I'm not gonna lie, folks. I had almost no motivation to do the column this month. My mom's passing hit a lot harder than I thought it would, even though I knew the moment was coming for the last three years. I thought that extra time to prepare might dull the impact, but it didn't. … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – May 2023
There's something to be said for sticking to a successful formula. When certain elements work, it's natural to want to go back to the well and try it again. I totally get that. And there are plenty of filmmakers who've relied on tried and true methods to come up with an entertaining product, be it … Continue reading The Department of Redundancy Department – Amsterdam
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
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
I'm not the biggest comic book nerd. Frankly, it would have been WAY too expensive of a hobby when I was a kid. But I've always had a fondness for certain members of the cape-and-mask set, particularly Batman. As an adult, I like him because he's seemingly the only billionaire on Earth that uses his … Continue reading I’m About to Break! – Joker
I Actually Paid To See This 