Hot Take: The best film of 2015.
Tonight is Oscar night and at this point, all signs point to The Revenant winning Best Picture. If another film pulls off the upset it will likely be Spotlight, Mad Max: Fury Road or The Big Short. The rest of the nominees don’t stand much of a chance. This includes the year’s best film: Room.Read More →
In a few hours, the Oscar winners will be announced. Earlier this year, we took a stab at predicting the Oscar nominees and didn’t do too bad of a job.
Best Picture (Predicted 8/8 Nominees)
Who Will Win?
The Revenant
Call it a two horse race between The Revenant and Spotlight with The Big Short lurking in the shadows.Read More →
Hot Take: The most depressing film of 2015 might also be the Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars. Son of Saul is as gripping as it is sad and as hard as it is to watch, Geza Rohrig (who plays Saul) and a well executed script won’t let you turn away.
It’s been about a month since I’ve seen Son of Saul and the ghastly images of Auschwitz and the brutality of the Holocaust are burned into my brain to the point where the mention of the film instantly fills me with sadness and disgust. Holocaust cinema is a genre typically associated with Oscar bait and sometimes tiresome and repetitive. Son of Saul brings a fresh, dark, disturbing perspective that is truly an accomplishment in the genre as it is unlike any other Holocaust film I’ve seen. Furthermore, this is a directorial début for Laszlo Nemes which speaks volumes to the achievement of the film as this isn’t typical of first time efforts.Read More →
Hot Take: A glib, ill-humored, unnecessary film that acts as critic porn thanks to the presence of Maggie Smith and it’s unintentional(?) Charlie Kaufman impersonation.
Let’s get this out of the way quickly: I wasn’t a fan of The Lady in the Van. Does Maggie Smith deliver a great performance? Sure. Does that forgive the awful, ill-natured humor at the expense of a homeless woman who lived in a van for 15 years? Not particularly.Read More →
Hot Take: Technically, a 2015 holdover, Where to Invade Next is the latest Michael Moore documentary where Moore shows us how not great the United States is by showing us how great the rest of the world is. As always, it’s eye opening… and heavy handed. This Moore documentary feels more like propaganda than any previous effort.
The one thing I hate about Michael Moore documentaries is the feeling of disappointment toward my native country that I feel once it’s over. However, watching Where to Invade Next, some of Moore’s choices (and bashes) of our country were overreaching and narrow minded. The irony is while his documentary seemed to point the finger at the United States for becoming less thoughtful and progressive, I felt the same way about Moore watching this film.Read More →
Hot Take: Charlie Kaufman makes more film school student/film critic porn and this time I’m not buying it.
Sometimes it’s great when a film makes you think. Sometimes it’s fun when a film gives you pause to reflect on your own thinking and wonder if you are fundamentally flawed. Sometimes a film can be therapeutic in the way it delivers a message. Sometimes it’s bullshit. Anomalisa felt more like bullshit. It’s interesting, watchable bullshit but it’s bullshit nonetheless.
Spoiler Alert: The rest of this piece will likely give away some of the film’s plot twists and break from the typical format of this site. This is a post about film school porn, after all.Read More →
We’re a few hours away from the announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees. Now would be as good of a time as any to weigh in on who I think will be nominated for this year’s awards. And, for fun, who I’d nominate if my vote was the only one that counted:
Best Picture
My Nominations
Who Will Earn the Nominations (From most to least likely):Read More →
Hot Take: Woah! This unnecessary reboot was bad… worse than you can imagine, actually.
When I read there was a remake of Point Break coming out, I scratched my head. Is this something the world was clamoring for? It was 1991 when the original Point Break came out and while it was unintentionally campy and time hasn’t done it any favors, it’s still fun to watch. There’s nothing about viewing it, though, that suggests it’s a film in need of being retooled. Read More →
Hot Take: Brutality and ugliness can be beautiful. The stunning visuals of The Revenant combined with the details of the grisly story are sometimes hard to digest together. It’s a film you don’t want to stop watching even though you feel, at times, maybe you should. Leonardo DiCaprio delivers the performance of his career.
Occasionally, viewing The Revenant feels like a test of endurance. Some will find it to be a task and dismiss the film in a number of ways. For me, it intensified the viewing experience and helped create a rare bond between myself and the main character, Hugh Glass (DiCaprio). Early on, there was a connection that carried throughout which enhanced the film to another level. Typically, those types of connections are reserved for when you can relate to the character. In this case, the cinematography, performances and pacing contribute more to the connection than any personal connection.Read More →
Hot Take: Carol is a better movie after the fact, as it sinks in as it’s such a small film it has moments that are somewhat mundane. Afterward, it is in the mundane and humdrum where the film thrives as it’s a classic love story with very little emphasis on the fact that the love story is between two women.
I’m torn when it comes to Carol. On one hand, the film’s ability to capture the 1950s and deliver unbelievable chemistry between it’s two main characters — Carol (Cate Blanchett) and Therese (Rooney Mara) — are worth heaping praises. On the other hand, the film’s mundane tale and rather plodding pace might not be worth the payoffs of some excellent scenes. Read More →