
my picks for tonight’s 94th Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2021-ish’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 11 out of the 23 categories, which is exactly as well as I did last year.
handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
I correctly guessed 11 out of the 23 categories, which is exactly as well as I did last year.
In the run-up to the ceremony on Sunday, March 27th, you can watch almost every film that’s been nominated from the comfort of your sofa. Very handy if you’re participating in an Oscar pool.
Asghar Farhadi attempts to meld melodramatic mystery with his usual humanistic drama, but leaves little space for either impulse to be satisfied. Disappointing and strangely anticlimactic.
The Shape of Water wins Best Film, and Best Director goes to Guillermo del Toro. Agnes Varda is Defying Age and Ageism, and Hollywood’s sexual tormentors are inducted in the AWFJ Hall of Shame.
Darren Aronofsky’s self-pitying cinematic rending of garments is repulsive, transparent, and pointless. A grotesquely wrapped gift box of utter banality.
The franchise finally overstays its welcome with this cacophony of CGI spectacle, a contrived and confusing plot, and a newly cruel and stupid Jack Sparrow.
A tired old piece of action junk that expects us to sympathize with a very bad man. We don’t.
Almost, but not quite, hilariously demented — if accidentally so — drama about sex and death, and why not to get involved with drug cartels.
And Javier Bardem and Idris Elba and Ryan Gosling. (And also Channing Tatum, if you’re into that sort of thing.) From “Love You Forever: 5 of Hollywood’s Sexiest Men Read to You from Children’s Classics” at Bookriot: You know what they say: There is nothing sexier than a man reading a children’s book. Okay, so … more…
Oh, goody. Terrence Malick has another film about running in fields at the golden hour.