Best Quotes from Quentin Tarantino Movies
Quentin Tarantino is one of the most well-regarded writer-directors in recent cinematic history, and as such, Quentin Tarantino films are packed crackling dialogue and incredible quotes. Unlike, for example, Wes Anderson movie quotes, the best Tarantino movie quotes are often lengthy monologues or detailed conversations. Many memorable Tarantino movie quotes also contain language I don’t […]
2014 Oscar Predictions: Screenplays Original and Adapted
Click on over to my 2014 Oscar Predictions page to see everything I’m forecasting in the major categories. I’ve focused my 2014 Oscar predictions, until now, on Best Picture, Best Director, and the four acting categories. Today, I begin to unravel some of the secondary categories, starting with 2014 Best Adapted Screenplay and 2014 Best […]
What Else I’m Watching: June 2013
A former monthly column at John Likes Movies comes back. Why? Because you can’t review them all. Sadly, life gets in the way of writing about everything I see, so this space is as much for keeping track of what I’m watching as it is for you to share your thoughts on what are (at […]
Top 10 Leonardo DiCaprio Performances
It’s kind of amazing that everyone’s favorite heartthrob circa 1997, the guy who gave us Jack Dawson himself, has turned into one of cinema’s most fascinating, exciting, and reliable actors. While a gold statue has still managed to elude him, Leonardo DiCaprio has a resume many actors would kill for. He’s Scorsese’s new golden boy […]
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 […]
The 2013 Oscar Nominees
It wasn’t Lincoln‘s field-topping twelve nominations nor Silver Linings Playbook‘s sudden ascension from “happy to be nominated” to “genuine Best Picture threat” that dominated headlines today. 

No, it was the genuinely stunning absence of Argo‘s Ben Affleck and Zero Dark Thirty‘s Kathryn Bigelow from the Academy’s eclectic Best Director lineup that rocked Oscar watchers’ world. […]
2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS: A Truly Wide-Open Race
As good as 2012 was for films in general, it’s been an even better Oscar race. Unpredictability reigns supreme in a field filled with mostly great films. Phase 2 will kick into gear Thursday morning after Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announce the official nominees. It was tough, but here’s what I’ve got: Best Picture […]
On the Oscar Bubble
The bubble is not a fun place to live. Just ask Virginia Tech basketball fans. I’m sure every actor or actress would love to be in the position of a Daniel Day-Lewis or Jessica Chastain this year, but the Oscars just don’t work like that. Someone has to be the last nominee in just as […]
Django Unchained Review
RATING: (4 STARS) With Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino has turned wholly satisfying filmmaking into a science. Sure, this film might not be as emotionally affecting as Jackie Brown. It might not be as novel as Reservoir Dogs, as ambitious as Pulp Fiction, as playful as Kill Bill, or as bold and audacious as Inglourious Basterds. […]
The Ten Best Films of 2012
2012 was a really interesting year in film. Many are singing its praises. “2012 is the new 1999,” they say. I’m not going that far. In fact, I’m reserving judgment for a few months more. Too much still needs to be taken in. Too many need a second look. Here’s what I will say: This […]
2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS: Official and Unofficial Shortlists
With Django Unchained and Les Miserables finally hitting theaters, we can finally remove a certain amount of speculation from the Oscar race. Audiences everywhere will officially have their say over this year’s crop of contenders, which will ultimately mean crossing some names/films of our lists (and maybe adding a name here and there). In other […]
A Golden Morning for Django
Tomorrow, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce what are bound to be some wild Golden Globe nominations. Sure, Argo, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and the rest of the front of the pack will clean up. But I suspect Quentin Tarantino might have something to say in the morning. I’m looking at several major nominations […]
2012 Fall Movie Preview
When I finally got around to updating the old Oscar predictions, I sort of bemoaned the coming of the fall movie season and all the chaos associated with it. That was perhaps a little facetious because I love this time of year so much. Not just for movie reasons, I should say. With the changing […]
