Review: "Ammonite" is an Enjoyably Quaint Love Story

Scene from Ammonite (2020)

For most of her life, Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) has lived a quiet life, focused on her work. As a paleontologist, she spends her life focused on the way that the world was, admiring the skeletal structures of animals imprinted onto rocks. It's a lonely world and one that not too many understand. Through Winslet's subdued performance, she captures the struggles of self-expression, unable to truly be happy around anyone. That is until she is forced to take care of Charlotte Murchinson (Saoirse Ronan) and finds passion starting to form. For the first time in her life, somebody cares about her, bonding over science and discovering deeply personal secrets that allow her to become more transparent.

Like most love stories, Ammonite has its fair share of goofiness that's hard to understand from the outside world. As someone who has been repressed, Mary reflects love as it blossoms, evolving from an idea into an emotion,  becoming this sweet story of love. Ronan has rarely been more vulnerable as an actress, managing to convey a strong emotional range that shows how these two complement each other. Their journey may be quaint and the endless minutes of watching them study paleontology may seem strange, but it's ultimately endearing. The story may be much too quaint at times to be a masterpiece, but it's got enough going for it that the audience buys into every smile, every sacrifice they make for each other. It's love as something formative, and the joy in these moments is the infectious heart of the film, where loneliness stops being the unbearable reality and Mary (and the audience) find something greater waiting ahead.

Composing Greatness: #6. "Titanic" (1997)

Scene from Titanic

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Wonder Wheel" (2017)

Scene from Wonder Wheel

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: "Collateral Beauty" (2016)

Scene from Collateral Beauty

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 First "Wonder Wheel" Trailer Takes Woody Allen for a Beautiful, Magical Spin on Coney Island

Scene from Wonder Wheel

It seems like no year is complete without a new film from Woody Allen. Last year marked the first since the early 90's to feature two (Cafe Society and the "limited series" Crisis In Six Scenes). Still, it's been awhile since he's released an out and out hit. With Wonder Wheel, he looks to be making a return to the awards race with a film that potentially puts Kate Winslet into the Best Actress race. Based on the first trailer, it looks like the odds are more than in her favor. It also helps that this is also one of his best looking movies in years and one of the most promising since Blue Jasmine, which was his last movie to receive Oscar consideration. All things are looking up in the first trailer, which looks to at least be his most upbeat and accessible movie in awhile.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Steve Jobs" (2015)

Michael Fassbender

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.

Theory Thursday: Alicia Vikander Didn't Deserve an Oscar for "The Danish Girl"

Alicia Vikander in The Danish Girl

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. 

Nothing But the Best: "Titanic" (1997)

Scene from Titanic

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

"Steve Jobs" Continues to Fail, Drops From 2,000 Theaters

Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs

It has become one of the most gossiped about flops of the Fall. Two weeks after its notoriously underwhelming box office debut, it looks like the worst has finally happened for director Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs movie. The film, once considered to be one of the biggest films of the season, has now been pulled from over 2,000 screens nationwide due to abysmal box office. If this doesn't mark the end of its hold on the Oscar season, then it's definitely going to be one of its strongest detractors. 

The New "Steve Jobs" Movie Bombs at the Box Office

Michael Fassbender in Steve Jobs

Every year has their share of movie bombs. In recent months, the likes of Pan have opened to disastrous numbers. While most of the films that fall this fate usually have to do with bad reviews, some good films get sucked in due to less fortunate reasons. This past weekend marked arguably one of the worst box office returns of the year with no less than four new releases being appropriately called a "box office bomb." Of course, these films - Jem and the Holograms, The Last Witch Hunter, Rock the Kasbah - were met with generally bad reviews. However, there's one closely tied to this year's Oscar Buzz that is more surprising than all of these. Director Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs went wide released this week on 2,433 screens. The results weren't pretty.

Review: "Steve Jobs" is a Flawed Yet Captivating Masterpiece

Left to right: Seth Rogen and Michael Fassbender

Ever since the dawn of celebrity culture, the concept of the larger than life individual has always fascinated us. They seem like infallible life forms sent to Earth to entertain while serving no other use. It has been chronicled throughout film history going back to films like The Great Ziegfeld and The Pride of the Yankees. These are films that tell a story that is often stranger than fiction. To a large demographic, Apple founder Steve Jobs is arguably among the largest of the larger than life celebrity; revolutionizing technology and building himself up from nothing on multiple occasions. With the latest film from director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin, the story plays like what happens when Dorothy pulls back the curtain in The Wizard of Oz. We see the fractured life of a charismatic man; creating one of the most artful, fast paced looks into acclaim that has been captured on film this year thanks in large part to Michael Fassbender's brilliant performance.

Why Kate Winslet Keeps Her Oscar Statue in the Bathroom

Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet has done a lot over the course of her career. Since coming to prominence for Heavenly Creatures, she has gone on to star in films ranging from art house to big blockbusters, including one of the highest grossing films in history with Titanic. Among her bigger achievements is that she became the youngest person to receive six Oscar nominations. Despite this acclaim, she has only won once, which was Best Actress for director Stephen Daldry's The Reader, in which she played an illiterate Nazi. With this Oscar season looking to be a potential nomination thanks to director Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, it seems appropriate to hear that she's in the news again. This time, she's talking about where she keeps her Oscar statue: in her bathroom. The reasons are as comical as you think they are.

The Trailer for "Steve Jobs" Introduces an Intense, Sorkiny Take on an Icon

Michael Fassbender

While the project has been long gestating with various snafus in casting, it looks like director Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs is finally going to see the light of day. After 2013 saw a forgettable take starring Ashton Kutcher as the Apple Products founder, the story is getting an update from a classier group of people. With a script by the quizzical Aaron Sorkin, the film is looking to be one of the front runners at next year's Oscar runs. While we have seen a teaser trailer before that provided little, if anything, of value, we now get our first full length trailer with Michael Fassbender in the lead role. The results are quite exceptional.

Review: "Labor Day" is an Insult to Forbidden Love

Left to right: Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin

The ultimate question to ask when considering director Jason Reitman's Labor Day is quite simple: Why? There isn't any shame in a director to experiment after making four highly successful, acclaimed films. But on a deeper level: why trade a winning formula to imitate what feels like the formula other people use to get Oscar nominations? The prospects make no sense despite two terrific leads and potential to raise Joyce Maynard's eponymous novel from romantic escapism into one of the contemporary, human stories that has made Reitman so enduring. From the trailer to the lack of Oscar recognition, what was this film really striving for? Upon viewing it, the viewer is unsatisfied and only left to ask "Why?"

The "Labor Day" Trailer Looks Good, But Probably Not Oscar-Worthy

Left to right: Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin

With October officially reaching the end of the line, it does feel like every potential Oscar contender has at very least released a teaser trailer. This is true for every film that is on statistics website Gold Derby's top 10 current Best Picture potential nominees. That is why is surprising that one of the most anticipated films of the year, director Jason Reitman's Labor Day, has waited this long to finally release a trailer with its Christmas Day limited release quickly approaching. Even with plans to expand in 2014, it almost feels like the release of the trailer parallels the film's actual level of buzz at the current moment, which almost seems to be flat lined. Hopefully things will turn around.