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.
Timothee Chalamet
OFCS 2024 awards winners announced
Anora and The Substance are the big winners; Ava DuVernay, Barbara Crampton, and Nicolas Cage are honored with Special Achievement Awards…
Dune: Part Two movie review: shifting sands
Ugly, outrageous, brutal, and cynical; a genuinely terrifying film about power and politics as religion and control. There is little escapism here; hits square in the social plexus of horrifying 2024.
Don’t Look Up movie review: is the sky falling?
I laughed a lot while also feeling sick to my stomach. As subtle as a sledgehammer, almost obnoxious… and yet it might as well be a documentary. Is it elegant? Is it art? Who the fuck cares?
curated: Oscar Isaac and Timothée Chalamet on playing father and son
I don’t often discuss, in my reviews, actors’ performances, because I’m often aiming to get at the larger cultural impact of movies, but I am fascinated by actors’ craft…
Dune movie review: dreams of alien worlds
Monumental. Villeneuve tells a familiar story with uncommon elegance and pensiveness, even dreaminess, on a breathtaking scale. A stunningly gorgeous, supremely dignified movie about ugly things.
question of the weekend: have you ever attended a film festival? (and if not, would you like to?)
Do you have any particularly good — or bad — memories of the experience, perhaps of certain films you got to see that you wouldn’t otherwise have been able to, or of the overall vibe? Would you attend again, or have you?
what do women want? ‘Little Women’ and ‘Hustlers’ have some answers
Women want to be able to tell our own stories, and we want to be heard. Hustlers and Little Women are so much about this (and other important things of female concern) that they’re practically the same movie.
Little Women (2019) movie review: looking askance, with love, at a classic
A very welcome feminist interpretation of Alcott’s beloved novel, layered in sly, winking awareness of Hollywood clichés and the cultural pressures on women. Alive and electric, an absolute treasure.
Beautiful Boy movie review: emotionally wrenching drug depiction (LFF 2018)
This portrait of drug addiction and its impact on a family may be Hollywood sleek and smooth, but its authenticity is in the empathy, in the lack of judgment. Steve Carell is absolutely heartbreaking.
