Putting the 2013 Oscars to Bed
Sunday night, the film world spoke, and the big winner at this year’s Academy Awards was … uhh … anyone know? Sure, Argo took home the night’s top prize—Best Picture. It was a win for the ages as no film since 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy pulled off a similar feat without a Best Director nomination. […]
Final 2013 Oscar Predictions
The endless speculation ends Sunday night. It’s been a wild year—fun to follow, frustrating at times. I’m the sure ceremony will feel the same way. I’m less confident in my predictions this year than I have been in any year I’ve been following the Oscars. A few locks—Best Actor, Best Original Song, Best Visual Effects—litter […]
Ranking the 2013 Oscar Nominees
It’s become an annual tradition for me to rip off In Contention’s annual tradition of ranking the Oscar nominees from best to worst. I did it in 2011. I did it in 2012. See my 2013 rankings below. But first, a list of the films I regrettably haven’t caught up with yet: Mirror Mirror, Chasing […]
If I Had a 2013 Oscar Ballot
This year’s crop of Oscar nominees is a strong one. And part of the reason this season has been so unpredictable is that there are quite a few films voters seem eager to acknowledge. I encountered the same problem when writing this post. I’m not foolish enough to say something “should” win an award. I […]
Anna Karenina (2012) Review
RATING: (1.5 STARS) Joe Wright’s adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s monumental novel Anna Karenina is a borderline unendurable experience—an exercise in period porn so devoid of charm, pleasantness, and an artistic reason to exist that each second feels like 1,000. Yes, Wright has updated Tolstoy’s text considerably—a necessary evil of adapting something that’s been seen on […]
The Sessions Review
RATING: (3 STARS) There’s a monologue just past the halfway point of Ben Lewin’s The Sessions that’s so lovingly written it could bring a tear to your eye. It isn’t a thoughtful poem (though the film has plenty of those) but more of a love letter—a love letter to sex. It seems like Mark O’Brien […]
Die Hard 2 Review
RATING: (3 STARS) To top the original Die Hard would have been damn near impossible. That director Renny Harlin followed it up with something as entertaining as Die Hard 2 is both surprising and satisfying. Harlin follows the first film’s formula almost to a fault, but it capitalizes on the first film’s strongest asset—its setting. […]
A Late Quartet Review
RATING: (3 STARS) A sedate and stately drama about the dysfunctional private lives of classical musicians, Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet just screams “acting showcase.” And it’s hard to argue the film’s chief pleasure isn’t seeing Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, and Christopher Walken on top of their respective games. There’s a lot more to […]
Silver Linings Playbook Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Silver Linings Playbook is a bright rainbow of a film, but you wouldn’t know it from the way it starts. It’s hard to imagine that a film that opens in a mental hospital with a clearly disturbed Bradley Cooper could, in two hours, convincingly make the leap to a larger-than-life dance competition […]
Not Fade Away Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) David Chase—creator of HBO’s The Sopranos—makes his debut as a feature filmmaker with Not Fade Away. Though not a far cry from his mafia series geographically (this film is more Jersey than Mike “The Situation”), Not Fade Away‘s subject matter couldn’t be more different. Focusing on a young man determined to be […]
Sundance 2013: Ten More Titles
Yesterday, I listed ten films worth watching for that played in the snowy confines of Park City, Utah, during this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Today, I’m doing precisely the same thing. Part two of my Sundance wrap-up: Austenland Sony Pictures Classics is distributing what’s likely one of the festival’s biggest commercial plays. Napoleon Dynamite‘s Jerusha […]
Sundance 2013: Ten Titles to Watch
Click here to read part two of my Sundance 2013 wrap-up. In 2012, the Sundance Film Festival experienced a renaissance of sorts. Beasts of the Southern Wild rode a wave of love from Sundance all the way to Oscar nominations in Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress. The Sessions earned Helen Hunt a nomination […]
Searching for Sugar Man
Searching for Sugar Man definitely contains elements of mystery, and it represents the concert documentary well, but more than anything, this incredible film shows the power of the human interest story. It’s such a broad term—”human interest”—but there’s no better way to describe the life and career of Sixto Rodriguez—a manual laborer in Detroit, Michigan, […]
The Paperboy Review
RATING: (2 STARS) With The Paperboy, Lee Daniels has made a film best described as a brilliant disaster. His touch is unmistakable, interesting, and ballsy, but it’s also the film’s downfall. Watching The Paperboy, you can’t help but feel suffocated by an overwhelmingly unpleasant sense of camp. While blood, sweat, and Nicole Kidman’s urine spurt, […]
The Impossible Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The Impossible tells a very micro-level story about one of the greatest natural disasters in human history. It’s set before, during, and after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that affected men and women in dozens of countries on the Indian Ocean, including Thailand, where Henry (Ewan McGregor), Maria (Naomi Watts), and their […]
How to Survive a Plague
How to Survive a Plague gets its title from the film’s standout moment, near its midpoint, when AIDS activist and writer Larry Kramer shouts down two quarreling activists with one word: “PLAGUE!” “40 million deaths is a fucking plague,” Kramer tells them, admonishing them for their incivility. It’s a wake-up call to those around him, […]
