I?m sure that many people head to the kitchen for dessert when the Oscar is awarded for Best Foreign Language Film. But that is one of the categories that I pay special attention to. Films that come from other countries and cultures often give us wonderful insights into the what the world is like outside our own cultural bubble.
I don’t usually do horror, but when I do … it’s Guillermo del Toro. Not all directors hit it out of the park for me every time, but del Toro does. While I didn’t?love?Hellboy, it was engaging;?Pacific Rim?and?Pan’s Labyrinth?are exquisitely visualized tales that would make James Cameron blush. And then, there’s?Crimson Peak. Centered around Edith…
With a compelling story, great acting, and fantastic visuals, The Martian is a worthy film to be considered for this year?s Best Picture nomination.
i’ve been part of the vibrant community surrounding the Souls series of video games (Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls I and II (soon to be III), and Bloodborne) for years now though they be oh, so much more, these are notoriously challenging fantasy role playing games, infamously brutal in their demands on the player as an…
Upon first glance, Mad Max: Fury Road seems out of place amongst its fellow best picture nominees. There?s no biographical dramatization, no outspoken activist star. There?s not even a subtitle in sight. But there is flame-spewing punk rock guitarist chained to a thirty-foot wall of Marshall amps on the front of a semi.?In other words:…
The last time I offered my $0.02 regarding Oscars 2016 was to defend the Academy and their choices. ?Now, it is time to look at the other side of the argument. ?But I still don?t think that the Academy in and of itself is the problem. A fellow film analyst (BTW?that?s my official title. ?I?m…
In the latest Steven Spielberg-directed thriller, Tom Hanks stars as James Donovan, an insurance lawyer who finds himself in Russia?in the middle of a spy swap. Based on the 1957 Cold War friction revolving around Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance) and Gary Powers (Austin Stowell), the film ratchets up in intensity and emotion as it races…
Off of the coast of Cape Cod in 1952, two oil tankers were split in half by a giant storm, but only one of them had a chance to send out an S.O.S. As the main Coast Guard unit worked to rescue those on the first ship, SS Fort Mercer, a handful of men left…
I?m a reluctant writer. ?It?s a gift. ?It?s a curse. ?It?s a gift because God has given me the voice to express myself. ?It?s a curse because of the toll it takes and the burden I have to carry. ?Your fearless leader Jacob has been nudging me to write film commentary like we used to…
I had a surreal experience in August. I left the theater for?Straight Outta Compton?momentarily, to discuss?Captive?with David Oyelowo… and ended up discussing race, violence, and Jesus Christ with a black man from England. I returned to?Compton?moments later, and found myself wondering what we’ve learned in a hundred and fifty years since the end of the…
