Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Social Network" (2010)

Scene from The Social Network

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "On the Basis of Sex" (2018)

Scene from On the Basis of Sex

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Call Me By Your Name" (2017)

Scene from Call Me By Your Name

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

A24 A-to-Z: #48. "Free Fire" (2017)

Scene from Free Fire

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

Review: "Sorry to Bother You" is the Funniest and Smartest Head Trip of the Year

Scene from Sorry to Bother You

There is a scene in the second act that perfectly summarizes the experience of watching director Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You. In the scene, millionaire playboy Steve Lift (Armie Hammer) is seen snorting a line of cocaine that stretches to absurd length. It's a comedic moment, but it's also one that captures the film perfectly. To witness the magic of Riley's ribald anti-capitalist satire is to feel like you're high, about to experience the whirlwind of metaphors stuck in a distorted world view of a lower class man living in Oakland, CA. It keeps spinning faster and faster as Riley's band The Coup swirls a disorienting soundscape into this confection. If it doesn't make you wonder "What did I just see?" then you weren't paying attention. Even then, it's in the moments of "altered states" where the answers appear, in an abstract collage of contemporary society that looks real, but is warped and surreal. It's a beautiful creation that solidifies Lakeith Stanfield as one of the great young actors, and most of all proves that the world is insane, and it takes a person with a watchful eye like Riley to get it oh so right.

Review: "Call Me By Your Name" is the Best Love Story of 2017

It starts with a stare. Elio (Timothee Chalamet) looks down as house guest Oliver (Armie Hammer) arrives. He is one of many men that have come to the countryside to stay with his father (Michael Stuhlbarg). However, there is something that goes unspoken; something that shines in the antagonistic play between these two young men who constantly try to impress each other. Director Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name is a confident love story that tackles a different kind of LGBT story. It's one of the bisexual, eager to make the most of his first major love. It's rarely spoken, but found in the stares that Elio and Oliver share throughout the film. It may be a relatively simple story, but it's also one of the truest of the year. Love is difficult not because of what's said, but what's felt.

A Quick Rundown of Trailers for Potential Oscar Season Front Runners

Scene from Suburbicon

Once again, I apologize for being a little quieter than normal on this blog. While I have been doing regular coverage, I haven't quite given attention to the plethora of great and promising trailers that came out in the wake of the upcoming Oscar season. This is why I have decided to do a round-up of 14 trailers that, if nothing else, look to have some form of promise whether it be in acting, writing, or any technical field. It's likely that a few of these will be duds, but trying to guess who the surprise victors are always fun. The following trailers show promise and, if nothing else, show just how intriguing the next few months will be.

Theory Thursday: "Mirror Mirror" is Underrated

Scene from Mirror Mirror

Welcome to a weekly column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way. 

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Birth of a Nation" (2016)

Nate Parker

As awards seasons pick up, so do the campaigns to make your film have the best chances at the Best Picture race. However, like a drunken stupor, sometimes these efforts come off as trying too hard and leave behind a trailer of ridiculous flamboyance. Join me on every other Saturday for a highlight of the failed campaigns that make this season as much about prestige as it does about train wrecks. Come for the Harvey Weinstein comments and stay for the history. It's going to be a fun time as I explore cinema's rich history of attempting to matter.

The Runner-Ups: Andrew Garfield in "The Social Network" (2010)

Andrew Garfield in The Social Network

Every Oscar season, there are a handful of actors who get tagged with the "snubbed" moniker. While it is always unfortunate to see our favorites not honored with at very least a nomination, there's another trend that goes largely unnoticed: those who never even got that far. The Runner-Ups is a column meant to honor the greats in cinema who put in phenomenal work without getting the credit that they deserved from The Academy. Join me every Saturday as I honor those who never received any love. This list will hopefully come to cover both the acting community, and the many crew members who put the production together.

Theory Thursday: "The Lone Ranger" (2013) is Underrated

Scene from The Lone Ranger

Welcome to a weekly column called Theory Thursdays, which will be released every Thursday and discuss my "controversial opinion" related to something relative to the week of release. Sometimes it will be birthdays while others is current events or a new film release. Whatever the case may be, this is a personal defense for why I disagree with the general opinion and hope to convince you of the same. While I don't expect you to be on my side, I do hope for a rational argument. After all, film is a subjective medium and this is merely just a theory that can be proven either way.