The 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. 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 third year in a row.
Read MoreMore and more each year, the Golden Globes have become more an a popularity contest than a true precursor to the Academy Awards. What you're watching on TV is a party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and hosted by Ricky Gervais in an effort to be loved and share some love. To its credit, the awards show still garners legitimate attention and ratings. The winners do get a pretty positive rub and the marketers gain a few more "Winner of..." graphics to put in the newspapers next to their films.
Read MoreI wanted to formally update my followers and readers of a cool new platform and opportunity for both you and this website. This past fall, I was approached by the one of the co-founders of the young website BAG Movies to add a professional profile to their community site. Founded in February 2015, BAG aims to be "one-stop shopping" for finding, watching, and sharing movies and TV shows. It can become your new place to talk and listen to your friends about what you're loving (and hating) in entertainment.
Read MoreFor quite some time, I've been meaning to add more momentum and engagement to my presence on Facebook and Twitter. I'm active with posting my reviews and shared fun stories, but that content is more random than formal or thematic. It lacks a guiding regularity. So, as of this new year and new work week, I'm adding daily themes to my posts and threads shared on my Facebook and Twitter pages. I have a blast talking to all of you casually and I would like to do more. Here's the plan:
Read MoreAs I say every year, plenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Over the life of this website, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year. I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change. I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll. This will be as forward as I get all year.
Read MoreI prefer to be strict enough with my mind and my heart to rank the best and not just give some alphabetical list. This was a difficult list to settle on for an order. After 84 films this year, I think I've seen all I need to see to give out a complete and legitimate "10 Best" list. Here are my picks and, in the spirit of this site, each of the "10 Best" are paired with their best life lesson. Enjoy!
Read MoreAs busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me. As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, sometimes a simple sentence or two from a friend says it all. Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy. Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering. In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for quick-hit movie reviews. Here is the Stark family with "The Peanuts Movie."
Read MoreAnnually, the Chicago International Film Festival houses some of the first opportunities to Oscar contenders and world-class films. With so many choices, what are the high-profile or can’t-miss films appearing at the year’s festival? Here are this website’s picks for the top 10 must-see films of the 51st Chicago International Film Festival.
Read MoreSometimes, the best documentaries aren't about stirring victories, historic successes, or heroic people. Sometimes, the best documentaries are about losers, accidental stardom, hubris, and horrible people. We are equally fascinated by a trainwreck as much as we are a space shuttle launch, maybe even more so. The captivation and interest factor doesn't wain. That's the draw of the new documentary "Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films." It makes a trainwreck fascinating.
Read MoreUPDATED: September 11, 2015 with updated and new movie inclusions (after original post on the 10th anniversary in 2011) and a new section of faded and relaxed sensitivity. I plan to make this an annual post and study.
Read MoreFor me, this is a very special edition of my "Guest Critic" series. It is a return for two very special little boys who have grown up before my eyes. Hop in to get reacquainted with Patrick and Nate!
Read MoreThe end of June marks the halfway point of 2015. This website makes it a point each year to measure the calendar year's offerings so far of what has been the best with the goal of building a year-end "10 Best" list. This is as good a place as any to honor the fine efforts that have graced the screen this half-year. Here are the "Top 5 (so far)."
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