Theory Thursday: Tom Hanks Deserved an Oscar Nomination for "Cloud Atlas"

Scene from Cloud Atlas

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. 

Theory Thursday: "Moulin Rouge!" is the Worst Best Picture Nominee of the 21st Century (So Far)

Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge!

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. 

Review: "Brooklyn" is a Light But Endearing Vehicle for Saoirse Ronan

Scene from Brooklyn

The story of the immigrant is one that has long been muddled in typical dramatic flourishes. In films like The Godfather Part II, the story is only the set up for characters experiencing the American Dream. It's one that's fraught with tension of class struggles, racial division, identity issues, and economic problems. The story is itself the basis for a lot of great fiction. In the case of director John Crowley's Brooklyn, the immigrant story looks a little different through the eyes of the Irish lass named Ellis (Saoirse Ronan). There are struggles, but are something more emotional to character than society. It's a story about the quest for acceptance in 1950's New York, whose overrun streets and metropolitan environment causes even the smallest of things to feel overwhelming. While it's not a film with gravitas and thoroughly challenging plot beats, it's one that captures a sweet and sentimental side of the equation that will please those looking for something lighter during this Oscar season.

Review: "Cloud Atlas" is six solid stories meshed into madness

Left to right: Halle Berry and Jim Broadbent 

It is impossible to aptly review the latest film from collaborators Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tykwer without annotating a contraction here or there. For every positive feature, there is a "but" floating nearby. Nobody can fault the movie's level of ambition and for marvelously crafting six stories from the David Mitchell novel into a sweeping epic. It is at times gorgeous, innovative, and tough to decipher actors buried under make-up. Visually, this film succeeds on all accounts. It is dissecting the rest of the film in which things get more problematic.

Can the Epic Scope of "Cloud Atlas" Win Best Picture?

Tom Hanks

Update: I have written a review that you can read here.

This Friday marks the release of the highly anticipated epic from directors Lana and Andy Wachowski (The Matrix series) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run). The film is Cloud Atlas based on the best selling novel by David Mitchell that intertwines numerous stories through numerous eras. The ambitious scale of this sci-fi film has a lot to do to fill the three hour running time. However, can these three directors take the source material and turn it into a blockbuster hit of the Fall on a scale not seen since Avatar? Also, is it possible that we'll see this movie bump heads with Ben Affleck's Argo and Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master for Best Picture?