There are always surprises. Despite largely following the script (I predicted 75 of 106 nominees, or 71% correct), there were still a number of gasps when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced their nominees for the Best in Film for 2015. I'll break those down, but first: the headline. Leading all contenders this year [...]
A bit belated, but as comprehensive as I could make it: here's my take on the best movies for 2015. It begins with the Top 10, in ascending order, then continues with my 11 through 20 choices, and concludes with a brief listing of the other movies I really enjoyed throughout the year. Many film [...]
For the Oscar nerds out there: my predictions of who and what the Academy will nominate his Thursday morning for their 88th Annual Awards - in all categories but three (Live Action Short, Animated Short, and Documentary Short). I wouldn't have a clue where to even begin guessing for those. In the Best Picture race, the Academy rules state there [...]
The final piece of the pre-Oscar Nomination puzzle is in place as the Directors Guild of America named their five nominees for Best Director of 2015. Four were expected, but one's a bit of a shocker. The 2015 DGA nominees are: Alejandro G, Iñárritu, The Revenant Tom McCarthy, Spotlight Adam McKay, The Big Short George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road Ridley Scott, [...]
Once considered the biggest Academy Awards pre-cursor, the Golden Globes aren't quite the Oscar bellwether they used to be (industry guilds have become the major tea leaves). Still, given its status as a Hollywood tradition - and event - winning a Golden Globe matters. They won't affect the Academy Award nominations (those ballots closed last week), [...]
There's a lot of big Oscar contenders missing from The Writers Guild of America's list of Best Screenplay nominees...but then that's par for the course, given the guild's extremely picky rules (nominees must be guild members, must be working under their jurisdiction, etc.). Quentin Tarantino, for example, hasn't been eligible for years (he's not a guild member), yet while [...]
Straight Outta Compton is a lock for a Best Picture nomination. That's basically the major tea leaf from today's announcement by the Producers Guild of America for their Best Film nominees of 2015. Traditionally, this guild's choices are virtually the equivalent of the Academy's Best Picture slot, and while the picks between the two don't always line up 1-to-1, [...]
The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle (OFCC), of which I'm a member, opened the new year as they traditionally do - on the first Monday - by announcing their choices for the best in film from the previous year. They joined a growing chorus of other critics groups in naming Spotlight as the Best Picture of 2015. The thoughtful, [...]
After two weeks of Star Wars: The Force Awakens dominating the cinema world - and a pause in the year-end critics group awards during that same time - The National Society of Film Critics have resumed the Oscar race on January 3rd by naming Spotlight the Best Film of 2015. While no film has swept the various Oscar harbingers, [...]
The first awards group that waited to screen Star Wars: The Force Awakens before announcing its choices also became the first to include the blockbuster on its year-end list of Best Films for 2015. The American Film Institute - known to most as the org that broadcast Top 100 Movie list specials at the turn of the century - announced their 16th Annual [...]
I Can't Unsee That Movie: film news and reviews by Jeff Huston 