
my picks for tonight’s 97th Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2024’s films) (winners indicated)
I correctly guessed 12 out of the 23 categories, which is exactly as well as I did last year. (Five of my “should win”s did win!) At least I’m consistent.

I correctly guessed 12 out of the 23 categories, which is exactly as well as I did last year. (Five of my “should win”s did win!) At least I’m consistent.

Anora and The Substance are the big winners; Ava DuVernay, Barbara Crampton, and Nicolas Cage are honored with Special Achievement Awards…

The Brutalist, Conclave, and The Substance are the big winners…

2000’s Shadow of the Vampire is on Prime on both sides of the Atlantic.

A solid action fantasy more elemental and visceral than I expected, thanks to the potent presence of Luke Evans.
Still trying to find the best way to highlight new releases. My most recent previous format was too text-heavy and too repetitious of what I’ve already said. So I’m trying a pared-down version. Lemme know what you think, or if you think this is still too repetitive. I always highlight new DVD releases in the … more…
Words like ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’ may seem inappropriate, at first glance, because the standard hack-movie-critic phrases like ‘roller-coaster ride’ followed by multiple exclamation points don’t even come close to doing justice to the heart-revving adrenaline rush Jackson has crafted. Two words: dino stampede. I probably should have put my head down between my knees and taken a series of long, deep breaths to recover from that early Skull Island setpiece, except it would have meant taking my eyes from the screen, and there was no way in hell I could have done that.

What if the dude who played Nosferatu in that great old 1922 silent German horror movie was actually really a vampire? Cool.