my picks for tonight’s 92nd Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2019’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 10 out of the 24 categories, which is at least a little better than last year.
Jonathan Pryce
The Man Who Invented Christmas movie review: but would Charles Dickens approve?
There’s charm and wit in its fanciful depiction of the creative process, but the film downplays the social activism that Dickens fully embraced in his work.
Dough movie review: it’s a bit too unleavened
Its message of interfaith understanding is an undeniably necessary one; too bad it’s delivered with the obvious broad humor of a sitcom Very Special Episode.
The White King movie review: a boy’s-eye view on dystopia
This sad mess of a vaguely sci-fi coming-of-age tale seemingly could not be more plugged into current fears, and yet it feels utterly irrelevant.
Listen Up Philip movie review (London Film Festival)
A celebration of male arrogance that pretends to be a condemnation. Because who wouldn’t love to spend 108 minutes with an insufferable egotistical “genius”?
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (review)
You get the G.I. Joes for Christmas. Hooray! You make them cross the demilitarized zone between the china cabinet and the DVDs near the TV to rescue Barbie. *pawft pawft pawft pawft* — enemy fire.
Hysteria (review)
Breezy, witty, gently naughty. Hello, steampunk orgasm!
question of the day: Who’s your favorite Sherlock Holmes?
I’m off to see Sherlock Holmes again today with my geek gang, so this seems like a good day to ask this question, which comes from reader DangerMom: Who’s your favorite Sherlock Holmes? TV or film, whichever. The IMDB has a loooong list of all the many actors who’ve played the world’s first consulting detective … more…
my week at the movies: ‘Bedtime Stories’
Just one movie this week, my last movie for the year (not counting the piles of screeners I’ll be spending the holiday weeks plowing through before I have to finalize my nominations ballot for the Online Film Critics Society awards). I’m dreading it because it’s Adam Sandler, but maybe Bedtime Stories (opens wide in the … more…
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (review)
Forget that this is based on a ride at Disney World, and a pretty sorry one, at that — know that it’s a wonderfully exhausting, refreshingly unironic, delightfully old-fashioned swashbuckler.
