Opening weekend for Star Wars: The Force Awakens is over, and fans everywhere are beginning to dissect the popular blockbuster as they try to make sense of it all. (You can read my formal, spoiler-free review here.) This article is my own attempt to breakdown the central structure of Episode VII, what it reveals, what that means for the next [...]
Fresh off the gala world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens Monday night in Hollywood, industry trade The Hollywood Reporter takes an entirely spoiler-free look (not one plot point is mentioned) at the blockbuster's Oscar prospects, saying "J.J. Abrams' film could become the franchise's first installment since the original to land above-the-line noms." Click here to read the entire analysis. And click [...]
Thirty years ago in November 1990, "Costner's Folly" went from being a reported vanity project disaster to an Oscar-sweeping epic.
I’m as big a fan of the Academy Awards as they come, but it's foolish to judge movies based on Oscar wins and losses. It’s unfair to the films themselves, not to mention our own perception of them. There’s perhaps no better example of this than Dances With Wolves, winner of 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and [...]
I was wondering if this was going to happen. The fact that it's even possible - with the 7th turn as such an iconic character, no less - is amazing, but with the filmmaking pedigree of director Ryan Coogler, it probably shouldn't be a surprise that Sylvester Stallone has become an early Oscar front-runner for the first time [...]
A live-action kids movie is never supposed to be a blockbuster. But Home Alone was. And 25 years later, it’s still very easy to see why. Home Alone wasn’t just big. It was huge. In the holiday season of 1990, when it opened on November 16 to a 3-day $17 million haul (enough for #1 that weekend), no one could’ve [...]
Three decades ago, this unexpected classic debuted on November 16, 1990. And what I wrote 5 years ago still holds true -- just like the movie.
In a sudden move, Steve Jobs just got yanked from 2,000 screens across the country. It was the exclamation point on the most underwhelming first phase of an Oscar season in quite some time. Talk about not living up to the hype. While most of the season's early Oscar-contenders have been well-reviewed and, therefore, met expectations regarding caliber [...]
It's November, and so the Awards Season is about to get serious. There are a possible 10 slots to fill in the Academy's race for Best Picture. According to Variety's Awards editor Kristopher Tapley, these are the 26 films (click here) that are likely to vie for those 10.
Star Wars Original Trilogy viewing is obvious prep work for The Force Awakens, but less obvious - and yet possibly more vital - is renting The Age Of Adaline, a star-crossed romance from earlier this year. One of the most anticipated aspects of The Force Awakens is not only seeing Han Solo in action again but, by [...]
I Can't Unsee That Movie: film news and reviews by Jeff Huston 