Review: "Tully" Captures a More Personal and Funny Side to Being a Parent

Scene from Tully

If for no other reason than her Oscar win, writer Diablo Cody likely will never escape her debut script Juno. Its divisive use of flowery language both made her a distinctive voice and one whose grating presence felt false. No matter how many films she's made since, there's that legacy to overcome. With her latest Tully, it feels like a film that has multiple layers. On the surface, it's a personal story of motherhood that captures the struggles in ways that could only come from first hand experience. There's a defeated quality to the language, as if raising children are a metaphorical black hole. However, it's also a return to the world of children and pregnancy for Cody that sees her commenting not only on the parent's experience, but the naive one represented in title character Tully (Mackenzie Davis), whose youth and wealth of knowledge are reminiscent of a more scholarly Juno character. It's a film that may as well be about Cody's career, both on screen and off. It's the battle of one persona, and it's also her best work since 2007. 

The Runner-Ups: Mark Duplass in "Blue Jay" (2016)

Mark Duplass in Blue Jay

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 other 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.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Tangerine" (2015)

Scene from Tangerine

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 Duplass Brothers Are Hoping to Make "Tangerine" Actress First Transgender Oscar Nominee

Scene from Tangerine

As I have stated many times throughout this past year, things are looking to be far more interesting for LGBT culture in the mainstream. As silly as it may sound, the culture has shifted quite impressively in ways that are being impacted in media. The Amazon Prime series Transparent has continually racked up awards and nominations. Likewise, gay marriage is now legal in America, and Caitlin Jenner became a highly influential transgender woman. With a lot of gay-themed movies either out (Stonewall, Freeheld) or coming very soon (Carol, The Danish Girl), it looks to be at least a more noteworthy time. This will also be a very interesting time for another reason. Thanks to new Academy members Mark and Jay Duplass, this is going to be the first year that a transgender actress is campaigning for an Oscar nomination. 

Review: "Zero Dark Thirty" is the Great War on Terror Epic We Deserve

Upon initial release, director Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty looked like a clear front runner for Best Picture. After winning big with the  New York Film Critics Awards, the film has dispersed a little. After a not-so-stellar performance at the Golden Globes, it has fallen behind titles such as director Ben Affleck's Argo, a film which many cannot help but compare vaguely. Maybe it was the violent subject matter of torture and endless disputes brought forth by former CIA agents criticizing the realism. Then again, what stopped director Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained from losing steam for being a more hyper-violent (and frankly, a little shoddy) story? However, say what you will, but what Bigelow has produced is a masterpiece in the War on Terror genre of film making.

Can "Django Unchained" Add Best Original Song to its Nominations?

Left to right: Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained

Last week, the Academy announced that 75 songs were eligible for nomination for Best Original Song. Leading the pack with four original titles is director Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. This is noticeably shocking, considering Tarantino's history of using pre-existing music. With the release of the soundtrack today, it seemed like a great time to not only look at Django Unchained, but also the other music nominees and how doomed we are because of the lack of inspired choices at the Golden Globe this past week.

The "Zero Dark Thirty" Trailer Shows a Best Picture Nominee Coming out of Hiding

Up to this point, there has been little knowledge of what director Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty actually looked like. Being touted as "the Osama bin Laden" movie, it has been kept under wraps in ways that reflected the subject matter. The most that had been seen was a teaser trailer in which a voice screams "When was the last time you saw bin Laden?" over and over. Not too effective, but clarified that it was in deed about bin Laden. However, with a full length trailer and some actual plot revealed, does Bigelow's follow-up to Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker stand a chance of continuing to turn current events into big prize winners?