Two founders and directors of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle felt the romantic power of "The Light Between Oceans" from director Derek Cianfrance and starring Oscar contenders Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander, and Rachel Weisz. Enjoy the first impressions of myself andJim Alexander of The Movie Blog and The Young Folks!
Read MoreOne could say melodramas take preposterous human mistakes and play them for dramatic effect. They challenge the audience to interpret how you would act defiantly or morally differently in the same situation. These films do so while still compelling you watch in hope for any semblance of a happy ending. To understand “The Light Between Oceans” is to understand melodrama. The themes of melodramatic journeys are meant to be arduous. In the medium of film, the clinchers that aid in the ability to embrace and appreciate a melodrama are its tone and the acting performances. “The Light Between Oceans” flourishes to accomplish both benchmarks.
Read MoreHere’s one word this writer never thought he would use to describe a Paul Greengrass-directed Jason Bourne film starring Matt Damon: FORMULAIC. After a tremendously successful trilogy (and not-so-successful spin-off) that had the right ending nine years ago, Greengrass and Damon were coaxed back into another cat-and-mouse spy game. Its rote construction and stakes that always feel like an arm-length away from stronger impact, “Jason Bourne” may be questionable enough to make us wonder if we’ve been seeing the same film four times now.
Read MoreAs with any year, there are hot topics being debated immediately stemming from snubs and surprises. Here are my reaction and takeaways, consisting of five snubs and five surprises, coming out of this morning's nominations announcements.
Read MoreThe 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page. Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the third year in a row.
Read MoreMore and more each year, the Golden Globes have become more an a popularity contest than a true precursor to the Academy Awards. What you're watching on TV is a party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and hosted by Ricky Gervais in an effort to be loved and share some love. To its credit, the awards show still garners legitimate attention and ratings. The winners do get a pretty positive rub and the marketers gain a few more "Winner of..." graphics to put in the newspapers next to their films.
Read MoreAs I say every year, plenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Over the life of this website, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year. I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change. I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll. This will be as forward as I get all year.
Read MoreTom Hooper's new film, "The Danish Girl" based on the fictionalized account of Lili Elbe, spearheads what has been a banner 2015 year for LGBT film subjects. This a film not about a character looking for love. All that person wants is to be the truest version of themselves on the inside in a time where what that means on the outside would not be accepted publicly. The philosophy of it all brings us back to Ralph Waldo Emerson when he said, "What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you." "The Danish Girl" delivers a story that matches the matter of Emerson's thoughts on the past, future, and inside.
Read MoreBecause of the box office clout of James Bond and Ethan Hunt and plenty of failed imitators in between, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and its small stature roots already have difficulty standing out as a ripe property for viable franchise possibilities. It would have to hit on its own unique style to succeed and stand out. Ritchie's film does exactly that to be an easy and breezy companion to the foreboding likes of the modern spies. If you feel the spy game has gotten too ominous over the years, slide over to "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and have a good time.
Read More"Ex Machina" has much more good than bad and much more surprise than contrivance when it comes to traversing the mine field that can be the science fiction topic of artificial intelligence, especially with a potentially damning title like that. The high-minded science is there. The ominous ambiance of implications and ramifications is properly defined. "Ex Machina" is very smartly created and makes the list of good (excuse my language) "mindfuck" films, joining the excellent and underseen "The One I Love" from last summer. But, it's still missing that next edge of sharpness or gear to ascend to the next level.
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