Theory Thursday: Adam Sandler is Doing Some of His Career-Best Work Right Now (2015-Present)

Scene from Hubie Halloween

Welcome to a sporadic 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. 

"The Meyerowitz Stories" Trailer Promises a Serious Adam Sandler Performance... *sigh* Again

Scene from The Meyerowitz Stories

If there's one general agreement, it's that Adam Sandler's glory days as a bankable actor are behind him, at least on the big screen. His work with Netflix has produced an odd range of comedies that have varying degrees of reviews. Still, nobody would mistake what he does for Oscar caliber material. Considering that Netflix is a company that wants to get in on the awards racket, it makes sense then that their latest film, director Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Story at least has an appetizing supporting cast, featuring Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, and Emma Thompson. The first trailer has dropped, and... it's time to talk about his bizarre relationship with prestige movie season yet again. 

Ranking the Films of Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman

Today is director Jason Reitman's 38th birthday. Over the course of his career, he has done impressive work to step out of his father Ivan Reitman's shadow by creating some of the most compelling and empathetic portraits of American culture of the 21st century. Mixing heart with humor, his work has been well recognized and has garnered him four Oscar nominations, including two Best Picture nominations. In honor of his birthday, the following is a ranking of all six of his films from his impressive debut with Thank You For Smoking to his more recent work with Men, Women & Children. Even if he's floundered a bit, he's still one of the more interesting voices in modern cinema.

What Happened to Jason Reitman?

Left to right: Rosemarie DeWitt and Adam Sandler

How did it come to this? After making an impressive career with films like Juno and Up in the Air, director Jason Reitman has done something disappointing. He has become somewhat of a shell of his former self. Where his past few films all had a sense of urgency that made me call him the contemporary Frank Capra, he hasn't quite captured the magic since Young Adult. In 2014 alone, he has released two films that have failed in one way or another. After Labor Day saw him attempt to do a straight-up drama in ways that were stilted, there was hope that it was a misguided effort. However, when Men, Women & Children matched the rating on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes at 33%, the dreams of this being a potential Oscar nominee became shattered. What happened to Jason Reitman? He used to be so perfect.

A Guide to Films Worth Checking Out During the Oscar Season

Joaquin Phoenix in Inherent Vice

As September begins, it is once again the glorious time in which The Oscar Season starts up. While the year has already produced a lot of top notch films (The Grand Budapest Hotel, How to Train Your Dragon 2), it appears that there will be plenty more where that came from. It is the exciting time where the prestige films are released and suddenly the conversation will change on a week-to-week basis. What will take Best Picture? Where last year saw 12 Years a Slave take the honors immediately, this year doesn't have a distinguished lead. The excitement is about to start.

In order to give you a better look at what films to keep an eye out for, here is a list of titles that may be entering the conversation quite soon.

Reitman Returns to Thought Provoking Drama with the First Trailer for "Men, Women & Children"

Left to right: Ansel Egort and Kaitlyn Dever

One of the great things about the end of summer is that it marks the beginning of Oscar season. While films like Inherent Vice, Interstellar, and Foxcatcher have their positions planned out, there is still the actual race. Despite what prognosticators will say, there are very few instances where predictions in July will be the same in January. There's way too much that comes out that takes surprising turns. For instance, did anyone see Gravity as a Best Director winner from the first trailer? Alfonso Cuaron fans maybe did, but all of the attention was on 12 Years a Slave. With the first trailer for director Jason Reitman's Men, Women & Children, he looks to be back and ready to surprise the world not only with a film about technology and how it isolates as well as potentially surprising performances. Is this going to be Adam Sandler's foray into the Oscar race? Knowing Reitman's abilities, it just might.