Tag: 2019

Ash Is Purest White — Review

Ash is Purest White
Zhao Tao and Liao Fan in a scene from Jia Zhangke’s Ash Is Purest White

3Star

“Even when things feel a bit underwhelming or languid, it’s hard to not be at least somewhat compelled by the meticulousness of the journey.”

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In Fabric — Review

In Fabric
Marianne Jean-Baptiste in a scene from Peter Strickland’s In Fabric

3Star

“Even when it doesn’t quite bring everything together under its considerable ambition, it’s still fascinating, engaging, and spellbinding to take in.”

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BLOG: 2020 Oscar Nomination Predictions

by Ken Bakely

Off we go into another awards season. It seems like many of the categories at this year’s Oscars are defined by a set of heavy frontrunners, followed by one or two wild card positions, where any one of many contenders could sneak their way in on Monday morning. This makes it both fun and challenging to predict, as we try to read both the tea leaves offered to us by guild precursors, and intuition about where Academy voters’ tastes might lie, to make (at least somewhat) informed predictions of what this year’s nominations will look like. There are ample opportunities for excitement and surprise.

As always, I will be offering my nomination predictions in some of the top categories. For each category, I will rank the top contenders based on my perceived likelihood of the nomination, with one potential spoiler (or two for Best Picture, since there can be up to twice as many nominees there as in other categories). 

After the nominees are announced, I will go back and edit this column, tallying my scores and offering my thoughts. These additional notes will be listed in blue.

And with that, here we go.

UPDATE (January 13): My scores and reactions have now been added in blue.

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The Year in Review – 2019

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by Ken Bakely

Another year has gone by, as has another decade. While other, more seasoned critics can surely offer far more meaningful and detailed evaluations of the last ten years, it’s certainly apparent to me that the 2010s have ushered in wide transformations in how movies are made and viewed, and I will comment on one particular portion of that change in this column. But this isn’t a decade-best countdown – making a list for just one year provides me enough overthinking as it is – just a place to single out the movies of the past 12 months that have moved and impacted me the most. 

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