The 74th annual Golden Globes will air this Sunday, January 8 at 8:00 pm EST. CineFiles has already made a full list of predictions of who and what will win in the film categories. But here are some highlights from those articles in true tl;dr fashion.
In New York, 1944, a wealthy socialite named Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) takes a fancy to opera singing. With her husband’s (Hugh Grant) aid, she reunites with an old vocal coach (David Haig) and hires a young pianist (Simon Helberg). To the pianist’s dismay, his first rehearsal with Florence yields the revelation of her sheer inability to carry a tune.
This initial rehearsal scene is a Continue reading Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) Movie Review
Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is rigid, resolute, decisive, cynical, cantankerous, embittered, emboldened, unfriendly. But mostly he is a man of simple means who wants things just to his liking. He doesn’t like people driving through his neighborhood, as it is strictly forbidden. He argues over the coupon price of a bouquet of flowers that he leaves for his deceased wife. And, when he loses his job of 43 years to a pair of 20-somethings, he decides to hang himself from his living room ceiling.
Except, each time he tries, he is interrupted by his new neighbors: a family who means well in spite of pushing all of Ove’s buttons.
The narrative of an elderly man hardened over the grief for Continue reading A Man Called Ove (2016) Movie Review
The short film categories were something I was not going to tackle pre-nomination, as it is impossible for me to see the films this early. However, in the case of the Live Action Short category, I have had the privilege of seeing four of the 10 films that have been shortlisted for nomination.
This by no means makes my predictions definitive. But I will do what I can to shed some light on the elusive subject.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Live Action Short
In a rural forest, the snap of a rifle shot breaks the quaint silence. Two brothers (Fidel Badran and Jad Badran) stand over their unseen prey, taking a beat before they go about covering their tracks so their father does not realize what they have done with his hunting rifle.
The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy is the familiar feeling of childhood guilt ratcheted up to grim stakes. The narrative itself is almost absurdly simplistic, and the film chooses to rely instead on Continue reading The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy (2016) Short Film Review
The visual effects category at the Academy Awards can be a tough category to call some years. Ex Machina winning last year was a big surprise to me, especially given Mad Max being in contention. The year before that you have Interstellar winning over Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where either of those films could have taken the prize.
This year’s shortlist has a number of quality effects work on it. So…let’s get to it.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Visual Effects
2016 yielded a flat dichotomy of animated features. There was the good and there was the bad, which makes my job a lot easier here. Four out of five of the Best Animated Feature slots are no brainers. The fifth slot is where the interesting conversation lies.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Animated Feature
The shortlist for the Academy Awards Foreign Language Film category surprised me for one particular reason, and that was the omission of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. Incidentally, it is also the only film in the running that I had the opportunity to see before writing this article. So….we’re just gonna do the best we can.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Foreign Film
I have always grappled with reviewing documentaries. The cinematic elements are often time more muted than in fiction films, although there are exceptions to this of course. Documentaries are defined by formula. It is nice, then, to see documentaries that go above and beyond the simple formula.
Here are my picks for the Best Documentary nominations.
Continue reading 2017 Academy Awards Nomination Predictions – Best Documentary
On the morning of January 24, the 2017 Academy Award nominations will be announced. Now that 2017 is finally upon us and Oscar season is in full swing, it is as good a time as any to discuss the potential nominees in all 24 categories.
Yes, I do have no life.
Click the links below for predictions.
CineFiles Movie Reviews 