Posts tagged The Birth of a Nation
PODCAST: Episode 97 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For their 97th episode, two turquoise film critics, two teal dads, and two blue-ish school teachers, Will Johnson and Don Shanahan put their swim floaties and performance capture rigs on to debate the highest grossing film of 2022: Avatar: The Way of Water. Coming off of last week's episode on all-time box office kings, our hosts knew the scope of James Cameron's latest epic, but they debate the quality of the personal impact.

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PODCAST: Episode 96 of "The Cinephile Hissy Fit" Podcast

For their 96th episode, two feckin' film critics, two feckin' dads, and two feckin' school teachers, Will Johnson and Don Shanahan, please welcome to Seattle-based movie afficionado Caless Davis! He joins us during awards seasons to count the remaining fingers on our hands for Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin. This actor's showcase has been impressing critics and awards voters, but it did in impress these three gentlemen. Tune in to find out!

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MOVIE REVIEW: Mine

Isolated survival films have an immense draw.  Our self-preservation instincts kick in and we, as the audience, cannot help but hypothetically put ourselves in the same conundrum as the main character.  Often these films delve into the preciousness of the life and dabble in the “what does it all mean” direction to pull even more thought and emotion.  A few metaphors dipped in symbolism make for nice touches.  Regrettably, the peril grinder of “Mine” pounds its not-so-thinly-veiled metaphors repeatedly and insufferably into the ground.

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COLUMN: New Year's Resolutions for the Movie Industry in 2017

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.  Annually, including this sixth edition, 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.  

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MOVIE REVIEW: The Birth of a Nation

Circling back to the “timely” label, the film bears the designation in equally positive and negative connotations, depending of your personal capacity.  Consider “The Birth of a Nation” to be the antithesis to “Selma” two years ago.  This film’s depiction of violent retaliation reverberates far differently than Martin Luther King’s example of nonviolence.  Audiences will wrestle with that polar opposite being empowering or troubling in justification.  

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EDITORIAL: 17 films to watch for the 2017 Oscars

On this day after the Oscars, we must already call those 2015 films old news and look towards next year's contenders.  Plenty of movies will hit theaters in 2016, but only the best become Oscar hopefuls.  Set your sights on these 17 films for the 2017 Oscars.  Keep in mind that release dates and even titles of some of these unfinished films could still change.  Surprises come all the time, but this what the crystal ball is showing for the 89th Academy Awards.  

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