Throughout the awards season, I’ve been tallying the minor and lead-up award winners in all of the Oscar categories on the 2018 Awards Tracker as a big source of my prognostication data. In this second post, we look at the minor film categories of foreign film, documentaries, animated films, and short films.
Read MoreAsking someone if they subscribe to the science of climate change might as well be as tenuous as asking a person if they believe in God. Climate change has become a divisive firebrand topic like few others in the decade since the Oscar-winning and punctually motivating documentary An Inconvenient Truth. In several ways, the topic has come a long way in some places only to slip backward in other measures. An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power is a persuasive update on the matter.
Read MoreOne of the perks of becoming a regular blogging contributor on a podcast site is getting the occasional chance to appear on the actual podcast. Aaron White, one of the hosts of "Feelin' Film," connected time zones to bring myself and Popcorn Confessional critic Steve Clifton together for an extended post-Oscar wrap-up show. Listen to our reactions, rants, loves, and heartbreaks to both the 89th Academy Awards and the website's first annual "Feeler's Choice Awards."
Read MoreBetween the prestigious Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday and the Academy Awards on Sunday, here are the final tallies for the 2017 Awards Tracker and my overall Oscar reactions in each category. Enjoy and see you this November when we fire all of this up again for the 90th Academy Awards!
Read MoreIn this second post, we look at the obscure minor film categories that include foreign films, documentaries, animated films, and short films. Get the dartboard out, but stick with me and I will win you your Oscar pool!
Read MoreThe documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” from director Raoul Peck unearths “Remember This House,” an unfinished 1979 manuscript of the James Baldwin’s recollections of Medgar, Malcolm, and Martin. This outstanding and informative film presents Baldwin’s musings alongside sobering imagery of both the turbulent history of the era and parallel occurrences of modern racial unrest that echo the same violence, inequality, anger, and sorrow. As an Oscar nominee in a banner year for feature documentaries, “I Am Your Negro” is essential viewing.
Read MoreThe 28 film critics and voting members, including yours truly, of the Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle completed their final ballots in 25 categories for their first annual CIFCC Awards. The CIFCC hosted an invitation-only awards reception at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.
Read MoreCapping off their inaugural year, the members of newly-formed Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle, of which I am a director and co-founder, have announced their nominees for their first annual CIFCC Awards. Their voting membership of 28 members strong completed ballots over the holidays with the goal of three final nominees in 25 categories. They will commence a final round of voting ending on January 1, 2017 and host an invitation-only awards banquet at Transistor Chicago on January 8, 2017.
Read MoreA masterfully powerful documentary, “A Doctor’s Sword,” chronicling the reflective and jarring tale of Irish World War II veteran Aidan MacCarthy, recently played as part of the second annual Irish American Movie Hooley at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. One half of this fine film is an astounding you-wouldn't-believe-it-if-I-told-you true story of World War II survival that would make "Unbroken" look like a nursery rhyme. Its calmer other half takes place in a present day where two proud families and two proud countries are forever bonded by shared history.
Read MoreThe adjectives "titan" and "humble" are not commonly found together. Famed television producer Norman Lear is an iconoclast in every way. His successful shows and the waves they created are forever chiseled into that industry. Away from the his seat as a creative czar, the man remained a hard-working and vigilant self-made man of activism and integrity. In his 90s, Lear has crossed unimaginable measures of impact and history. The new documentary "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You" stylishly chronicles his vast contributions.
Read MoreThis website has been moralizing for six years now its central message that "every movie has a lesson." As an educator, it is something that I firmly believe and stand by with every possible film, good or bad. I don't think, in all of my years of movie-going, I have ever seen a more real, living and breathing example of the power and magic of my website's theme than in the compelling and emotional new documentary "Life, Animated." A story like this is why I write. If that message speaks to you, go find "Life, Animated" immediately.
Read MoreLast night, I correctly predicted 16 of the 24 winners, tied with last year for my lowest total. To conclude the awards season with a final update of the Awards Tracker data, here are the finishing tallies, Oscar winners, and my reactions to the winners and losers.
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