A24 A-to-Z: #40. "The Sea of Trees" (2016)

Scene from The Sea of Trees

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Dallas Buyers Club" (2013)

Scene from Dallas Buyers Club

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.

Super Delegates: John Quincy Adams in "Amistad" (1997)

Anthony Hopkins in Amistad

Welcome to Super Delegates, a bi-monthly column released on Tuesdays and are done in part to recognize politics on film, specifically in regards to Oscar-nominated works. With this being an election year in the United States, it feels like a good time to revisit film history's vast relationship with politicians of any era and determine what makes them interesting while potentially connecting them to the modern era. The series plans to run until the end of this 2016 election cycle, so stay tuned for every installment and feel free to share your thoughts on films worthy of discussion in the comments section.

Review: "Kubo and the Two Strings" is a Gorgeous Masterpiece

Scene from Kubo and the Two Strings

In an era where animated films are more likely than not to get the CG treatment, one has to wonder if these movies carry the magic that they once did. Beyond the rare exceptions like How to Train Your Dragon 2 or Inside Out, most fall into a formulaic, familiar style that make for an enjoyable experience, but leave plenty to be desired in the aesthetic department. It is in reasoning like this that Laika's latest Kubo and the Two Strings isn't just the best animated film of the year, but possibly one of the most exciting and revolutionary aesthetically of the decade. The blend of stop motion and CG animation unveils the potential for what cinema can be by telling the story of a boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson), a Monkey (Charlize Theron), and a Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) as they go on a mystical journey that explores the grand themes of imagination. If nothing else, it's the studio's most assured film since 2009's Coraline, and it may be their most ambitious yet.

A Round-Up of Recent Movie Trailers With Oscar Potential

Amy Adams in Arrival

With Oscar season upon us, it becomes harder and harder to keep track of all potential nominees with trailers released. I apologize for not quite keeping up with every new release over the past few weeks. As I do from time to time, I have decided to round up a few trailers for films that have potential to be awards contenders in some respects. While they range from plausible to a stretch, it's intriguing to think of which contender has already shown its face. Will Arrival, Allied, or even (but not likely) Hacksaw Ridge be the film of awards season? I don't have any answers, but I sure have plenty of opinions to make up for it.

The "Kubo and The Two Strings" Teaser Shows Laika Continuing to Expand Their Style in Interesting Directions

Scene from Kubo and The Two Strings

There are few trailers for animated films that are as exciting as Laika Studios. The company that has revolutionized stop motion animation with digital effects and innovative story telling have done wonders by crafting family films that mix beautiful imagery with challenging stories. While the studio's output is small, three major films to date, each entry has shown at least some growth that proves why you should be taking them seriously. In the case of their latest, 2016's Kubo and The Two Strings, they come back to the game with one of their best teasers yet. From the team that brought you ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls comes their latest film, which looks to be just as innovative and challenging as everything they've done before. And that's a good thing.

Theory Thursday: Chiwetel Ejiofor Should've Won Best Actor for "12 Years a Slave" (2013)

Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave

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. 

This Oscars Ceremony Performers and Presenters Continue to Get Weirder

Lady GaGa

If the current line-up of performers and presenters at the Oscars hasn't gotten you all sorts of excited, curious and confused, then you're about to experience a whirlwind of surprises. While previous reports have announced the familiar line-up of performers who will sing the Best Original Song nominees, there hasn't been too great of an understanding of what the show itself will be like. It has only been a week and it looks like we'll be having one of the craziest ceremonies in years. Or at least one of the most inventive.

Review: "Interstellar" is a Heady Trip Through Space with a Few Bumps Along the Way

There is a moment in the first hour of director Christopher Nolan's space epic Interstellar that achieves something awe-inspiring. It is the enviable quality to overwhelm the senses while transgressing story and creating something beautiful. As Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) drives away from his family, who he may never see again, there's focus on him driving away spliced with scenes of his fate, a space shuttle, taking off. The symbolism is rich and covers so much ground without telling too much about Cooper's psyche. The moment is replicated a few minutes later as scientist Professor Brand (Michael Caine) reads a Dylan Thomas piece over the vast empty wasteland of space. Despite a slow beginning and an arbitrary plot progression, the moments became warranted quickly with some of the most beautiful, artistic directions that Nolan has ever gone in. It felt that for a moment like he would make the ultimate space epic, at least since 2001: A Space Odyssey (though probably more lowbrow). The issue is that once the film hit this high, it failed to maintain it and by the conclusion, it turned into something of a mess. The lofty goals that were laid out now served as ridiculous themes unable to be worked out logically. Interstellar is a flawed epic full of wonderful moments that tragically lose sight in the final 40 minutes.

A Look at the Divisive Early Opinions of "Interstellar"

Matthew McConaughey

Want to know the merits of director Christopher Nolan? His current film Interstellar, set for release on November 7, currently holds 75% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. While this rating is sure to go up or down, the early reviews have warranted it as his lowest rated film to date. It's a rather impressive move considering his place as one of the modern era's masters of the blockbuster. This means that unlike all of his peers, his films are all generally accepted as good-to-great. With the first batch of reviews coming in, here's a look at how the race has changed (or not) with what we know.

"Interstellar" is Set to Be Nolan's Longest Movie Yet

After the warm-up from September, next week marks the official launch of Oscar season with Gone Girl. It is an exciting time to be preparing for an intense movie season in which the big shots come out to play (but don't forget about The Boxtrolls tomorrow). Among them is a familiar name of a director who has had quite a career that in many ways makes many consider him a potential Steven Spielberg or Stanley Kubrick of this generation (I'm not as high on hyperbole about him). I am talking about director Christopher Nolan's Interstellar, which is probably his most ambitious film to date. With gorgeous trailers that look straight out of the TV series Cosmos, one can only hope that this film delivers. However, there is one thing for sure. Regardless on quality, this will be his longest film to date.

The "Interstellar" Trailer Shows the Return of the Mysterious, Exciting Nolan

If there is one truth to be made, I am a huge fan of director Christopher Nolan. While I admit that The Dark Knight Rises was a conflicting conclusion to the trilogy, he knows how to execute an engrossing story. After two years from the scene and free from dealing with Batman, we have his follow-up: Interstellar. Up until last week, very little was known about the film except of Matthew McConaughey driving through a corn field. With the launch of the trailer, we have definitive ideas of what to expect this Fall from the director, and it looks great.

A Few Thoughts on the Academy Awards Ceremony: The Good

Steve McQueen

In order to best explore all sides of the 86th Academy Awards Ceremony, I have decided to split my opinions up into two posts: the good and the bad. We'll begin with the good, as any given year is not without its charm. For starters, there wasn't any major upsets for those predicting the top dogs. While this means that it limits the bickering for most of the ceremony's legacy, it does mean that the Academy has done something right and the results will now be tested by time. Of course, there is much else to be said from speeches to performances to the overall presentation. Even if this year's ceremony had a lot of downsides, it definitely had a lot of great memorable moments.

A Closer Look at the Best Actor Nominees

One of the most difficult races at this year's ceremony to predict is going to be the Best Actor race. Along with a scandalous moment in which CNN supposedly revealed this year's winner, this race has lead to plenty of discussion, and for good reason. Each performance delivers a slightly different skill that makes it better than the next. Its only issue is that in a year where the playing field almost feels too even, it leaves plenty of surprise for Oscar night and has already launched numerous think pieces such dissecting each nominee. The following is my look at the field as well as who I think should win as well as why.

Review: "Dallas Buyers Club" is an Engrossing Portrait of the AIDS Epidemic and the Power of One Man

Matthew McConaughey

One of the biggest surprises in the Oscar race this year is just how successful a threat that director Jean-Marc Vallee's Dallas Buyers Club has become. In a year where conversation has been heavy around 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle, it is exciting to see a film that had limited appeal sweeping up wins from groups such as the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) and ending up with a Best Picture nod as well as five others. Then again, one of the biggest underdogs of this year's ceremony had an uphill battle and managed to turn in an impressively audacious look at AIDS and the vaccinations in 1980's America. It may not be the best nominee, but it does make itself worthy of mention.

Review: "The Wolf of Wall Street" is a Flawed Classic About a Flawed Class System

Left to right: Margot Robbie and Leonardo DiCaprio

If there is one indisputable fact, it is that Martin Scorsese transcends time almost every time he directs a film. Now in his 70's, he continues to make challenging tales with cinematic grace and beauty. Movies such as The Aviator and Gangs of New York reflect a director now capable of making an epic out of personal American stories. It is arguable that he lost the fervor and sting that gave us Goodfellas or The King of Comedy, but one needs to not look any further than his latest: The Wolf of Wall Street. Even with controversy surrounding it, its sustenance is so thick with cocaine-stained suits that this capitalism epic is striking and reflects the Scorsese film that we'd never expect: a $100 million budgeted unbiased exploitation flick.

Update: "The Wolf of Wall Street" Will Be Released in Time for Christmas

Leonardo DiCaprio

For those worried that this season's most anticipated movies were being moved to next year, there is one silver lining. It was announced today by Paramount Studios that director Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street will be coming out in 2013. Despite initial conflicts in which it would be opening against other Paramount film Jack Ryan, the studio decided to push director Kenneth Branagh's thriller back and have the Wall Street story qualify for this year's Oscars. While films like Foxcatcher and Grace of Monaco are still on for 2014, it is a relief to know that one of the most anticipated movies of the year is still happening and while delayed, doesn't keep the tradition going of Leonardo DiCaprio's many, many pushed back films. 

The Release of "The Wolf of Wall Street" is Delayed Due to Scheduling Conflicts

Leonardo DiCaprio

Like majority of people who have been following my Oscar Buzz posts in the past few months, I have been greatly anticipating the upcoming release of director Martin Scorsese's latest film The Wolf of Wall Street. The fun, vivacious trailer remains one of the greatest pieces of marketing this year, bar none. However, in case those waiting for the film weren't worried enough, news was recently announced that in fact, we'll have to wait a little longer for the film to come out. Not by a few weeks, but at least until next year.

Will the "Dallas Buyers Club" Trailer Combine Weight Loss with an Oscar Nomination?

Matthew McConaughey

If one person deserves a most improved trophy over the past few years, it is Matthew McConaughey. Where he had become a leading man in romantic comedies through the early 00's, he has finally become someone that I respect. In fact, I have argued twice before with Magic Mike and Mud for Oscar consideration. Of course, I have held out faint hope that of every potential movie that he has made during his recent reincarnation, the one that I have placed the most money on is director Jean-Marc Vallee's Dallas Buyers Club, which if nothing else has the distinct honor of being the film that the actor sacrificed his chiseled looks for a skinny, lanky HIV victim. If the trailer is any speculation on his chances, I feel like we may be looking at one of the first serious contenders.

"The Wolf of Wall Street" Trailer Promises the Greatest Wall Street Party Ever

Leonardo DiCaprio

Almost with an uproar and a dance to match, director Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street has hit the scene. This past week saw the launch of the trailer set to Kanye West's "Black Skinhead" and packing so much life and humor into a story that looks to be The Great Gatsby by way of Wall Street. Most of all, it set anticipation high. Is it possible that we just saw the first film to be taken seriously for an Oscar nomination this year?