Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Social Network" (2010)

Scene from The Social Network

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.

Composing Greatness: #6.The Freshman Class of the 2010's - "Her" (2013)

Scene from Her (2013)

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.

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011)

Scene from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

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.

A24 A-to-Z: #52. "A Ghost Story" (2017)

Scene from A Ghost Story

In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for ears to come.

An Appreciation of Soderberg's 'Last' Movie "Side Effects"

Scene from Side Effects

It is likely that if you watch movie trailers, then you'll remember the Logan Lucky one. How could you not? It's the return of the great Steven Soderbergh, finally directing more movies after a brief hiatus that lead to two TV series; one he worked closely on (The Knick) and one he mostly produced (The Girlfriend Experience). Still as the credits rolled, it played through his most memorable hits: Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12, Ocean's 13, and Magic Mike. Not a bad line-up. Still, for a filmmaker who seems to never sleep, it seems odd that nobody talks about his last film: 2013's Side Effects. It may not have a moment as eye popping as Magic Mike's gyrating torsos, but it does have a lot that is underrated and overlooked. With Logan Lucky coming out on Friday, I felt the need to look back on the film he made before saying goodbye, at least for then. 

The First Trailer for "Song to Song" Sees Malick Playing a Familiar Tune

Rooney Mara

It didn't used to be this way. The promise of new Terence Malick seemed to be something that would happen once every decade, or twice if he was feeling inspired. However, the past few years has seen him form a late period creativity that has made for some interesting results. From 2011's The Tree of Life to last year's Knight of Cups, he has managed to make his meditative style grow into more contemporary settings. With is latest Song to Song, he looks to tackle the music scene. It may not look bad, but it looks like what the average later day Malick film looks like these days. Again, it's not a bad thing, but it doesn't provide much confidence either.

Review: "Lion" is a Powerful Film About Finding Faith in Loneliness

Dev Patel

Many films capture the feeling of loneliness with poetic and often abstract imagery, but few show it as anything but a means to an end. Yes, the feeling of abandonment is a frustrating circumstance, and one that creates complex emotional responses. In director Garth Davis' Lion, he sets out to tell one story of persistence causing loneliness to end on a happy note. The story may play the conventional fields, but predictability isn't the point. Lion is a story of hope that asks us, even without saying, to have faith in the impossible - for it is where the greatest challenges lie. With a phenomenal performance by Dev Patel, this is a film that not only captures the heartbreaking loneliness in lengthy detail, but also the ability to cope and live a normal life within the situation. It may not be the most groundbreaking film, but it may be among the year's most heartwarming, innovative experiences. 

Failed Oscar Campaigns: "Carol" (2015)

Scene from Carol

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: "Kubo and the Two Strings" is a Gorgeous Masterpiece

Scene from Kubo and the Two Strings

In an era where animated films are more likely than not to get the CG treatment, one has to wonder if these movies carry the magic that they once did. Beyond the rare exceptions like How to Train Your Dragon 2 or Inside Out, most fall into a formulaic, familiar style that make for an enjoyable experience, but leave plenty to be desired in the aesthetic department. It is in reasoning like this that Laika's latest Kubo and the Two Strings isn't just the best animated film of the year, but possibly one of the most exciting and revolutionary aesthetically of the decade. The blend of stop motion and CG animation unveils the potential for what cinema can be by telling the story of a boy named Kubo (Art Parkinson), a Monkey (Charlize Theron), and a Beetle (Matthew McConaughey) as they go on a mystical journey that explores the grand themes of imagination. If nothing else, it's the studio's most assured film since 2009's Coraline, and it may be their most ambitious yet.

The Runner-Ups: Andrew Garfield in "The Social Network" (2010)

Andrew Garfield in The Social Network

Every Oscar season, there are a handful of actors who get tagged with the "snubbed" moniker. While it is always unfortunate to see our favorites not honored with at very least a nomination, there's another trend that goes largely unnoticed: those who never even got that far. The Runner-Ups is a column meant to honor the greats in cinema who put in phenomenal work without getting the credit that they deserved from The Academy. Join me every Saturday as I honor those who never received any love. This list will hopefully come to cover both the acting community, and the many crew members who put the production together.

Birthday Take: Rooney Mara in "Carol" (2015)

Rooney Mara in Carol

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.

Rooney Mara Expresses Her Regret Over Whitewashed "Pan" Role

Rooney Mara

Save for Chris Rock's highly anticipated opening monologue, it seems like the Oscars So White debate has finally mellowed out after initial cries from Jada Pinkett Smith boycotting the ceremony to other celebrities saying problematic things. Basically we're at the point where you're either defending the Oscars as not being the problem, or blaming it as the pinnacle of what's wrong with film in 2016. However, there's been one recent viewpoint that's been expressed that seems prescient. Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Carol, Rooney Mara had an interesting year last year for a different reason. She was attacked in playing a Native American in director Joe Wright's box office bomb Pan. When asked recently how she feels about the Oscars So White issue, she spoke the familiar cry of equality while also preaching a certain level of regret. 

Review: "Carol" is About as Perfect as Movies Get

Scene from Carol

Love. At its core, almost every fiction narrative film has been in some capacity about the subject of love. It could be the explicit love between two subjects. It could be for the love of power. Whatever it may be, love remains just as vital to cinema after a century despite the emotions being the same thing in a different wardrobe. So how exactly do you improve on love in ways that The Lady Eve or Titanic hasn't covered? While thousands of films have tried, none have come close to the sublime new film from director Todd Haynes called Carol. While there's not much of a gimmick (two women fall in love), it's an example of love at its core; expressed with visual beauty and narrative excellence the likes of which haven't been seen in American films for quite some time. Carol may not have the most exciting story, but it has the purest depiction of what love is all about.

The "Kubo and The Two Strings" Teaser Shows Laika Continuing to Expand Their Style in Interesting Directions

Scene from Kubo and The Two Strings

There are few trailers for animated films that are as exciting as Laika Studios. The company that has revolutionized stop motion animation with digital effects and innovative story telling have done wonders by crafting family films that mix beautiful imagery with challenging stories. While the studio's output is small, three major films to date, each entry has shown at least some growth that proves why you should be taking them seriously. In the case of their latest, 2016's Kubo and The Two Strings, they come back to the game with one of their best teasers yet. From the team that brought you ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls comes their latest film, which looks to be just as innovative and challenging as everything they've done before. And that's a good thing.

The "Carol" Teaser is a Sultry and Beautiful Debut for the Potential Oscar Contender

Cate Blanchett

It seems like we have been collectively talking about director Todd Haynes' Carol for eons now. Since its premiere this past summer at Cannes, it has been sparking a lot of debate with many prospecting that it will, in fact, be receiving an Oscar nomination at very least for Cate Blanchett. With the tale of lesbian love with co-star Rooney Mara, the film has sparked interest as the director's return to film (he most recently did the HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce). Well, after months of fretting and speculating, there's some good news. There's officially a first trailer that is sure to get you hooked in the ecstasy of its two leads.

Lesbian Drama "Carol" Receives New Release Date

Cate Blanchett

If you're already marking up your calendar for Oscars season, there's plenty of chance that director Todd Haynes' Carol has been on there since its stellar debut at the Cannes Film Festival. With its initial release date planned for December 18, it was looking to open among a heady group that included The Hateful Eight and even blockbusters like Star Wars: Episode 7 - The Force Awakens. Even if Carol is almost a surefire Oscar contender, it made a move recently that saved it from falling into obscurity. It has a release date that gives it more of a significant notice to the casual audiences.

A Comparison Between "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Films (2009 and 2011)

Left to right: Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig

As the years have dragged on and the culture continues to find new fads, it is interesting to note the legacy of author Siteg Larsson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." While the book itself is a behemoth - accumulating 15 million copies sold worldwide - there are two camps on the two main filmed versions and the heroines that are at the center. With American star Rooney Mara claiming that the sequel is pretty much not happening and David Lagercrantz writing the first book since the author's death in 2004 called "The Girl in the Spider's Web," it seems as opportune of a time as ever to look back on the two filmed versions and see how the language and visual outlines play into each other.

Update: The "Pan" Release Date Gets Moved From Summer to October

Hugh Jackman

The last time that we heard from director Joe Wright's Peter Pan adaptation Pan, it had received a trailer and a promising slot in the middle of summer. However, there has been recent news regarding the film's release date that may either prove to be a bad sign or a great one depending on how you prefer to see things. Instead of coming out at the end of the summer, it is now coming out on October 9. For the optimism that I have previously stated, I am hoping that this is the sign that this big budgeted adventure film is capable of being an Oscar contender. Let's take a look at the facts after the jump.

The First "Pan" Trailer is a Beautiful Spectacle Promising Great Adventure

Hugh Jackman

With awards season in our midst, it isn't entirely wise to look forward to next year's potential selections. However, there are few names as reassuring a contender as that of director Joe Wright. Known for making definitive adaptations of some of the best literature with Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, there is reason to celebrate every time he comes around with a new film. After making the divisive Anna Karenina, he has been out of the limelight working on a new adaptation of a Peter Pan origin story known as Pan. The first trailer has dropped and it's time to get excited once again. Wright cannot make an ugly film. That's just fact.

Oscar Darling Daldry is Back with the First "Trash" Trailer

Rooney Mara

If there is one thing that Oscar aficionados know, it is that the Academy has a love affair with director Stephen Daldry. To the average film goer, he is just another name. To those that have paid attention to trends, he is one of a very small group of people who have had every single one of their films in the Best Picture race. Not since John Cazale has someone had such an impressive record. With his fifth film, Trash, things are looking to remain the same. Except this time, it looks to be a lot more hard hitting, intriguing, and aggressive than anything that he's done before. To say the least, Trash will likely keep Daldry's record strong.