The Comic Critic Reviews "Citizen Kane"

How Green is My Valley, Blossoms in the Dust, , Here comes Mr. Jordan, Hold Back the Dawn, The Little Foxes, The Maltese Falcon, One Foot in Heaven, Sergeant York, Suspicion, and Citizen Kane—these were the Best Picture nominees for the 1942 Academy Awards. And while Citizen Kane would win two Oscars that evening, How Green is My Valley would walk away with Best Picture. Yet, it is Citizen Kane that has become heralded as a Cinematic Masterpiece. It’s usually listed in any top-100 film list and is featured as a top- ten choice in several others. Some might say that Citizen Kane is the rightful holder of Best Picture by sheer merit. But look back at the nominee list. The Maltese Falcon and Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion have also become well-known landmarks in film. This is why I enjoy investigating films that have been nominated by the Academy. Sure, the winners are worth watching, but true treasure can be found in the nomination list. One of my other favorites nominated in 1942 is Sergeant York. It might not be the must-see that Citizen Kane is, but I found it an extremely entertaining film.

The Comic Critic Reviews "The Longest Day"

I’ve seen The Longest Day over a dozen times. But I’ve only seen it uncut a few times. Most of my viewings were via broadcast television where its three-hour-length jostles was compromised by commercials. The Longest Day is a docudrama about the Allies’ invasion of Normandy. A docudrama is just what it sounds like. Parts of it do a pretty good job of providing details of that fateful day, like names and locations. The drama part is everything else. The scale of production for The Longest Day was huge. So large, in fact, that three different directors were assigned to different countries at the same time to meet the production deadline. And there was no shortage of stars for this film. Both Richard Burton and Roddy McDowall flew over from the stalled production of Cleopatra to participate. The Longest Day would receive five Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. But there were a lot of great films that year and the Best Picture win went to Lawrence of Arabia.

The Return of Stickman #1571

This is an actual dream I had. I should mentioned that I was not a collaborator. This dream was the result of my brain being lazy. I'd just watched "Went the day well?" before heading off to bed. Actually, the thing I watched before being to bed was an episode from an anime series about boy's high school volleyball. Somehow that didn't make it into my dream, but the Nazis did.

The Return of Stickman #1570

I can promise you at least two Stickman strips this week. This first is about my concern about invasive species.