Surprises were expected at this year's Oscars. The Academy did not disappoint. Billed as the most unpredictable race in memory, there were upsets aplenty at the 88th Annual Academy Awards - which honored the best of film from 2015 - capped off by the gasp-inducing blindside of Spotlight winning Best Picture. How did that even happen? Here's the most logical theory. Spotlight was [...]
Below are my predictions for the 2015 Academy Awards, in all 24 categories. The list is virtually free of commentary except for some thoughts in the Best Picture and Director categories, but does include “Will Win” and “Should Win” options throughout. According to how I see it, the night’s big winner will be The Revenant with [...]
*1/2 out of **** My review of Gods Of Egypt, at Crosswalk.com, the bloated, tacky-looking action spectacle that bastardizes ancient Egyptian mythologies. An excerpt from my review: “The digital effects overkill is bad enough, as are the gaudy costume and set designs (1990s TBN sets would be jealous), but what ultimately makes this all so tedious – even [...]
Part 1 was posted last week. And now for the conclusion. As the Oscar ceremony nears, Nashville-based musician and podcaster Nick Flora invited me to continue our annual tradition of talking about our favorite films of the year on his podcast Who Writes This Stuff. Here’s Part 2 of our “Films of 2015” discussion, in which we countdown in ascending [...]
If you're tired of all the horse race prognosticating, exhausted by the controversies (#OscarSoWhite, et al), couldn't care less about who's wearing what on the red carpet - and all you really want is to just hear the actors and filmmakers talk about their movies, their craft, and their careers - then Awards Chatter by [...]
As the Oscar ceremony nears, Nashville-based musician and podcaster Nick Flora invited me to continue our annual tradition of talking about our favorite films of the year on his podcast Who Writes This Stuff. And even though Nick's now mostly-retired from the podcasting gig, our film conversation continues. So here's Part 1 of our "Films of 2015" [...]
*** out of **** Rated PG-13 for Biblical violence including some disturbing images Released: February 19, 2016 Runtime: 107 minutes Director: Kevin Reynolds Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Peter Firth, Cliff Curtis Memo to American Evangelical Christians: Risen is the movie you’ve been asking Hollywood to make. After years of having to put up with subpar small-budget Christian [...]
***1/2 out of **** Rated R for disturbing violent content and graphic nudity Released: February 19, 2016 Runtime: 92 minutes Director: Robert Eggers Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Katie Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy…” – John 10:10 For most of [...]
Whoa. This is heavy. And impressive. Seamlessly blending a load of clips from a slew of movies, editor Tyler Hopkins has built a studio-level trailer for a Back To The Future mock-prequel 1.21 Gigawatts. Telling the story of how Doc Brown got his hands on that plutonium from the Libyans, Hopkins pulled footage from 12 movies including Back to the Future, My Favorite [...]
We have no one to blame but ourselves. After racking up nearly $4 billion dollars in global receipts over four films, Transformers 5, 6, and 7 will hit theaters over consecutive summers in 2017, 2018, and 2019. This, despite the near universal disdain among critics and moviegoers alike that these chaotic mind-numbing extravaganzas are the epitome of what's [...]