Final 2015 Oscar Predictions
It’s show time! Here are my final 2015 Oscar predictions for all 24 categories: Best Picture American Sniper Birdman Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation Game Selma The Theory of Everything Whiplash Predicted winner: Boyhood Alt: Birdman (Click here for my thoughts on all eight 2015 Best Picture nominees.) ***** Best Director Alejandro G. […]
Ranking the 2015 Best Picture Nominees
It occurred to me the other day that, despite seeing every film nominated for the 2015 Best Picture Oscar, I’ve only formally reviewed one. What?!? And it was a dud of a film—The Theory of Everything. Maybe that speaks to my general indifference toward this crop of nominees; after all, it’s easier and way more […]
If I Had a 2015 Oscar Ballot
I’m pretty far along when it comes to catching up with every 2015 Oscar nominee. (The foreign-language films are mostly blind spots, but what else is new.) So now is as good a time as any to share my choices for the best in show. It’s been a weird year for me watching the Oscars […]
What Are the Best Movies of the Decade So Far?
It’s hard to imagine we’re five years removed from the myriad “Best Movies of the Decade” posts of 2009. That was fun, and each intervening year since has produced more than enough titles worthy of appearing on such lists. Of course, most of those titles won’t eventually make it when we get to the end […]
So, About Those 2015 Oscar Nominations…
What in the name of Dick Poop just happened?!?!?!? It was a wild morning that saw the announcement of the 2015 Oscar nominees, and I just can’t get past Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs’ all-time great mispronunciation of a name. Congratulations to Mr. Turner cinematographer Dick Pope on your Oscar nomination. I’m sorry you’ll live […]
2015 Oscar Predictions: Nominations Eve
I’m not going to say too much up front because this post should speak for itself. I’ll have more to say when we know something tomorrow. Some people are super down about awards this year, but I’m excited! Here goes nothing: Best Picture American Sniper Birdman Boyhood Gone Girl The Grand Budapest Hotel The Imitation […]
2015 Golden Globes Predictions
When it comes to making 2015 Golden Globes predictions, everyone knows quality shouldn’t come into the picture too much. The Globes are notorious for some decisions—most notably Zsa Zsa Gabor and The Tourist. I’m not sure why we take them seriously other than the fact that it’s a show on primetime, but to be fair, […]
The 20 Best Performances of 2014
It was a great year for acting, and I still haven’t seen some of the year’s most acclaimed performances. If David Oyelowo (Selma), Julianne Moore (Still Alice), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game), J.K. Simmons (Whiplash), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights), or anyone else bowls me over the way they have so […]
The Best Films of 2014
It seems you’re supposed to open your end-of-year favorite films list with an assessment of the movie year as a whole, but I’ve never really been interested in that. Good, bad, or somewhere in between—I have no idea what I’d say about 2014 other than I love the 20 films I’m writing about today and […]
2015 Golden Globes Nominations Predictions
The ultra-prestigious and never ridiculous Hollywood Foreign Press Association is on the cusp of announcing its nominees for the 2015 Golden Globes. We should take these nominations very seriously, as the many, many dedicated and serious-minded members of this fine organization consider only the artistic merits of each film, performance, and craft achievement in a […]
The 2014 OFCS Nominations
Today, the Online Film Critics Society announced its nominees for its 18th annnual year-end awards. I had the privledge of voting as a member of the OFCS for a second year, and while these wouldn’t necessarily be my choices for best films/performances/craft achievements of 2014, I’m genuinely excited that my colleagues and I have selected […]
2015 Oscar Predictions: First Guesses Before Fall Fests
It’s 2015 Oscar predictions time, so let’s dig the prognosticator’s hat out of the attic, dust it off, and take a look at the landscape of the 2015 Oscar race. If I’m being honest, though, I almost didn’t want to get involved with 2015 Oscar predictions at all. Last year’s Oscar season and the nonsense […]
5 Best Performances in Wes Anderson Movies
2014 has had its fair share of pleasures in its first month or so, but the biggest movie for cinephiles like myself to come so far this year (and for some, to come at all this year) is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. I placed it #2 on my most-anticipated movies of 2014 list. […]
14 Films for 2014
A yearly tradition continues. I don’t much enjoy these early-year looking-ahead lists; I’ll still be in 2013 mode until I catch up with everything that eluded me before the turn of the calendar. Nevertheless, on a day like today one can’t help survey the calendar and mark his or her most-anticipated movie days. And 2014 […]
Wes Anderson Movies
Wes Anderson is one of the few directors whose name has become an acceptable adjective to describe his own movies. And there’s a good reason for that. Wes Anderson movies are stylistically and tonally identifiable in ways almost no other working director’s movies are. Wes Anderson movies have experienced a rejuvenation of sorts recently with […]
