And we’re back at it! It’s that time of year when Hollywood releases what they consider their artistic triumphs in an attempt to secure Oscar glory, and I do my best to watch them all and determine whether it was worth the effort. Welcome to my third annual “Chasing Oscar” series! Fences, adapted from the August…
Category: Awards Season
Chasing Oscar: Room is a Painful, Powerful Experience
This next post in the Chasing Oscar series reviews Room, the most devastating Best Picture contender. Room is the most difficult film I’ve seen this awards season. It tells the harrowing story of 5 year old Jack and his mother being held captive in a tiny shed, known to them as “Room”. It’s the only world…
Chasing Oscar: Spotlight Casts Child Abuse In The Lead Role
Part four of the “Chasing Oscar” series: putting the spotlight on the Best Picture frontrunner. A couple of months ago, Vulture reported that the cast of Oscar frontrunner Spotlight weren’t submitting themselves in the Lead acting categories; they would only compete as supporting players. In a season rampant with “category fraud” accusations (see Alicia Vikander’s in…
Chasing Oscar: Take A Beautiful, Emotional Trip to Brooklyn
Part three of Chasing Oscar: A close look at Brooklyn, the season’s quietest entry Who would’ve thought that this tiny film about a shy Irish girl moving to 1950s Brooklyn and finding love would be this year’s most emotionally satisfying Best Picture contender? I certainly hadn’t, if I had thought about the film at all. Brooklyn…
Chasing Oscar: Steve Jobs (The Movie) Deserved Better
Part two of the Chasing Oscar series takes a look at a film that didn’t receive a Best Pictur nod, even though it should have: Steve Jobs. Who was Steve Jobs, really? That’s the question that has been bandied about several times since the Apple founder’s 2011 death from cancer. Films, documentaries, books, longform articles, colleagues,…
Chasing Oscar: The Revenant is The Ultimate Leo DiCaprio Showcase
The time has come for my annual Academy Awards blog series, now titled Chasing Oscar! Here is part one. To read my take on some of last year’s films, click here It seems like the whole world has been waiting for the day that Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins an Academy Award. DiCaprio has received four nominations (one…
