https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iL1K_l8Jyo I often hear or read fans of Steven Soderbergh -- ones who genuinely love his movies but also love the aesthetic of film and/or high-end digital cameras -- ask why he keeps shooting on an iPhone. There's a disatisfaction rooted in that question and, to be frank, it's one I share. But the answer is abundantly, [...]
Big surprises and big snubs, all in really big categories. That's what defined the nominations for the 91st annual Academy Awards. Leading the pack with 10 nominations was (unsurprisingly) the period piece / acting showcase / dark satire The Favourite and director Alfonso Cuarón's personal passion project Roma. To get to 10, Cuarón's Mexican-language film set in [...]
For the Oscar nerds out there, here are my predictions of who and what the Academy will nominate on Tuesday morning for their 91st Annual Awards. I'm predicting nominees in all categories but three (Live Action Short, Animated Short, and Documentary Short). For Best Picture, Academy rules state that there can be "up to 10" nominees, but 10 [...]
And Film Twitter just lost its ever-flippin' mind. In the year of Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, and If Beale Street Could Talk, the Producers Guild of America - the Hollywood union that's an annual precursor for Best Picture contenders and winners - chose the year's most controversial film, Green Book, as the best. The PGA presented [...]
Well that took long enough. Yes, I'm a Top 10 straggler, but I'd rather be sure than second-guess myself down the road. Rushing out a list during the onslaught of screening season, simply to meet the obligatory date of December 31st, just doesn't allow that. Not for me, anyway. Instead, I like to let my [...]
** out of **** Rated R (for strong language, sexual content, nudity, and violence) Released: November 9, 2018 limited; expands through December & January Runtime: 148 minutes Directed by: Lee Chang-dong Starring: Yoo Ah-in, Jeon Jong-seo, Steven Yeun, Kim Soo-Kyung My review of Burning, for The Tulsa Voice. The latest film from South Korean director Lee Chang-dong has [...]
*** out of **** Rated PG-13 (for violence including some bloody images, thematic elements, and language) Released: January 18, 2019 Runtime: 119 minutes Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan Starring: James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Sarah Paulson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Spencer Treat Clark I love Unbreakable. I'm grateful to Split for bringing us back into that [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkecgBW-Y80 There are certain directors and actors whose films I'll always see simply because of who they are, regardless of what the film actually is. Judi Dench is one of them, and the upcoming Cold War spy drama Red Joan is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. I'd have little interest in going [...]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6W3VQp9Cc8 Well that escalated quickly. Just one day after the surprise announcement that director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up In The Air) would making a Ghostbusters 3 sequel, Sony Pictures already has a teaser trailer for it. No cast members appear but the hype train has officially begun. Reitman, son of original Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman, [...]
Warning: this essay contains major spoilers for the 2000 film Unbreakable. Unbreakable is a masterpiece of pop cinema. Pre-dating the Marvel Cinematic Universe by nearly a decade and even the original Sam Raimi Spider-Man by two years, M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable was ahead its time – and that’s an understatement. It’s also a crucial point [...]