Tom Hooper's new film, "The Danish Girl" based on the fictionalized account of Lili Elbe, spearheads what has been a banner 2015 year for LGBT film subjects. This a film not about a character looking for love. All that person wants is to be the truest version of themselves on the inside in a time where what that means on the outside would not be accepted publicly. The philosophy of it all brings us back to Ralph Waldo Emerson when he said, "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you." "The Danish Girl" delivers a story that matches the matter of Emerson's thoughts on the past, future, and inside.
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"Brooklyn" is an forthright, approachable, and esteemed historical drama where the dignity and honesty soar to heavenly heights to shine on the plights of love and independence. This tremendous film nestles a powerful love triangle within a touching immigrant and independent woman's saga from the 1950s. More than just being some high-end chick flick, "Brooklyn" stands as one of the finest films of the year and an immediate Oscar contender.
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Annually, 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.
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Sewn with care to document an unopened storybook file on little-rememberd, forgotten Cold War heroics and theatrics, "Bridge of Spies" is the kind of historical drama that Steven Spielberg can make in his sleep. In a way, this is Spielberg's throwback answer to "Argo," three years after Ben Affleck's film swept the top Oscars away from Spielberg's own "Lincoln." He doesn't need that one-upmanship for his ego. "Bridge of Spies" is more a reminder that the master is still capable of making a winner with ease.
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Simply put, "The Martian" from director Ridley Scott and headlining star Matt Damon, is a great survival film. It strikes all of those aforementioned chords of survival essence and entertainment. Giving it the easy labels of "Castaway in Space," "Robinson Crusoe: Astronaut," "Interstellar without Nolanism," "Apollo 13 on Mars," or "The Next Gravity" sells it too short. "The Martian" doesn't need to borrow anything from those five notable survival film stories and can stand confidently aside, or even above them, as an exemplar all its own in the genre. Meet what is sure to go down as one of 2015's best films.
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Once one awards season ends, another one begins! The winners from last night's 87th Academy Awards can bask in the glow of immortality for a while. Meanwhile, business in Hollywood will quickly shift and move on to the 88th Academy Awards that will happen in February 2016. Before the year of 2015 is out, we will soon learn and adopt another crop of competitive films to equally revere and nit-pick. Here are 16 films to watch for the 2016 Oscars.
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It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this sixth post, we climb into the acting areas of "The Big 8" Oscar categories. Here, we look at the male acting awards of Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. Let's do this and pick some winners! I've said it all season. Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool.
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It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this fifth post, we start to get the acting areas of "The Big 8" Oscar categories. Here, we look at the female acting awards of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. Let's do this and pick some winners! I've said it all season. Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool.
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It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this fourth post, we start to get the beginning three of "The Big 8" Oscar categories. Here, we look at the writing and directing awards for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Let's do this and pick some winners! I've said it all season. Stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool.
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It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this third post, we look at the minor film categories that include animation, documentary, and shorts. Let's do this!
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It's time to begin making my formal and official Oscar predictions. In this first post, we look at the visual and artistic technical categories that include cinematography, production design, costumes, makeup/hairstyling, editing, and visual effects. Let's do this!
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The Oscar nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced this morning. Directors J.J. Abrams and Alfonso Cuaron mapped out the little categories and then actor Chris Pine and Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs drops some bombs this morning. As always, there are plenty of surprises and plenty of snubs. Through it all, the frontrunners have already emerged and this race is taking shape, so much so that I could probably name the eventual winners already today.
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