Theory Thursday: Benedict Cumberbatch is Overrated

Benedict Cumberbatch in Zoolander No. 2

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. 

Birthday Take: Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement" (2007)

Saoirse Ronan

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Is "Anna Karenina" Able to Separate Itself from Other Best Picture Period Pieces?

Keira Knightley 

Next Friday sees the release of director Joe Wright's fifth film Anna Karenina, an adaptation of the Russian novel by Leo Tolstory that follows the titular character (Keira Knightley) on her journey through love in the 19th century. With all of the attention surely going to be focused next week on director David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook, is it possible that Wright can pull an upset and bring period pieces back to the Oscars, and more notably the Best Picture category? Can he nab Knightley her second Best Actress nomination and possibly a win?