Posts in Editorial
OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2017: The female acting awards

n this fifth post, we look at the races for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

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OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2017: The writing and directing awards

In this fourth post, we look at the writing and directing awards covering Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapted Screenplay.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

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OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2017: The visual and artistic categories

In this third post, we look at the visual and artistic categories which include Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, and Best Makeup and Hair-Styling.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

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OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2017: The minor film categories

In this second post, we look at the obscure minor film categories that include foreign films, documentaries, animated films, and short films.  Get the dartboard out, but stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

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OSCAR PREDICTIONS 2017: The music and sound categories

In this first post, we look at the musical and sound categories that include original score, original song, sound editing, and sound mixing.  Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Upcoming panel host and podcaster at LodgeCon 2017

Yours truly was asked to host a film-centered panel and I wholeheartedly accepted the chance to back a friend.  The topic will be "The State of Genre and Fantasy Films" and I will attempt to hold court on the matter.  I'm not going alone though.  I have enlisted two Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle colleagues and fellow genre film fans to join me, John Robinson and El'Ahrai Stanek, of "The Harvey and Bob Show" podcast based in Woodridge, Illinois.

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: New regular guest blogger for Feelin' Film

Matching my signature niche, I pitched the Feelin' Film website on writing a weekly column on the serious and farcical life lessons learned each week from either the current film releases or the prevailing movie industry trends of the moment.  Since mid-January 2017, that idea has become the column "What Did We Learn This Week."  My weekly column features commentary and content I don't post anywhere else, not even here.

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest post on Wilmette Patch

My recent website article promoting the Wilmette Theatre's upcoming "Science on Screen" series was picked up as a guest post on the local Wilmette-Kenilworth Patch website.  My thanks go out to Jonah Meadows for approaching me for the shared use.  It's always nice to see your name in a by-line.

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COLUMN: Five snubs and five surprises from the 89th Academy Award nominations

Yesterday, I threw down the gauntlet for the fourth year in a row to predict the eventual nominees in the "Big 8" categories (Best Picture, Best Director, the four acting categories, and the two screenplay awards) and, boy, did I nail it.  In total, I predicted 38-of-44 correctly for 86% accuracy, with two perfect categories of 5-out-of-5 and all the Best Picture nominees.  That’s my best year yet.

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SPECIAL: The Wilmette Theatre hosts the upcoming SCIENCE ON SCREEN series

Partnering with The Field Museum of Chicago, The Wilmette Theatre will present SCIENCE ON SCREEN series, a creative screening program matching classic, cult, and documentary films with scientists from the worlds of science technology and medicine offering related scientific information and leading lively discussion. The theme of the first season will be the study of the environment, evolution and protecting wildlife, particularly endangered species.

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COLUMN: Predicting the major 89th Academy Awards nominations

The 89th Academy Award nominations will be announced Tuesday morning, January 24, 2016 after a longer gap than usual between the Golden Globes that were given out back on January 8th.  As always, I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page.  Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the fourth year in a row.

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COLUMN: 16 hidden gem films from 2016

Even with my access to more-than-most with festival coverage and press credentials, I can’t see everything.  What I can do is prop up some hidden gems that I was lucky enough to see and review.  Here are 16 under-seen winners from 2016.  The qualifier for the list was title earning less than $1 million at the box office.  They are ranked from highest-scoring review to least.

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