Hey folks! It's Oscar time! So I'll offer some thoughts while the ceremony is going on. Hopefully I can continually update this during the show, so you can see thoughts as they appear. If not, it'll be (hopefully) a good read once everything's done. Before we begin, last night was the Independent Spirit awards, and … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Live Diary
It's time to put up or shut up, folks! For the last several weeks I've been trolling theatres, streaming services, and DVD rentals to complete another Oscar Blitz. Every nominated film, every category, and over that time I've been lucky enough to share my assessments with all of you reading. You know how I feel … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Who Will Win?
First thing's first: If you're thinking about seeing this because of some Jennifer Lawrence nudity and eroticism, your investment will be paid off around the 45-minute mark. But if that's all you're looking for, wait for the DVD. If you're looking for a taut political thriller or a spy film for the 21st century, then … Continue reading American Propaganda Invades a Russian Spy Thriller – Red Sparrow
We've come to it at last, the final award after weeks of analysis. It's time to rank the nine nominees for Best Picture. And because the voting is different for this than for the rest of the categories, we're going to do things a little bit different tonight. In the other 23 categories, a simple … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Best Picture
I guess it's appropriate that I'm doing the Directing category today, especially after I spent the early part of yesterday's review of Annihilation calling B.S. on Natalie Portman's complaints about the category at the Golden Globes. This is a category long mired in controversy, and not just for gender bias, though the fact that it took … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Best Director
A little less than two months ago - the night this very blog was born as a matter of fact - at the Golden Globe Awards, Natalie Portman took a stand for equality by calling out the fact that all the nominees for Best Director were men. Never mind that she's only done one feature … Continue reading The #MeToo Movement Also Includes Sci-Fi Cannon Fodder – Annihilation
Where to begin with Game Night? Well, let's just say that a dog getting blood sopped into its fur isn't the most fucked up thing you'll see in this movie, not by a long shot. This film is immensely fun from beginning to end, because like many adult comedies these days, the movie is very … Continue reading The Game of Life is Won with Cards Against Humanity Humor – Game Night
Director Raoul Peck seems to have a thing for revolutionary intellectuals. Last year he was nominated for the Documentary Feature Oscar for his film, I Am Not Your Negro, about the life of James Baldwin. Now, in a work of historical fiction (which tracks very closely with factual records), he looks at the founders of modern … Continue reading “In Theory, Communism Works”… But Only When You Work Together – The Young Karl Marx
We're down to the final three categories, and tonight we deal with the last one that I actually finished this year. It's always interesting to me to see which category ends up being the final one to wrap up the blitz. Two years ago, the first time I completed every film, it was Foreign Language, … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Best Actor
This is the most important technical category in all of film. Without brilliant men and women behind the camera and lighting the scenes, there literally is no movie. Strictly speaking, you don't need sound, editors, visual effects, or even actors. But with no camera, film cannot happen. Even the most visionary directors and auteurs cannot … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2018 – Cinematography
I Actually Paid To See This 