At the 96th Academy Awards, Diane Warren failed to win Best Original Song for the fifteenth time in fifteen tries. Shockingly, “The Fire Inside,” written for the movie about the guy who did not in fact come up with the idea for hot Cheetos, did not win. On the other hand, I’m willing to wager… Read More The Warren Index: Will They Win a Competitive Oscar Before Diane Warren?
Dir. Ridley Scott. Starring Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, Matt Damon Spoilers, I guess…this is still a recent-ish release. The title cards separating the film’s chapters are not subtle about what they’re after. Chapter 1 begins after five or six minutes of prologue. It belongs to Jean de Carrouges (Damon), and the screen says: “The truth… Read More The Last Duel (2021)
Dir. Ridley Scott. Starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino Spoilers for a recent release. Tempting as it is to begin with the accent work in this movie, I think it’s more revealing to begin with Dariusz Wolski’s photography. House of Gucci is shot in most of the same washed-out tones that one comes to… Read More House of Gucci (2021)
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. To read the second half of my post on 2016, click here. Well, here it is. If not the best year of the decade, then very… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2016, Part 1
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. To read the first half of this post, click here. 71) BlacKkKlansman, directed by Spike Lee There are not many scenes that are quite as funny… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2018, Part 2
You know, because I’m grouchy, and because “Oscar” and “Grouch” go together, ha ha. Rules! Most importantly, the Grouches hold themselves to movies that it is not impossible to imagine the Oscars themselves might have given attention to. Ways in include production companies that the Oscars have awarded in the past, filmmakers the Oscars have… Read More 1st Annual Grouches: 2019 Movie Year Awards
Dir. J.J. Abrams. Starring Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega There are spoilers, but can you spoil something that was already rotten? Ha! Ha! Ha! This would be a bad movie even if The Last Jedi had never existed, one reliant on lame screenwriting, quests which are urgent but never important, and a centrist distaste for bloodletting.… Read More Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
Dir. Scott Z. Burns. Starring Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Maura Tierney Dan Jones (Driver) is determined to see his report come out “the right way.” It’s what he tells a New York Times reporter (Matthew Rhys, for the first time in his career meeting someone in secret without wearing a ridiculous wig) when it looks like… Read More The Report (2019)
Dir. Noah Baumbach. Starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Azhy Robertson This came out yesterday, so I guess spoilers, but also if you’re worried about spoilers don’t go on Twitter either. Until the fight, I felt like Marriage Story worked. The fight is not a bad scene, especially if one was waiting for an earthshaking screaming match to… Read More Marriage Story (2019)
Dir. Noah Baumbach. Starring Ben Stiller, Adam Driver, Naomi Watts Would-be documentarian Josh (Stiller) is full of it, which I think we all could have learned from the trailer, but there are two scenes which prove that even from a filmmaking perspective he’s lost his grip. The second scene is for his sheer pretension; over… Read More While We’re Young (2015)
Seeing Things Secondhand 