Every Best Picture Nominee of the 2010's Ranked: #80-88

Scene from Bohemian Rhapsody

As 2019 reached its end, another decade of cinema had passed. It's amazing to think about how things have evolved since 2010 when the biggest controversies were about recognizing genre movies. Things look different now, especially as genre films like The Shape of Water and Parasite are winning Best Picture and the voting body looks incredibly different with each passing year. With this period in the books, it feels like a good time to celebrate their accomplishments by ranking all 88 titles nominated for Best Picture from worst to best with the goal of seeing which films are more likely to stand the test of time. Join me every Saturday and Sunday as I count them down, five at a time. It's going to be a fun summer looking back on what was, especially as we prepare for the decade ahead and an even more interesting diversity that we haven't even begun to think of.

Viola Davis Regrets Certain Things About "The Help"

Viola Davis in The Help

This Oscar season already has a packed schedule of potential nominees. Among them is Viola Davis, who recently won an Oscar for her role in Fences.This year she returns with a major role in the Steve McQueen-directed heist film Widows, what has already received a lot of acclaim at various film festivals. However, there's already some concern over Davis' recent past, as she has given an interview where she claims that she regretted her work in The Help. Does this mean she hates the role? Well, not exactly. What she meant it something a bit more nuanced and maybe more understandable in 2018 than it was in 2011 when the film became a late-summer sensation.

Birthday Take: Octavia Spencer in "The Help" (2011)

Octavia Spencer

Welcome to The Birthday Take, a column dedicated to celebrating Oscar nominees and winners' birthdays by paying tribute to the work that got them noticed. This isn't meant to be an exhaustive retrospective, but more of a highlight of one nominated work that makes them noteworthy. The column will run whenever there is a birthday and will hopefully give a dense exploration of the finest performances and techniques applied to film. So please join me as we blow out the candles and dig into the delicious substance.

Will "Get on Up" Make Boseman One of This Year's First Oscar Contenders?

Chadwick Boseman

In terms of music icons, there are very few standards. The most notable ones were eccentric types with definitive personalities. They entertained not only through song, but influenced fashion, physicality, and helped to shape the pop culture landscape. One of the loudest and innocuous icons is James Brown, whose music may lyrically seem surface level, but unified nations during political turmoil in the 60's and set precedents for African Americans in music. There is a reason that he is The Godfather of Soul and is the most sampled artist in history. He had a universal appeal in his simplicity. So how do you capture the magic of a performer who was so vivacious and magnetic without coming up short? Director Tate Taylor's Get on Up at very least looks to attempt to do the flamboyant man some justice.