By John C. As the 85th Academy Awards are being handed out this weekend, here are our brief thoughts on all nine of the films in the running for Best Picture. This has been a fascinating and exciting awards season to watch from beginning to end, including frontrunners in several of the top categories and… Read More Reviewing the Best Picture Nominees
By John Corrado Entertaining, moving, exhilarating and sometimes impossible to pin down in terms of genre. These are just some of the words that I would use to describe my favourite movies of 2012, a year that brought us numerous films that deserve to be remembered. Although we are now nearly two months into 2013,… Read More The Best Movies of 2012
By John C. Do you know why 2012 was such a great year for film? Because I had a lot more trouble than I usually do putting together my worst list, and that is why it’s only coming over a month into 2013. That’s not to say that the eleven films I have selected for… Read More The Worst Movies of 2012
By John C. Ben Affleck won the top prize at the Directors Guild Awards on Saturday for his impeccable work behind the camera on Argo, an honour that is even more deserved after he was left off the list of nominations at the Academy Awards. The field of five nominees was rounded out by Kathryn… Read More Ben Affleck Wins at the Directors Guild, but who will Triumph at the Oscars?
By John C. Every year, I mark February 2nd by watching Groundhog Day, director Harold Ramis’ 1993 masterpiece. The intriguing and intelligent character study is now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, a milestone that deserves to be recognized with yet another viewing of the film. This is a high concept classic with shades of A Christmas… Read More Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 1993 Masterpiece “Groundhog Day”
By John C. Directed by Jonathan Levine, Warm Bodies is the first zombie movie that could ever be called a romantic comedy, and the new release will likely use this mix of genres to become a hit. Although we unfortunately won’t be able to publish full reviews, the film mostly works and is worth seeing… Read More For a Zombie Romance, “Warm Bodies” Mostly Works
By John C. The latest from Austrian provocateur Michael Haneke, Amour opens with firefighters breaking down the door of a luxurious apartment in France, only to find the body of Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) lying on a bed surrounded by flowers. There is a crucifix on her chest, as if she is ready to be lowered… Read More Love and Death: Thoughts on the Oscar-Nominated “Amour”
By John C. The 19th Screen Actors Guild awards were handed out last night, a ceremony that left me happy with the winners and questioning what it could mean for the Oscars on February 24th. There might not be much more commentary to add at this point, but I’m going to be comparing the winners… Read More What the Screen Actors Guild Awards Could Mean for the Oscars
By John C. I’ve been meaning to write about Beasts of the Southern Wild since the film first opened in theatres last July. But it kept flying under my radar for various reasons throughout the summer, and I never got a chance to share my full thoughts on the film. But now that Beasts of… Read More Thoughts on the Oscar-Nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
By John C. After racking up critical acclaim over the past few years, it can now be said that Jessica Chastain rules the box office. The horror movie Mama opened strong in first place over the weekend, and the excellent Zero Dark Thirty was the runner up, as the Oscar-nominated film continues to do well… Read More Jessica Chastain Rules the Box Office
By John C. Two slave traders ride through the night on horseback, pulling a group of shackled African-American men behind them. As Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) enters the scene, things quickly turn violent, and he buys the freedom of Django (Jamie Foxx), a tortured man with scars on his back and determination on his… Read More The D is Silent: Thoughts on the Oscar-Nominated “Django Unchained”
By John C. Although the expected films triumphed in some of the major categories, the 70th annual Golden Globes still pulled off a few unexpected wins as they were handed out last night, and I was consistently surprised at just how much fun the entire show really was. Hosted by the entertaining duo of Tina… Read More Entertainment Rules at the 70th Annual Golden Globes
By John C. “Who are you?” the CIA director (James Gandolfini) asks the determined young agent Maya (Jessica Chastain), as they look at a scale model of the apartment complex in Pakistan that might be hiding terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. The scene comes about an hour from the end of Zero Dark Thirty,… Read More The Oscar-Nominated “Zero Dark Thirty” is a Thought Provoking Thriller
By John C. As of Friday night, voting has officially ended to determine the nominees for the 85th Academy Awards, the first step on what is already shaping up to be a long journey towards Oscar night on February 24th. The nominations will be announced at 8:30 AM EST this Thursday morning, presented by Emma… Read More What to Expect From the Oscar Nominations
By John C. Every December, one of my favourite parts of counting down to the New Year is the YouTube montages of the previous year in movies, and Matt Shapiro’s 2012: The Cinescape is a stunning piece of editing. Beautifully piecing together perfectly placed moments from the year’s cinematic highlights, it’s a video that already… Read More The Best Moviegoing Memories of 2012
By John C. Pretty much everyone who celebrates Christmas knows the feeling of decorating the tree on a Sunday afternoon with your favourite holiday songs playing in the background. Every year, one of my great joys of the season is discovering new Christmas albums to add to my personal playlist of holiday music. Last year,… Read More John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John Get Back Together for “This Christmas”
By John C. Early in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) tells the title character Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) that “all good stories deserve embellishment.” After bringing J.R.R. Tolkein’s beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy to life with an epic saga that won a total of seventeen Oscars between 2001 and 2003 ,… Read More “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” is a Fantastic Adventure
By John C. Every year, one of my favourite parts of awards season is the downloadable screenplays that the studios upload to their For Your Consideration websites, allowing other writers to study the work behind some of the best movies of the year. As a writer who has completed a feature length screenplay and is… Read More For Your Consideration: Screenplays are an Excellent Resource for Writers
By John C. Two weeks ago, I used my Monday column to write an article about how success at the box office could lead to Oscars for Silver Linings Playbook. I’ve been a champion of the film since first I first saw it back in September at TIFF, and on Friday we finally published our… Read More How Box Office Performance is Affected by Marketing
By John C. Since it was published in 2001, Canadian author Yann Martel’s acclaimed and also confounding novel Life of Pi has captivated readers throughout the world, and those who deemed it unfilmable were proven wrong last Wednesday when director Ang Lee’s visually stunning adaptation opened in theatres. After a delightful opening credits sequence that… Read More “Life of Pi” is a Visually Stunning Film That Will Leave You Talking
The Joy of Movies 