Showing posts with label Brooklyn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brooklyn. Show all posts

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Every Best Picture Nominee of the 2010's Ranked: #35-39

Scene from Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
As 2019 reached its end, another decade of cinema had passed. It's amazing to think about how things have evolved since 2010 when the biggest controversies were about recognizing genre movies. Things look different now, especially as genre films like The Shape of Water and Parasite are winning Best Picture and the voting body looks incredibly different with each passing year. With this period in the books, it feels like a good time to celebrate their accomplishments by ranking all 88 titles nominated for Best Picture from worst to best with the goal of seeing which films are more likely to stand the test of time. Join me every Saturday and Sunday as I count them down, five at a time. It's going to be a fun summer looking back on what was, especially as we prepare for the decade ahead and an even more interesting diversity that we haven't even begun to think of.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Birthday Take: Saorise Ronan in "Brooklyn" (2015)

Saoirse Ronan in Brooklyn
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.

Saturday, February 27, 2016

My Official Oscar Predictions for 2015

Scene from Spotlight
This is it, everybody. Tomorrow is the big day when The Academy Awards reveal who is going to come away champion. It has been an exciting, unpredictable season that will hopefully produce some out of the box results. From some bizarre Oscar nominees (Mad Max: Fury Road specifically) to a tough three way battle for Best Picture, this is a year that will be hard to call, especially with the results changing every other week. While you have seen my extensive coverage of this year's season, the following is my personal picks for winners. I'm confident that unlike the past few years, I will not be doing nearly as well (I really don't want The Revenant to win big). So take my picks with a grain of salt, and feel free to place your bets in the comments section. Come back on Monday for full post-ceremony coverage.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Irish Immigrant Movie "Brooklyn" to Be Made into TV Spin-Off

Scene from Brooklyn
There is a good chance that you have seen director John Crowley's sweet new film Brooklyn. In fact, you probably have if you are an Oscars purist who wishes to see everything that was nominated in a given year. With three nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for star Saoirse Ronan, the film has proven to be an endearing crowd favorite as it follows a young Irish girl traveling to America in the 1950's. However, there's one thing that is likely to please fans of the film: there is a planned TV series to spin-off pretty soon. From the same production company that brought us the film comes a series that is expected to follow a memorable supporting character as she deals with her own life in New York. The one catch? Ronan has not yet announced any plans to be involved with it.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

A Ranking of the Best Picture Nominees of 2016

Ladies and gentlemen, I have officially seen every single Best Picture nominee for 2015. You know what that means? It's time to rank them all. As is the case with every year, it's intriguing to see what exactly makes these films far more noteworthy than the hundreds of other titles competing for the top prize. In all honesty, this may be one of the better years in recent times, solely because while there's still racial diversity problems, this year featured an impressive mixture of genre diversity, which is something that has always felt like a problem. Where 2013 had only one part of the year and 2014 had only one sex, this year reflects a solid variety of what the year in film had to show. The following is my personal ranking with additional thoughts. If you wish to share your own ranking, please feel free to share in the comments.

Thursday, January 14, 2016

Here's the List of This Year's Oscar Nominees

Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the biggest days in our average awards season. It is the day that The Academy Awards announce this year's nominees. With the familiar fervor, one can easily point out the lack of diversity and the various films that were snubbed. However, it is still a pretty solid year for the films, with surprise nomination leaders The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road racking up a lot of recognition with 12 and 10 nominations respectively. So, what made the cut in all of the categories? Click to read all of the nominees plus additional commentary on the highs and lows that are now part of Oscar history.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

My Predictions for This Year's Top 6 Oscar Category Nominations

This is it, everyone Tomorrow is the day when we finally discover who all of this year's Oscar nominees are. What has made 2015 a very interesting season is that while we've had a front runner (Spotlight), we haven't had as clear of a road map for every other category. With that said, this could either become yet another conventional year, mirroring last year's "Oscars So White" backlash; or we can be seeing a random year where Mad Max: Fury Road and other blockbusters manage to compete for Oscar gold. The following is my predictions for the six big categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress. It's a difficult year to predict, and I am likely to be wrong in some ways (as I usually am). However, join in the fun and share the picks that you feel are deserving of nominations, and return to The Oscar Buzz tomorrow morning for in depth reporting and commentary on every high and every low.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Here's a Look at This Year's BAFTAS Nominations

Scene from The Revenant 
Today marked the announcement of this year's BAFTAS nominations. With The Oscars giving this year's line-up next week, Britain gets in on the game with their own prestigious awards show. While 2015 has proven to one of the most sporadic and unpredictable years on record (there's not a lot of front runners yet), there have been a few nominations lately that have given us some clue as to what to expect. With Carol leading the pack, this year's line-up has its own share of eyebrow raisers, including a few noticeable absences. The following is a rundown of every nomination as well as brief commentary on each category.

Friday, December 18, 2015

Review: "Brooklyn" is a Light But Endearing Vehicle for Saoirse Ronan

Scene from Brooklyn
The story of the immigrant is one that has long been muddled in typical dramatic flourishes. In films like The Godfather Part II, the story is only the set up for characters experiencing the American Dream. It's one that's fraught with tension of class struggles, racial division, identity issues, and economic problems. The story is itself the basis for a lot of great fiction. In the case of director John Crowley's Brooklyn, the immigrant story looks a little different through the eyes of the Irish lass named Ellis (Saoirse Ronan). There are struggles, but are something more emotional to character than society. It's a story about the quest for acceptance in 1950's New York, whose overrun streets and metropolitan environment causes even the smallest of things to feel overwhelming. While it's not a film with gravitas and thoroughly challenging plot beats, it's one that captures a sweet and sentimental side of the equation that will please those looking for something lighter during this Oscar season.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Check Out the Nominees for This Year's Golden Globe Awards

Rooney Mara in Carol
Today, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) released the nominees for this year's Golden Globe Awards. Honoring the best in film and TV, the award has often been considered a strong indicator as to what The Oscars will look like. While this isn't entirely true, the one advantage that the ceremony has is that it honors films in both comedy and drama departments, thus allowing less prestigious titles to pick up traction. This year shows no exception, especially with the presence of a few surprising picks, including Mad Max: Fury Road, Concussion, and Trumbo. The following is a look at the movie categories, followed by personal thoughts on each of the categories.