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There’s a comedy show coming to Wilkes-Barre on Friday.

Cinematography is cinema. It separates the artform from music, photography and theater. It puts imagery to sound. It portrays the world as a moving, dynamic place. It’s art we can basically return to whenever we want. When a film is literally lost, meaning that no copy of it exists, it means the treasured work of a cinematographer has died, and there is no more upsetting fate for a film. But the Oscars in the year 2023 do a decent job of hyping up their own nominated movies, meaning that the cinematographers nominated this year have likely reached a place of immortality.

The Academy has a habit of confusing most editing with best editing. One of those things is quantifiable and objective, and the other is most certainly subjective. Other than the concept of the Oscars in general, this is perhaps the starkest example of the Academy attempting to bring objectivity into a subjective race. That being said, the Academy does make some fun choices in this category, and all others, and I love them for it.

If you enjoyed reading about the films nominated for best costume design yesterday, get ready for another round of that. “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Napoleon,” “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things” doubled up in costume design and the subject of this piece, production design. I think this is a strong field, with any one of these options being a worthy contender for the win in just about any other year.

At this point in the Oscar Outlook, most of the nominated films have already been discussed. The Academy likes to reward films that are technically strong across the board by acknowledging each discipline individually, and it makes sense. If the costume design in a film is distracting or lacking, every other aspect of the film can get dragged down in the process, making it less likely to receive at-large love from the voters. The nominees this year in costume design didn’t drag their films down at all. In fact, they made them better.

The William G. McGowan Charitable Fund recently presented $25,000 to Junior Achievement of NEPA in support of programs to bridge the gaps in educational attainment caused by the pandemic disruptions in learning. Through this partnership, students will participate in programs to re-engage with the learning process, understand the importance of finances, explore career options, and become inspired toward a pathway for future success.

And now it’s time for the populist Oscar category, best visual effects. This is the one where you are most likely to see the highest grossing films of the year or, as some people might say, the movies that people actually saw. The Oscars have been doing a better job of including blockbusters in recent years, but the visual effects category is still where most of them live. Let’s discuss.

This year’s best original score lineup is somewhat uninspired. I don’t want to be rude, as these composers are all extremely talented and their work this year should not be discredited. Still, I am mourning the losses of truly incredible scores from Daniel Pemberton for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Mica Levi for “The Zone of Interest” and, dare I say, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for “Barbie.” But this isn’t about what’s missing. Let’s take a look at what we have.

WILKES-BARRE - They made me a pizza I couldn’t refuse.