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.
Zoe Saldana
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…
AWFJ 2024 EDA Awards winners announced
The Brutalist, Conclave, and The Substance are the big winners…
Avatar: The Way of Water movie review: blueface on a blue planet
The filmmaking craft may be (mostly) astonishing. But the craft must always — always — be in aid of a compelling story populated by compelling characters… and that’s not so much the case here.
movies by or about women opening US/Can Aug 09
Andrea Berloff writes and directs The Kitchen, starring Elisabeth Moss, Melissa McCarthy, and Tiffany Haddish; more… [This post is for Patreon patrons only for the first month.]
Missing Link movie review: unevolved throwback
A quite literally cartoonishly awful protagonist, a plot that makes no sense, lowbrow humor, and terrible gender dynamics add up to an unpleasant retro mess.
Avengers: Infinity War movie review: it’s all been leading to this
Ten years of Marvel superheroism culminates in a battle for the universe itself. Exhausting, bitterly humorous, and gripped in a stunning finality, it’s almost too much to take in, yet somehow not enough.
I Kill Giants movie review: the terrible burden of secret fears
A movie as thrillingly weird as its protagonist. We are totally enrapt by the wonder and the terror of her imagination, and the power of it to create joy and solace.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie review: 2 same 2 spurious
Thinks it’s edgy and transgressive, the punk little brother of all those other stodgy comic-book movies, but it isn’t. It’s just slightly more candy-colored.
Star Trek Beyond movie review: future positive (but it won’t come easily)
Intense action; smart, funny nods to its roots while moving in a new direction; and explicit confrontation of a problem always at the heart of Star Trek.
