Dir: Marielle Heller Nominated for: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor (Richard E. Grant), Best Adapted Screenplay. Score: ★★★★☆ Another in the glut of true life based films that has swarmed the Oscars this year, on the surface this one seems like the premise for a somewhat different, flimsier film. Author Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) has... Continue Reading →
Dir: Spike Lee Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Adam Driver), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing. Score: ★★★★★ There is little doubt Spike Lee is one of the pre-eminent directors of this generation or of any other. His voice is singular, distinctive and perhaps most importantly of all... Continue Reading →
Dir: Alfonso Cuaron Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Yalitza Aparicio), Best Supporting Actress (Marina de Tavira), Best Original Screenplay, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing. Score: ★★★★★ Alfonso Cuaron's back catalogue is a mixed bag in a strangely varied career, his '91 debut... Continue Reading →
Dir: Ryan Coogler Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Editing. Score: ★★☆☆☆ The merits of Black Panther as a watershed moment in cinema have been espoused endlessly since the film’s release, but nonetheless it bears repeating that Black Panther is... Continue Reading →
Dir: Barry Jenkins Nominated for: Best Supporting Actress (Regina King), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score. Score: ★★★☆☆ Barry Jenkins delivers his follow up to his much loved 2016 critical hit Moonlight in If Beale Street Could Talk, a lyrical adaptation of James Baldwin's 1974 novel of the same name. Following the story of Tish... Continue Reading →
Dir: Bjorn Runge Nominated for: Best Actress (Glenn Close) Score: ★☆☆☆☆ During the opening minutes of Bjorn Runge's The Wife, it's entirely possible to find your interest peaked. Glenn Close plays Joan Archer who is, yep, you guessed it the wife of world renowned novelist Jonathan Castleman (played by Jonathan Pryce). Seemingly the greatest writer... Continue Reading →
Dir: Bradley Cooper Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Bradley Cooper), Best Actress (Lady Gaga), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Elliot), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Song. Score: ★☆☆☆☆ The fifth version of this story committed to film, this occasion sees Lady Gaga following in the likes of Judy Garland's footsteps... Continue Reading →
Dir: Peter Farrelly Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen), Best Supporting Actor (Mahershala Ali), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing. Score: ★★★★☆ Much like Adam McKay's transition from the likes of Anchorman & Talladega Nights comedy fodder to relatively serious works like The Big Short and another of this year's nominees Vice, Green... Continue Reading →
Dir: Adam McKay Nominated for: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Christian Bale), Best Supporting Actor (Sam Rockwell), Best Supporting Actress (Amy Adams) Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Make Up & Hairstyling. Score: ★★★☆☆ Vice is Adam McKay's biopic of the notorious Bush administration vice president, Dick Cheney, who held office between 2001-2009,... Continue Reading →
