The animated short offerings are a much stronger category, overall, than the live action shorts turned out to be. That’s not to say that everything is a fun and easy watch. There are a few here that may hit different people in different ways. From the loss of family because…
Normally the shorts are what I really get excited for when it comes to the Oscars. I’ve traveled into New York to see them and, as they’ve become more accessible, I’ve purchased them and had viewing parties, or even just shown personal top picks during Oscar night with friends. But…
So the Oscar Nominations are out and they are… well, pretty dull this year. We basically have the same 10 movies plastered over every category with little variation. While some of the movies are deserving delights (I’m thinking of my favorite, The Favorite), there are also more than a fair…
I’ve discovered, over the course of years, that my childhood canon is not the same as most of my friends. They grew up with animated Disney, I had Tron and The Black Hole. They had Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, I had Tom Swift Jr. They had Animaniacs, I had…
This year at NYCC, I attended a panel called Pop Culture Witches. It covered specific magical/witch characters throughout movies, TV, comics, books, etc. and the panelists were a delightful group of people who have either created these witches, are in the process of creating new ones, or themselves identify as…
Today (8/6/18) there will be free screenings of this movie with no enforcement of ratings! Get your tweens and teens to see this Rated R movie. This Wednesday night. No ratings enforced. If you’ve been through 8th grade, eighth grade is for you. This is not just adult content. This is…
Sorry to Bother You is one of the strangest movies I’ve seen in a long time. And I expected it to be strange from the trailers. It’s also one of the most impressive. Visually the trailers seem to advertise a “black Michel Gondry” (and in fact, there’s one “blink and…
As Avengers: Infinity War finished and the theater lights came up I was already past anger and working my way towards acceptance of what I had just seen. There were parts of the movie that felt weak but overall it was absolutely at the level of average Marvel fare. The…
Sometimes there’s a strange serendipity that happens in culture and pop-culture. There are times when things line up, like when movies come out in perfectly matching pairs about such random things as asteroids, ants, volcanoes, androids, and mars. And then there are times when two things absolutely perfect for each…
Phantom Thread Originally this was going to be another double feature entitled Two World War Twos wherein I would review Darkest Hour and Dunkirk. I’ll be honest, I’m somewhat burnt out on World War II (#askaJew) and wasn’t particularly looking forward to two dour features to slog through on the subject. I had…
This is the category of Oscar nominated movies that co-star Timothée Chalamet. No? Sorry. This is the category of nominees that are oddly recent period pieces. Wrong again? Ugh. Okay, how about these are the coming of age stories for 2018? There we go. Call Me By Your Name (deserves Best…
The Post This is a weird one. It’s clearly the most Oscar-baitey movie one could imagine, nearly being the platonic ideal of awards begging. It’s also fiercely mediocre. The Post has a pedigree that should have a broad enough appeal, backed by gobs of talent, to be “good” at the…
