Archive | February 2016
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2016 Oscar Predictions
Here we are again. What an exhausting and exhilarating season it’s been. I watched 78 films in order to compile my annual Top Ten list, and this weekend I expect to pop in my 10th 2015 release since posting that annual ranking. That will be 88 films total, in time for the 88th Annual Academy Awards. I […]
Hail, Caesar!
Well, I certainly hope this bodes well for 2016. First film experience, with something that officially opened in the new calendar year–and already a Top Ten list contender. Of course, being the latest effort from the remarkable team of Joel & Ethan Coen hardly hurt its chances for that lofty accolade. I’m pretty certain that […]
When Marnie Was There
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 88th Annual Academy Awards You know, when you set the bar so high… I don’t want to knock Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s “When Marnie Was There”, because it is actually quite good. It’s beautifully animated, as just about everything out of Studio Ghibli tends to be. And it is emotionally […]
Boy & the World
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 88th Annual Academy Awards More often than not, this past decade, the Best Animated Feature category at the Oscars, serves up a beautiful surprise from a foreign land. Last year gave us the gorgeous, Japanese epic, “The Tale of the Princess Kaguya”, from Studio Ghibli. And 2011 brought […]
Legend
This was the 3rd Tom Hardy starrer that I experienced in 2015, and it’s his finest acting showcase of the trio. Funny how that works out. Because it’s the least critically acclaimed of the group, and the British-produced showcase was met with minimal interest here in the States. “The Revenant”, on the other hand, is […]
Anomalisa
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 88th Annual Academy Awards While everyone was waiting for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, I was waiting for this. From the genius mind of Charlie Kaufman, the writer/director of the brilliant “Synecdoche, New York”, and the multiple award-winning screenwriter of “Being John Malkovich”, “Adaptation” and “Eternal Sunshine of […]
Black Mass
Ho-hum. Yeah, Depp’s pretty good. His makeup–not so much, but I like him overall. Oscar chose to skip him, though. It’s a reasonably compelling two hours, and an interesting true story. But Scott Cooper is not a very strong director, and he’s obviously cribbing from much better films that set the template for this kind […]
The Danish Girl
Nominated for Best Actor (Eddie Redmayne) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Alicia Vikander) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Nominated for Best Production Design (Eve Stewart, Michael Standish) at the 88th Academy Awards Nominated for Best Costume Design (Paco Delgado) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Two consecutive years […]
Room
Nominated for Best Picture at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Nominated for Best Director (Lenny Abrahamson) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Nominated for Best Actress (Brie Larson) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (Emma Donoghue) at the 88th Annual Academy Awards I liked a good, solid portion of the […]
The ’78’
So, a shot at a new feature…because I’m still being asked. “What did you see?” “Where’s my favorite on your Top Ten list?” “If you have such-and-such in your ‘Best Of’, why isn’t it reviewed?” For that last one, the answer is simply that I haven’t reviewed it yet. But it’s coming, it’s coming! As usual, when […]
Reviewed by Mark Leonard 