Best Foreign Language is a tough category in 2019. There are a lot of strong candidates. Pretty much every one of the nine shortlisted films have a good case for why they should be in the top five. Of course, in a year where Roma is on the shortlist, it will be hard for any other film to win. But anything could happen.
Let’s take a look at the shortlist.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Foreign Language Film
2018 was a quality year for animated film. A long-awaited Pixar sequel. An intricately-crafted Wes Anderson film. A surprising critical darling in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. A crowd-pleaser in Ralph Breaks the Internet.
It is a strong field, although there is a clear divide between the top tier and the second string candidates.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Animated Film
The ease of predicting the Oscar race for Best Documentary comes down to the category already being narrowed down to a shortlist. The contenders are already limited to 15 films. Of those 15, though, there are clear frontrunners.
The Best Documentary race appears to be one of the most cut and dry of the year, but there are one or two contenders on the outside of the top five that are strong enough to get in.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Documentary
There were so many well-directed films in 2018. That the Academy only picks five requires the snubbing of plenty of quality films. While the Best Director category logically follows from the Best Picture race, the expansion of Best Picture to a possible 10 films makes it harder to narrow down the Best Director race.
Any director whose film nabs a Best Picture nomination is in the hunt for a Best Director nod. Beyond those nominees, there is not much else in contention. And the Directors Guild Award nominations will clear up any confusion over the frontrunners. Aside from the weird year of 2012, the 2010s DGA and Academy Award nominations were almost the same. Each year, just one slot was different.
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Director
The 2019 Oscar race for Best Picture seems surprisingly cut and dry. There are a handful of films that would be baffling to see not make the cut, and there are only a couple of films that have the campaign strength to move into the race.
If the race comes down to a final eight, then the films are already accounted for. The few films that could take up the rear and fill a ninth or tenth slot don’t necessarily have the consensus support needed to raise to the top of voters’ ballots.
All in all, there are only a few potential surprises in this year’s race. Might as well dig into them, anyway, right?
Continue reading 2019 Oscar Nominations Predictions – Best Picture
The 2019 Oscar nominations will be announced on January 23, 2019. But the Academy has already narrowed down its candidates in many categories. For Best Animated Short Film, that list is down to 10. Of those 10 shortlisted short films, I have reviews for nine.
Shall we?
In 1900, a lonely sailor (Ian McShane) sets himself adrift on his lowly sailboat, sharing the seas with huge ships. Having lost Continue reading 2019 Academy Awards Best Animated Short Film Shortlist Reviews
It is never fun to sling mud. Sure, it can be viscerally satisfying, especially when a film is particularly insulting to the intelligence. But no critic goes into a movie wanting to hate it (at least, no critic ought to do that). I don’t enjoy having to write a worst of the year list.
“Why do it, then?” you may ask. Well, it is one thing to try and be positive about movies. It is another thing to pay good money for a movie that makes you regret it. For some of these movies, my money went into their box office grosses, and it is important to remedy that fact by keeping studios accountable and steering people away from these unsatisfactory films.
Dishonorable mentions: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; Gringo; Game Over, Man; Action Point; Mute; Fifty Shades Freed Continue reading The 16 Worst Movies of 2018
The arduous task of movie list-making has never been my forte. I am too prone to adjusting my opinions and tweaking grades up or down a half-letter grade. Most years, I shuffle my list around until a breaking point is reached and I publish impulsively.
This year is no different. With almost 200 films from 2018 in my head, it is difficult to narrow it down to 25. It is harder to take those 25 and rank them in any meaningful way. Each film in my top five could be number one. There are films in my top 50 that could have moved into the top 25 (for now, Avengers: Infinity War is at the 50-spot, and that was an enjoyable film which I saw twice in the theater). It pains me a little to not be able to give a blurb to Sorry to Bother You, which narrowly missed the top 25.
Long story short, 2018 was a very good year in film. I may not have seen a standout, A+ film. But I witnessed many, many A-/B+ films.
The following 25 films are, as of this writing, my favorite of the year. But there are many other noteworthy films out there. You can see my full ranking of 2018 films (subject to continual change) at Letterboxd.
Honorable Mentions: Sorry to Bother You, Shirkers, Roma, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Won’t You Be My Neighbor Continue reading Top 25 Best Movies of 2018
There are 30 short films which are shortlisted for Academy Awards across the three shorts categories—Best Live Action Short, Best Animated Short, and Best Documentary Short Subject. This will be cut in half come January 22nd. Before that happens, let’s take a look at a few of the shorts vying for nomination.
This documentary short, commissioned by The Guardian, tells the story of a man who, as a youth, Continue reading 2019 Oscar Shortlisted Short Film Reviews – Black Sheep, Marguerite, My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes
Skin, directed by Guy Nattiv from a story by Sharon Maymon, is a story of white supremacy with a twist. Film Threat equated the twist with those of The Twilight Zone, and perhaps that is accurate. But the final moments of Skin do not Continue reading Skin (2018) Movie Review – 2019 Oscar Shortlisted Short Film
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