Day: March 17, 2026

I never miss watching the Oscars. I have been taken by the annual ceremony from the time that Bob Hope was the perennial host. I love movies of all kinds and I enjoy the yearly celebration of the films from each year. This year’s program spoke to me on many emotional levels even as it was mostly lowkey with a kind of positivity that is not always present. It did not really matter to me who or what won the awards because I had no outstanding favorite in the game. Nonetheless several of the features really burrowed a place in my heart. 

I suppose that being a mother and an English major who has read most of Shakespeare’s plays and poems drew me to Hamnet. The story was quite emotional for me particularly in the way it wove a heartfelt tale of the love that mothers have for their children with the tragedy of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The presentation of the Elizabethan world of the time was stunning and the acting was superb, especially that of Jessie Buckley. Somehow the movie knit together so many aspects of my own life from the time that I first read the works of the great bard, through my own time as a young mother, to the present when I still worry about my grown children and the tragedies that they sometimes have to endure. I left that movie sobbing in a kind of emotional release that I needed in these difficult times. 

I also found Frankenstein to be a magnificent rendition of the tale as originally written by Mary Shelley. It demands us to consider what it means to be human while also demonstrating that sometimes it is actually humankind that is the monster. While the film mostly won awards for costuming and sets, there was so much more depth to the presentation than its reputation as a horror story. It is a philosophical questioning of how we view each other and the terrors that we humans sometimes spawn. 

One movie that flew under the radar that I truly enjoyed was Train Dreams. It was a cinematic poem about ordinary life and the questionable things that we must sometimes do to survive. Every scene and nuance in this tale is indeed like a dream that switches from nightmare to joy and back again. It is an exquisite film at its best. 

One Battle After Another won best picture and I would not totally argue with that. The story was interesting if sometimes a bit too manic for my taste. The acting was superb in every possible way and the whole premise of the script forced me to think  about our society and how it changes from one era to the next, demanding us to adjust to one challenge after another. 

Nonetheless what I loved most about the Oscars this year were the surprises such as reuniting the cast of Bridesmaids after fifteen years. I recall all too well going to see that film on the day that I officially retired. My mother was staying in our home at that time while battling many illnesses. I got home much earlier than usual because school was officially over and I had nothing to do to plan for the following year. I packed my belongings in my car and left the campus without fanfare. It was an emotional letdown after all of my years as an educator.

I was feeling a bit down and wondering if I was really ready to end my life in education and so I planned to spend the afternoon with my mom rejoicing instead of feeling so insecure about what I had done. When I found her snoozing away in a deep sleep I decided to go see Bridesmaids at my local cinema. I laughed my way through the flick and somehow felt more resolved about the change in my life. 

Sadly upon returning home I saw that my mother was in a medically distressing state. My brother and I rushed her to the Emergency Room where the whole world turned upside down. She would live only one more day and life as I had always known it would have to move forward without her. 

I suppose seeing the cast of Bridesmaids along with he beautiful remembrance of actors and actresses and other movie giants who died this past year took me down memory lane in a kind of teary realization of how much movies have meant to me over the years. Seeing the stars of Rob Reiner movies moved me in a way of combining my sorrows and joys in a single moment. Listening to Barbra Streisand sing The Way We Were brought me to tears. I realized the gift that movies of the past have given me.

I suppose that I am an appreciator of the artists who can write and act and direct to bring literature and everyday situations to life. Movies are more than just entertainment.They address the nature and foibles of humans in so many different ways. They connect with each other and show us how alike we actually are. The Oscars celebrate the talent and artistry of people that we all need to balance and enrich our lives. I look forward to seeing the films of 2026 and then celebrating them next spring.