Theory Thursday: Winona Ryder is Underrated

Winona Ryder in Stranger Things

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. 

Birthday Take: Tim Burton in "Frankenweenie" (2012)

Scene from Frankenweenie

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.

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.

Review: "Wreck-It Ralph" is the Best Animated Film, and why the Academy Won't Recognize That

As previous speculation had me believe, director Rich Moore's biggest obstacle with Wreck-It Ralph will be the subject matter. Of course, that is only the case for those that ignore the story. Disney has managed to do an impossible feat. They have managed to turn video games into an allegorical tale of accepting others as well as a tale of how disabilities shouldn't ruin your life. Sure there is a lot of video game references, but in general, Wreck-It Ralph succeeds in being one of the more heartfelt animated movies to come out in 2012.