Jason Clarke in a scene from John Curran’s Chappaquiddick
“Bracing [early] images are gradually replaced by fuzzier scope-broadening.”
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Chappaquiddick — Review
Mr. Roosevelt — Review
Noël Wells (center) in a scene from her film, Mr. Roosevelt.
“Mr. Roosevelt both embraces and rejects the restrictions of its thematic familiarity.”
Roxanne Roxanne — Review
Chanté Adams and Mahershala Ali in a scene from Michael J. Larnell’s Roxanne Roxanne
“If the movie strives to be a mere entry-level primer on Roxanne Shanté, it’s still lackluster. It substitutes moments for mirrored reflections: cold, distorted, and untouchable.”
Maudie — Review
Sally Hawkins in a scene from Aisling Walsh’s Maudie
“Maudie is reverential of its subject without ever investigating her personhood beyond skin-deep trivia.”
A Wrinkle in Time — Review
Storm Reid and Levi Miller in a scene from Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time.
“There’s a constant juxtaposition between fascinating concepts and lackluster execution.”
On Body and Soul — Review
A peek into the dream space of Ildikó Enyedi’s On Body and Soul
“An arresting pastiche of abstract tone and theatricality.”
BLOG: Get Out of the Water in Ebbing, Missouri – Thoughts on the 90th Academy Awards
Jimmy Kimmel hosts the Oscars, live from the stage of the upcoming Broadway adaptation of Disney’s Frozen
by Ken Bakely
Despite eventually revealing an interior set that looked like if the live action Beauty and the Beast threw up on Norma Desmond’s deathbed hallucinations, there was surprisingly little bombast in Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony, even more astonishing when one remembers that it was the 90th anniversary show. Though the producers are certainly thankful that the evening went without a replication of last year’s infamous gaffe, they surely weren’t pleased to wake up this morning and discover that last night’s show is the lowest rated Oscarcast in recorded history. Many will inevitably argue that the decline in ratings is attributable to the “politicization” of acceptance speeches, but this is unlikely. Ebbs and flows in ratings are more directly correlated with the box office performance of the nominated films. The Academy should pray that Black Panther lands big with their members in Year 91.
BLOG: Appendix to 2018 Oscar Predictions
by Ken Bakely
NOTE: This piece is meant to be read as a supplement to my 2018 Oscar predictions, now live at Film Pulse.
When taken as a whole, this year’s race for Best Picture is as wide open as I can ever remember. This late stage gravitation to a handful of major contenders only occurred well after the start of televised precursors in January. The race appears so evenly matched that through the convoluted process of tabulating Best Picture votes (an instant runoff procedure), could we really be surprised if anything not named, say, Darkest Hour walked home with the prize?
Black Panther — Review
Chadwick Boseman in a scene from Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther
“It flies so high, absorbing ideas, spouting momentum and enthusiasm, that it avoids the nature of these big superhero projects to feel shoehorned.”
Phantom Thread — Review
Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps in a scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread
