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.

Review: "The Aeronauts" is a Balloon Ride Worth Taking

Scene from The Aeronauts

Think back for a moment and try to answer this question: when has there been a nonfiction movie about a scientist that was... exciting? While the revelations that one finds through meticulous research can lead to world-changing events, nobody could mistake the story of, say, Marie Curie or Peter Higgs as a film on par with Tom Cruise's latest action flick. Then again, that's where director Tom Harper dares to dream. The Aeronauts is a mixed bag in terms of authenticity, but what he does with a hot air balloon feels revolutionary, presenting a perspective on cinema that hasn't been covered before. Imagine a Jules Verne story brought to life, full of wondrous discoveries and peril from inside the claustrophobic space of a basket. For as much as the film has issues getting things off the ground, it still delivers the goods when it gets there and elevates this goofy premise into one of the best surprises of 2019. It's a biopic worthy of its action beats, and it will have those willing to embrace is tone in a constant state of awe.

“The Aeronauts” Goes Up Up and Away in a Beautiful Trailer

Scene from The Aeronauts

With dozens of trailers seemingly dropping by the day, it becomes difficult to keep track of them all. Still, between Netflix and Amazon Studios alone, the calendar is already full of promising new titles that promise to make the season more exciting. Then again, Amazon may have saved the best for last with director Tom Harper’s The Aeronauts, which is a look at the history of hot air balloons starring two Oscar-nominated performers teaming up for the first time since The Theory of Everything. While that alone is rather exciting, the popping imagery only adds to the curiosity of what this true story has in store. More importantly, can a movie with scenes this wild stand a chance at the Oscars?

Review: "A Monster Calls" is a Powerful Movie About Love and Loss

Scene from A Monster Calls

There is a moment that comes in the third act of director J.A. Boyana's A Monster Calls that is more gut wrenching than any traditional drama (even Manchester By the Sea) achieved in 2016. It's a moment in which Conor (Lewis MacDougal) is forced to come to terms with his mother's (Felicty Jones) long and unsuccessful battle with cancer. The imagery is chaotic, yet its prose immediately thrusts the viewer into the insular understanding that goes with the concept of loss. It is a moment that overwhelms the senses, eventually creating a break that should get the waterworks flowing. More than any other film in 2016, it understands the power of visual story telling as an art form, mixing familiar themes of anxiety with the supernatural. However, this isn't a monster movie about going on adventures - at least not in the familiar way. It's about the uncertainty that comes with grieving, and the struggle to find truth through its frustrations. It may take a very familiar route regarding the cancer story, but its journey there is one of the most breathtaking abstractions melancholic family cinema has ever seen.

Check Out the List of The Academy's 322 New Members

Tom Hardy in Mad Max: Fury Road

Following the recent announcement of new rules for this year's Academy Awards, The Academy has announced who their new members are. Among the list of 322 names is a mixture of actors, directors, musicians, and behind the scenes workers. As with every year, there's a lot of surprising and welcomed entries. This year sees a list that includes people as diverse as David Oyelowo (Selma) to Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff) to Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead). If for no other reason, it is an interesting list. The following is the list of names divided into categories as well as various credits that you'll likely recognize them from.

Review: "The Theory of Everything" Excels in Greatness Despite Conventional Structure

Left to right: Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

This is a movie that shouldn't work. Everything about it is heavily documented and the zeitgeist-heavy presence of Stephen Hawking gives us every detail that we need. The famed scientist, played here by Eddie Redmayne, overcame a lot of obstacles, fell in love and won the hearts of scientists internationally. Still, with his Lou Gherig's Disease, there's something deeper in the character. There is something more refined and fascinating that keeps director James Marsh's The Theory of Everything from being a sentimental, disposable biopic in which nothing particularly shocking happens. True, everything down to the iconic voice box gets explored in the film. However, like the best of biopics, the struggles and stories are all surface level for a more universal subtext with something that compels. In this case, it is the balance between work and love, health and sanity, even science and religion. For a protagonist who is bound to a wheelchair for most of the two hour running time, the film manages to capture something more powerful about how we perceive our world.

"The Theory of Everything" Joins the Oscar Race After Successful Debut at TIFF

Left to right: Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones

Here's the truth. When I initially saw a trailer for director James Marsh's The Theory of Everything, I wasn't impressed. It looked like a cheap biopic of Stephen Hawking that wasn't really called for. In fact, the trailer was kind of cliche and boring. Even if Eddie Redmayne was solid in Les Miserables, he wasn't my favorite part. Yet I have been mistaken and this has become quickly a film to watch out for. After premiering at Toronto International Film Festival, the Oscar Buzz is sparking again with a surprise, out of nowhere candidate.