Two years ago, I railed against the wholly unjustified remake of Rebecca, the 1940 gothic mood piece that was Alfred Hitchcock's only film to win the Oscar for Best Picture. It added nothing to the proceedings, wasted talented actors, and apart from the set design offered no new ideas to enhance the original's tragically unsettling … Continue reading Two Tildas for the Price of One – The Eternal Daughter
We come to it at last. Twenty-four days straight, no breaks, one category after another. And now, there's just one more to go, the big one, Best Picture. Now, because I cannot just let things be easy, I have a completely convoluted process for determining my rankings in this field. This is for two reasons. … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2020 – Best Picture
I'm gonna get on my soapbox for just a second and say that I am so sick and tired of complaints about Best Director being an all-male field. I don't know the current membership of the Academy's Directors Branch, but it goes without saying that it's a boys club. It has been for a long … Continue reading Oscar Gold 2020 – Best Director
The moment has come at last. Over 300 films were submitted for this year's Oscars, and now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has had their say. After weeks and months of anticipation, conjecture, campaigning, and outright nail-biting on my part, we finally have our list of contenders across 24 categories. Issa Rae … Continue reading Put on Your Blitzin’ Shoes! – 92nd Academy Awards Nominations Announced!
The Academy Award nominations are just under a week away, and as the final preview, we now have the list of contenders for the major Hollywood labor unions and the British Film Academy! There's a lot to sift through, and as the results trickle in over the next few weeks, we'll get a lot of … Continue reading Unions, Jack! – BAFTA and Guild Nominations Announced!
I am not a fan of the Golden Globes, apart from Ricky Gervais' biting jokes and monologues. Thankfully, he's hosting again next year, so at least I'll have a reason to fast forward through my roommate's DVR record. But apart from that, the Globes, and the organization that runs it - The Hollywood Foreign Press … Continue reading Congratulations, Your Checks Have Cleared – 77th Golden Globe Nominations Announced!
Last year was a tremendous boon for Netflix when it came to the Oscar stage. The success of Roma (as well as The Ballad of Buster Scruggs to a lesser extent, not to mention a slew of documentaries over the years), followed by the Academy's rebuke of traditionalists like Steven Spielberg emboldened the world's premiere streaming … Continue reading DownStream – Netflix and Shill, Part 1
Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's historical drama, The Current War, has had a post-production and release schedule almost as unpredictable and dangerous as the electrical pulses running through the crux of the main plot. Originally screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017, it was critically panned (31% on Rotten Tomatoes) and its wide release delayed indefinitely due … Continue reading I’d Rather Just Listen to AC/DC – The Current War
Written and directed by Paul Schrader (who helmed films like American Gigolo, as well as co-writing Martin Scorsese classics like Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), the satirical religious drama First Reformed offers an intriguing take on the hypocrisies of the world through the lens of faith. It asks deep, insightful questions about what the role of clergy should be in … Continue reading Ethan Hawke Pays for the Sins of the Holy Father – First Reformed
I Actually Paid To See This 