Composing Greatness: #10. The Musical or Comedy Scores - "The Preacher's Wife" (1996)

Scene from The Preacher's Wife

Welcome to Composing Greatness: a column dedicated to exploring the work of film composers. This will specifically focus on the films that earned them Oscar nominations while exploring what makes it so special. This will be broken down into a look at the overall style, interesting moments within the composition, and what made the score worth nominating in the first place. This will also include various subcategories where I will rank the themes of each film along with any time that the composer actually wins. This is a column meant to explore a side of film that doesn't get enough credit while hopefully introducing audiences to an enriched view of more prolific composers' work. This will only cover scores/songs that are compiled in an easily accessible format (so no extended scores will be considered). Join me every Sunday as I cover these talents that if you don't know by name, you recognize by sound.

Review: "Hillbilly Elegy" is the Worst Kind of Oscar Bait

Scene from Hillbilly Elegy

There's a certain sadness that comes with reporting the news that Hillbilly Elegy is a giant misfire, embodying the familiar lower-class struggles as mindless melodrama. Even in the hands of someone as capable as director Ron Howard, there's no understanding of what lies underneath the surface. In a time where Middle America has a crisis worth sharing, Howard has decided to stop at the problem, too scared to have compassion for his characters. The themes of socioeconomics, drug addiction, and the passive aggressiveness it produces are details that are worth sharing, but there's no bigger point here. The ending likes to think there is, but Howard fails to make it matter. It's doubtful that he's even met a hillbilly. If he did, he would've known that their story deserves something more than nonstop shouting matches. 

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Dunkirk" (2017)

Scene from Dunkirk (2017)

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.

Legitimate Theater Bonus: #12. The Lion King (1997)

The Lion King

Welcome to Legitimate Theater: a column dedicated to movie-based stage musicals. The goal of this series is to explore those stories that originated in films and eventually worked their way onto Broadway and beyond. By the end of each entry, there will hopefully be a better understanding of this odd but rampant trend in modern entertainment. Are these stories really worth telling through song and dance? How can it even compare to the technical prowess of a camera and seamless editing? Join me on this quest as I explore the highs and lows of this trend on the third Wednesday of every month and hopefully answer what makes this Legitimate Theater.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Widows" (2018)

Scene from Widows

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.

Review: "Widows" is the Best Kind of Heist Film Imaginable

Scene from Widows

In 2013, director Steve McQueen released 12 Years a Slave. It was a film so vital and important that it could be considered one of the rare essential American films of the 21st century so far. With stark honesty, he captured an uncomfortable piece of U.S. history and helped to reshape the history, and all with lingering shots of brutality that forces the viewer to soak in the discomfort. So, how does McQueen follow up the film? Fives years later he has returned with Widows, which in the first 30 seconds features a brash edit so explosive that it rattles the audience in a new way. This is McQueen not as the methodical filmmaker he has been known as, but as someone who places urgency in every frame, artistry in every angle, and enough memorable bits to make this one of the best films of 2018. It's a heist movie with one of the year's greatest ensembles and an even more electric script by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl). It's a film that will grab you in your seat and not let go for the entire two hours. It's perfect evidence that McQueen doesn't only make good art films, but just good films in geneal.

Theory Thursday: Hans Zimmer's Score for "12 Years a Slave" was Unnecessary

Scene from 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. 

After 10 Years, "The Dark Knight" Continues to Be a Milestone in Superhero Cinema

Scene from The Dark Knight

It's sort of a cliche, but it's hard to describe the impact of director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight without stating the obvious: it started with a bang. The camera entered the world of Gotham by zooming in on a window shattering, on the other side is a group of men in clown masks running through the plan, which is essentially a game of last man standing. With each piece of the puzzle unlocked, another person dies. Nobody knows who the mastermind is, nor will they really until it's too late. It's a world that superhero cinema wasn't used to, as even Nolan's previous D.C. movie Batman Begins didn't think to go this dark, finding a world where order was finally meeting chaos, as portrayed by a 28-year-old actor who unfortunately had died earlier in 2008 only to deliver (to date) the only superhero performance that was so revered that it got a posthumous Oscar win. The Dark Knight was a behemoth in 2008 and set the template for a new era of "dark and gritty" cinema that followed. It was unafraid to take risks, and in the process solidified the mythos of Nolan's godlike hold on the blockbuster. It changed cinema, plain and simple.

Composing Greatness: #5. Oscars 2018 Edition - "Dunkirk"

Scene from Dunkirk

Welcome to a very special edition of Composing Greatness. In this limited series, I will be looking at the five scores nominated for this year's Best Original Score category. To avoid favoritism, the list will be done in alphabetical order of composers and feature the same guidelines as the original series. This is meant to explore the music behind the great films of 2017, and provide insight into what makes each of them special and whether or not they deserved to be nominated at all. Join me all week as I listen to the  music, leave some thoughts, and hopefully sway you to check out these wonderful, wonderful scores.

Review: "Blade Runner 2049" is a Good Thinking Man's Sci-Fi Epic

Scene from Blade Runner 2049

The impact of 1982's Blade Runner is hard to ignore on modern sci-fi. Despite being a box office disappointment at the time, the film set a precedent for how cinema created neo-noir and explored the idea of artificial intelligence. In an era dominated by reboot culture, it only makes sense that they would try to remake the film. Even with current high concept auteur Denis Villeneuve it seems like a thankless job, and one that has an incredible legacy to live up to Blade Runner 2049 is a film that succeeds not by rehashing what we know, but expanding upon the ideology of this universe, set 30 years after the Ridley Scott film. The film may lack an immediacy that the original has, but its status as an intellectual sci-fi epic is an incredible feat unto itself. Even if the film isn't the greatest sci-fi film of the year, it's still evidence of what cinema could achieve if it's bold enough to go there.

Review: "Dunkirk" is the Greatest War Movie Since "Saving Private Ryan"

Tom Hardy

Director Christopher Nolan's latest Dunkirk opens on a bit of an intimate shot. As a group of English soldiers run towards safety, fliers fall from the sky. It's a threat from the Nazis that is made more difficult by the reality that they're on an island and an air strike would likely kill the 400,000 men like sitting ducks. There's desperation and uncertainty in the air as they finally approach that safety: a beach where the rest of the film will take place. The Nazis have made escape nigh impossible without a torpedo to the side of a ship. Much like Nolan's other films, there is a mystery at play. How do these men survive against an unseen enemy? By finally tackling a nonfiction story, Nolan has managed to centralize his tendencies as a director and delivered one of the most breathtaking, horrifying, and gorgeous cinematic experiences of the decade. It's a film that molds the war genre to Nolan's whim, and in the process makes something both reverential of classic cinema and a sign of a new horizon ahead. 

The First "Dunkirk" Trailer Sees Nolan Going Into a Mysterious War

Scene from Dunkirk

Whether or not Christopher Nolan's track record reflects it, he is one of those directors whose every film is worthy of Oscar buzz. Considering that he's only gotten one Best Picture nomination (Inception) in his lengthy career, this notion may not be entirely sound, but becomes clear when you understand what he's doing on a blockbuster level. He's often heady and creates cinema that is challenging while also being awe-inspiring and timeless. Not all of his films necessarily succeed at this, but even the problematic Interstellar has more than its fair share of moments. With his follow-up to the out of this world epic, he decides to go to war with Dunkirk. Today the first trailer dropped for the film, and it has everything that makes a Nolan teaser one of the best things to ever happen to trailers. 

Theory Thursday: "The Lone Ranger" (2013) is Underrated

Scene from The Lone Ranger

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. 

Nothing But the Best: "Rain Man" (1988)

Left to right: Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in Rain Man

Welcome to the series Nothing But the Best in which I chronicle all of the Academy Award Best Picture winners as they celebrate their anniversaries. Instead of going in chronological order, this series will be presented on each film's anniversary and will feature personal opinions as well as facts regarding its legacy and behind the scenes information. The goal is to create an in depth essay for each film while looking not only how the medium progressed, but how the film is integral to pop culture. In some cases, it will be easy. Others not so much. Without further ado, let's start the show.

Birthday Take: Heath Ledger in "The Dark Knight" (2008)

Heath Ledger

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.

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.

Is "Rush" Capable of Putting Race Cars Into the Best Picture Category?

Daniel Bruhl

While I initially claimed that Oscar season began with The Butler back in August, it has seemed like a long, pointless gap between that film and the current stream of traffic. While I feel that Lee Daniel's look at American history will benefit from the earlier release, we are officially in the time when week-to-week, I will attempt to cover a lot more work than I normally do. As my predictions would imply the next few months starting this Friday will be a nonstop quest to catch them all and then speculate who will come out on top. It does seem poignant then that we begin season two of The Oscar Buzz properly with a Formula One racing movie: director Ron Howard's Rush.