I am now 24 films deep into this year's field for the Animated Feature Oscar. Only three entries remain after this, and of those three, only one will definitely become available this month. The debate for me then becomes whether to watch it and give it a standalone review, wait until the other two get … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Nomination, Part 3
Hello all, and welcome to 2023! I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday, regardless of how you celebrated. Mercifully, 2022 is finally over, but that doesn't mean we're done with its cinematic slate, not by a long shot. The unofficial tally for the year, cut off at calendar's end, is 116 films viewed, but obviously … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Doc’s Orders, Part 1
"An act of female imagination" is the phrase Sarah Polley uses to describe her film, Women Talking. I don't mean in interviews or press junkets, but in actual on-screen text. It's a curious statement if you don't know the context of the story. Between 2005 and 2009, in an ultraconservative Mennonite colony in Bolivia, dozens … Continue reading Guess What it’s About – Women Talking
There comes a time in every person's life when they wonder what sort of legacy they'll leave behind when they die. This conundrum is the foundation for many an existential crisis, as we all take stock of ourselves and contemplate if we've done enough in this world to be remembered, hopefully with fondness. The world … Continue reading Get Busy – Living
If you've ever read this blog during Awards Season, there is probably one theme above all others that you could key in on, and that is the fact that I utterly despise the Golden Globe Awards. I hate the way they try to one-up the Academy even though they only care about celebrities rather than … Continue reading DownStream – Globetrotting
There are only a few days left in 2022, and I'm scrambling to see as much as possible before the year-end cutoff. It's not that I'm going to stop watching stuff once the calendar turns over, just that there's a bit of OCD in my head that I want to keep things as contained and … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Animation Nomination, Part 2
There's a moment late in Damien Chazelle's new film, Babylon, that offers what feels like the one instance of pure honesty in the entire project. Jack Conrad, played by Brad Pitt, has gone from being the biggest star in Hollywood to yesterday's news during the transition from silent pictures to talkies. After two flops in … Continue reading Cocaine’s a Hell of a Drug – Babylon
I fully admit that I have soured on the Shrek franchise ever since Shrek the Third. The first film was innovative, silly, and was a great update for big kids like me to the old "Fractured Fairy Tales" segments from reruns of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show that ran constantly on Nickelodeon in the 80s … Continue reading Avoiding Cat-astrophe – Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
There are fleeting moments of brilliance in Sam Mendes' latest film, Empire of Light, in particular those that allow its chief actors, Olivia Colman and Michael Ward, to show off their talents. The combination of wistfulness in Colman and aspiration in Ward is particularly strong, as both characters represent the same desires and insecurities we … Continue reading Focus. FOCUS! – Empire of Light
We're a day away from the Academy announcing the shortlists for the specialty categories, most prominently International Feature and Documentary Feature. As such, it's only appropriate to take a look at a couple of films that may have their names called tomorrow, one from each category. Both of these movies are quite good, so you … Continue reading Back Row Thoughts – Growing Up
I Actually Paid To See This 