Well folks, the last major hurdle of this year's Oscar Blitz is complete. With the viewing of Great Freedom last week, all films to view in and around the ceremony have been seen. I can officially close the book on the 2021 cinematic canon. We've still got two more weeks left of Oscar coverage, of … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – And the Rest… of the Blitz
Earlier this month, I took the rare step of including Pixar's latest movie, Turning Red, in the monthly "This Film is Not Yet Watchable" column. That almost seems like tempting the cinema gods, right? Saying that a trailer for a Pixar project looks bad? Pixar, the studio that's only had maybe three misfires outside of … Continue reading Panda Express Yourself – Turning Red
Well, everyone, mission accomplished. With the successful viewing of Austria's Oscar submission, Great Freedom, which opened in American cinemas this weekend, I have finally achieved a goal I've been trying to manage for several years. With this final entry in 2021's canon, I have watched the entirety of the Academy's 15-film shortlist for International Feature! … Continue reading The Brokeback Redemption, er, I Mean, Shawshank Mountain – Great Freedom
If you were to tell me in a vacuum that Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, Jeffrey Wright, and Paul Dano would be starring in a new movie directed by Matt Reeves, I would imagine that you'd be describing a cerebral, artsy exploration of the human condition through a distinctly animalistic lens. After all, ever since he … Continue reading The Knight is Still Young – The Batman
No Oscars category breakdown today, but I still have several films to add to the official 2021 canon with reviews before the process is truly complete. In a previous installment of "Back Row Thoughts," we looked at three movies where their leads were nominated for Best Actress. So why not continue recapping highlighted films that … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – The Make-Up Makeup Blitz
The underlying conceit of a thriller can make or break the quality of the overall film. When you're trying to get an audience to buy into the level of suspense, it's crucial that the contrivances be kept to a respectable minimum so that we can suspend disbelief. Last fall, director Phillip Noyce, who's done everything … Continue reading Run Through the Forest, Run! – The Desperate Hour
Man, it's been a while, hasn't it? I covered the vast majority of the Academy's shortlist for Documentary Feature nearly two months ago. And even after that, I watched two of the three remaining films within a couple of days. There was just one left, which OF COURSE also got nominated, and I couldn't watch … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – I’ve Got a Little List, Part 4
A few years ago, my stepdad tried to encourage my writing by sending me one of the chain emails he got from his group of ex-military friends. It was a likely apocryphal story about a veteran essentially inheriting the dog of one of his squad mates who died in Iraq or Afghanistan. The crux of … Continue reading A Very Very Good Girl… And a Decent Movie – Dog
A note in advance: This will likely be one of the longest reviews I've ever written, if not THE longest. Part of that is because this is something of a double feature critique. But more importantly, there's some major heavy stuff that I'm going to talk about here that you may not be comfortable with. … Continue reading Kids Really Can Be So Cruel – Playground
I didn't watch Kenneth Branagh's 2017 remake of Murder on the Orient Express, for two main reasons. One, the original 1974 adaptation by Sidney Lumet is, to me, one of the greatest mystery films ever made, and Albert Finney's performance as Hercule Poirot was absolutely flawless. Two, while I am a fan of Branagh's, the … Continue reading Come Slay Away – Death on the Nile
I Actually Paid To See This 