If I Chose the Academy Award Winners and Nominees – 2015 edition

I’ve now seen most of the films that had a release in 2014. This makes me more qualified to vote for the Oscars than 97.548% of the Academy’s membership. With the Oscar ceremony occurring tonight, I’ve picked, as I have the previous two years, who I think the nominees and winners should be in the bulk of the major categories. Once again, the foreign film category will be left off because I simply haven’t had access to enough foreign films to make a comment on them. Those that have made it to my neck of the woods, I will say, have been very good for the most part. Read More →

Winners of the 20th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards Have Been Announced

ccmas

The 20th Annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards took place last night at the Hollywood Palladium, hosted by Michael Strahan, broadcast live on A&E.

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood as well as Alejandro G. Iñarritu’s Birdman were among the top winners along with Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. Read More →

Liz’s ‘Life Itself’ Review: Two Thumbs Way Up

Life Itself

As someone who has been on a whirlwind adventure in writing exclusively about film for the past year, it was sincerely my pleasure and honor to see Life Itself this afternoon. Director Steve James brings a touching documentary to the audiences who grew up watching Robert Ebert tell them which movies were worth spending their time and hard earned money on. We are privy to passages directly from Ebert’s memoir of the same name, intimate interviews both on camera and via private emails between Steve and Roger, as well as sit down, one on ones with some of the people closest to this critical giant, including his wife, Chaz, director, Martin Scorsese, and Marlene Iglitzen, wife of his industry other half, Gene Siskel. Read More →