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Confessions of a Snyder Skeptic: Why I’m Glad to Be Wrong About ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’
Do you have a filmmaker whose work you admire on a technical level, but emotionally has always kept you at arm’s length? Because that’s a pretty succinct summary of my relationship with the films of Zack Snyder. The 55 year-old director has 8 features under his belt, and for me at least it’s mostly been […] More
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Best Poker Scenes on Film
Poker might seem like it has been a mainstay of films for many years, but in truth, it has only recently become a popular and widespread plot device. For instance, it is easy to associate Casino Royale with poker, but the original film, released in 1967, featured baccarat rather than poker. Poker was usually seen […] More
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The “Alternate” Academy Award Nominees
Welcome to a fun little exercise that I like to do every year. The day after the Academy Award nominees are announced, I like to look at what the alternate version of the nominations would be. Imagine a Best Actor race headlined by Delroy Lindo for Da 5 Bloods, for example. Or, what about any […] More
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Awards Radar Oscars Shortlist Analysis: Original Song
Are there any categories harder to predict than Best Original Song? The music branch has notoriously excluded frontrunners in this category before (“See You Again” from Furious 7, “The Wrestler” from The Wrestler). There always seems to be room for a stray song from the end credits of a documentary. We’re still trying to figure […] More
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The Lone Screenplay Nominee – 2015 Original Screenplay Race
Writers are an odd bunch. Every year we get a movie (or two) that earns a screenplay nomination… and nothing else. These deviations from the pack mentality of the Oscars (where we see a few movies dominate in all categories) are what make for a fun and delightful nomination morning. In fact, many times the […] More
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Awards Radar Oscars Shortlist Analysis: Original Score
The list of 136 eligible scores was whittled down to fifteen finalists on February 9th. This is only the third year that the Oscars have provided a shortlist for Best Original Score. Still, the past two years provide us with some insight on what may be chosen by the music branch. See below for the […] More
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Sisters React: ‘The Happening’ Happened and We’re Mad About It
The Sixth Sense, The Visit, Unbreakable: all of these are debatably awesome M. Night Shyamalan movies. The Happening did not make that list. Being that we’re both fans of Shyamalan (most of the time), this was both an exciting and disappointing Sisters React for Casey and I. If you’ve ever spent 90 minutes watching The […] More
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in Op-ed
The Lone Screenplay Nominee – 2016 Original Screenplay Race
Writers are an odd bunch. Every year we get a movie (or two) that earns a screenplay nomination… and nothing else. These deviations from the pack mentality of the Oscars (where we see a few movies dominate in all categories) are what make for a fun and delightful nomination morning. In fact, many times the […] More
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‘Just To Be Nominated’ Blends Oscar Buzz with Murder Mystery
Oscar podcasting is all fun and games until someone gets murdered. With the Oscars going virtual this year, the likelihood of foul play is pretty low this year (though you can’t fully trust those hazmat suit delivery men). Still, if you are looking for something that blends the competitive energy of a close Oscar race […] More
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Awards Radar Oscars Shortlist Analysis: Makeup & Hairstyling
What do Click, Norbit, and The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared all have in common? They all were Oscar nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The Makeup & Hairstyling branch knows how to keep it interesting. More than any other branch, they eschew popular awards fare and will often […] More
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in Op-ed
Gina Carano Is Not A Victim of Anything but Her Own Bad Decisions
Ever heard of this thing called “At-Will Employment?” It means that, with very few exceptions, an employer can effectively fire an employee for any reason at all. It is currently the norm in all but one state. And for a long time – pretty much ever since organized labor movements were obliterated as a political […] More
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in Op-ed
Happy Birthday, President Lincoln! That Movie About You Is Still Great!
Today is a special day in American history, as it is the 212th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President who took office during the most dire domestic political crisis in our nation’s history and succeeded in preserving our Union and abolishing slavery. He was also the protagonist of one of the most surprisingly terrific […] More