siskel (and Roeper). I loved his yearly Movie Home Companion

    I loved that he championed films like Hoop Dreams, which he and Siskel were outraged wasn't nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature. 

    Most critics can be taken with a grain of salt, but when Ebert loved a movie -- when he gave it a "BIG thumbs up!" -- it made me want to see it. I always looked forward to his year end lists of best and worst films. 

    I remember specifically 1998. It was a year filled with wonderful, groundbreaking, and critically acclaimed movies such as Out of Sight, Life Is Beautiful, Pleasantville, The Truman Show, Rushmore, Saving Private Ryan, American History X, A Simple Plan, A Bug's Life, Pi, The Big Lebowski, etc. etc. But for his top film of the year, Ebert picked a movie no one had heard of called Dark City. It made me want to see it. And when I did I, not surprisingly, fell in love with it. What's more, he so loved the film that he provided a commentary track for the DVD.

    One of the things I admire most about Roger Ebert was that when life handed him lemons...no it handed him manure...he kept on going. He battled cancer with the dignity of a prince. When it took his jaw, he kept making appearances anyway. When it took his voice he found a company that used his DVD commentaries (which also included Citizen Kane and Casablanca) to give his voice to his computer narration system.

    Through and through he was a class act. Just yesterday on his blog he wrote "Thank you for being the best readers any film critic could ask for... thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies."

    Roger died today at 70. He will be greatly missed.

    - Eric Coomer