The Film: There has always been a fascinating story to be told about the legendary Underground Railroad, and the brave men and women who risked their lives to bring slaves to freedom in the North. Not too long ago, there was even a short-lived television series about them called “Underground.” However, this year, director/co-writer Kasi Lemmons has opted to give the most famous of these “conductors” the big screen treatment with her latest film “Harriet.” This, of course, refers to the great Harriet Tubman who made the dangerous journey between the North and South multiple times, saving hundreds of slaves from the mid-1800s through the Civil War. With just that brief description, it’s hardly
The Directors Guild of America has just finished handing out their awards for 2019, with the entirely expected result of Sam Mendes winning the top award for his outstanding direction of "1917." This now means he will likely be taking home his second Best Director Oscar on February 9th, after having won previously 20 years ago for "American Beauty." Other big winners of the evening included Alma Har'el ("Honey Boy") for First-Time Feature Film, Nicole Kassell ("Watchmen") for Dramatic Series, Bill Hader ("Barry") for Comedic Series, and Johan Renck ("Chernobyl") for Mini-Series. The next major stop on our road to the Oscars is the Writers Guild of America Awards on February 1st, so be sure t
The Screen Actors Guild has just finished handing out their awards for 2019 with a small shocker that saw Bong Joon Ho's "Parasite" taking the top award for Best Cast of a Motion Picture. This makes for the second year in a row that the top prize went to a film that had no individual nominations, and only the fourth time in SAG history that that's happened. It also marks the second year in a row where all five of the main film prizes went to different films. The only big upset occurred in the TV awards where several upsets took place, including "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" beating "Fleabag" for Comedy Cast, Jennifer Aniston beating several top opponents for Drama Actress, and Sam Rockwell win
The Producers Guild of America has just finished handing out their awards for film and television, with the somewhat surprising finish of Sam Mendes' marvelous war epic "1917" winning the top prize, beating out other major contenders like "Parasite" and "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood." This makes it the clear frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar, and makes it seem even more certain that Mendes will be the big winner at next week's Directors Guild of America Awards. The other big winners of the evening were hardly surprising at all and included "Toy Story 4" for Animated Feature, "Apollo 11" for Documentary Feature, "Succession" for Episodic Drama, "Fleabag" for Episodic Comedy, and "Che
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has just finished announcing the nominations for the 92nd Annual Academy Awards, and, you guessed it, there are plenty of shocking surprises to be found. Leading the pack is Todd Phillips' "Joker" with 11 nominations. It was followed closely by Sam Mendes' "1917," Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood," and Martin Scorsese's "The Irishman" with ten nods each. The biggest shocks include seeing Jennifer Lopez snubbed from the Supporting Actress category for "Hustlers," "Apollo 11" inexplicably left out of the Documentary Feature category, Taron Egerton getting snubbed for Lead Actor for "Rocketman," and seeing "1917" make it into
The Critics Choice Association has just finished handing out their awards for 2019, and as usual, there were a few surprises to be had. For starters, Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood" was the big winner of the evening, taking home four awards that included Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Production Design. Right behind was Sam Mendes' "1917" with three, which included Best Director (tied with Bong Joon Ho for "Parasite"), Best Editing, and Best Cinematography. Of course, the biggest surprise was seeing the enormous critical hit "Parasite" lose Best Picture with the largest critics group after clearly dominating all season, though i
The Directors Guild of America has just announced their film nominations for 2019, with one very big surprise in the mix. The four fully-expected nominees are present: Sam Mendes ("1917"), Bong Joon Ho ("Parasite"), Quentin Tarantino ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), and Martin Scorsese ("The Irishman"), but the one nobody was expecting to be here was Taika Waititi for "Jojo Rabbit," beating out several favorites including Noah Baumbach for "Marriage Story," Greta Gerwig for "Little Women," and Todd Phillips for "Joker." Who will the big winner be? Just like with the Producers Guild, it's really hard to say. Bong Joon Ho has been dominating the critics awards for "Parasite," but Sam Mendes
The Producers Guild of America has announced their film nominations for 2019, with very little in the way of surprises. In fact, these nominees were so expected that I managed to predict nine out of ten, with the one I missed ("Ford v Ferrari") being my first alternate. Yes, all of the expected nominees are here, including "Parasite," "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," "Marriage Story," and "The Irishman." Who will the big winner be? It's very hard to say for sure. "Parasite" is the obvious favorite right now, but that doesn't always mean the PGA will follow suit. Remember when "Birdman" beat "Boyhood," or when "The Big Short" was victorious over "Spotlight"? Just last year, "Green Book" unexp
Earlier this morning, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announced their nominations for 2020, with lots of surprises and major disappointments to be found. For starters, I don't think anyone would have guessed that "Joker," would be leading the pack with an insane 11 nominations that includes Best Film, Director, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing. It was followed closely by "The Irishman" and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywoood" with ten each. Unfortunately the unexpected love for "Joker" came at a cost, leaving Noah Baumbach's brilliant "Marriage Story" out of its rightful place in the Best Film category. Sadly this leaves only one great film up for the big prize: Sir
The Writers Guild of America has just announced their nominees for film, with only a couple of minor surprises to be found in the two major categories. First off, it's absolutely no surprise to find the likes of "Marriage Story," "Parasite," and "Knives Out," in the Original Screenplay category, but it is rather shocking to find "1917" and "Booksmart" there. However, given the WGA's inexplicable rules that exclude several nominees every year (this year, "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" and "The Farewell" were among the victims), I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised to find unexpected placeholders. As for the Adapted Screenplay category, there wasn't a single surprise to be found as all of
The Film: At this point, it’s undeniable to say that The Joker is one of the great, iconic villains of cinema. For over 50 years, we’ve seen amazing actors take on the legendary role, including Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Mark Hamill, Heath Ledger (and to lesser effect, Jared Leto). Each performer has brought their own unique talents to the part, imbuing it with specific traits to make it all their own, making you wonder if, after all this time, it would even be possible for anyone to come up with a new rendition. To find the answer, director/co-writer Todd Phillips enlisted the great Joaquin Phoenix to take on the iconic role for “Joker,” a new, gritty take on the villain’s origin story t
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just finished handing out the annual Golden Globes, and as usual, there were plenty of surprises to be found, starting with the big winner of the evening being Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" with three awards: Best Motion Picture (Musical/Comedy), Best Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Brad Pitt). On the drama side, the big shocker was seeing Sam Mendes' tremendous war film "1917" win both Best Motion Picture and Best Director, beating out favorites "Marriage Story" and "The Irishman," as well as Bong Joon Ho, respectively. There were several unfortunate choices made throughout the evening, including having to watch Quenti