Starting with a dramatization of the murder of Trayvon Martin and mixing in other horrors the caste systems of the world have wrought, Origin is a movie you’ll certainly need to gird your loins for if you belong to a marginalized community. It’s a stark look at caste systems and how they have impacted the
Sometimes in the world of watching movies you encounter films that just don’t feel like they were made for you. Sadly, one of those movies is A Wrinkle in Time, directed by Ava DuVernay, which for all it’s elements, can’t cohere into anything more than a messy exercise in making a movie.
‘Twas the night before Oscar nominations and all the bloggers/critics/awards enthusiasts are hedging their bets at what will be announced tomorrow. For me, this has been one incredibly interesting phase 1 with films like Nightcrawler, American Sniper and The Grand Budapest Hotel making strong cases while the likes of Unbroken and Fury have faded a bit. There are so many ways the awards can go given that all categories are being announced live. Will we get 9 Best Picture nominations again? Will one of the big front runners miss? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Movies can often stir up emotions and speak to a current culture’s issues and climate. Often times this is a conscious choice, but in the case of a film like Selma, which comes at a time where protests and racial conditions have factored into the news cycle, a film can hit a portion of the zeitgeist. Thankfully for audiences Selma is more than just a film that people are using to explain the now, it’s a wonderfully made picture with crackling energy and a larger than life performance at the helm.
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you are excited cause we are heading into the home stretch before the Globes announce their winners and the Oscars announce their nominees. Because of this, the Oscar predictions needed to take on a more drastic look, so I really tried to be judicious with my choices. Enjoy!