Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Chris Luckett
There’s just one week left until the Oscars. Have you had trouble finding time to catch up on all the nominated movies? Still want to be able to join in the Oscar conversations at work? Look no further than this six-part guide to the major categories. Today, I look at the nominees for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Continue reading
Photo: Paramount Pictures
Chris Luckett
Many of the characters in The Big Short are hotshot brokers and bankers who trade in millions daily (before the financial crisis of 2008). Two, though, are younger guys who’ve never had the chance to land a big deal and just want a shot at the grown-ups table.
Adam MacKay is a talented director who’s always been held back a bit by the comedies he’s made: Step Brothers, The Other Guys, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and both Anchormans. He wasn’t the logical choice to direct a movie that has no shrieking, streaking, or Will Ferrell. The Big Short is his big shot. Continue reading
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox
Chris Luckett
In one way, it’s been a great year for religious and spiritual films, with 2014 already having given us Noah, Heaven is for Real, Son of God, God’s Not Dead, Mom’s Night Out, Persecuted, When the Game Stands Tall, The Identical, and The Book of Life. In another way, though, it’s been a terrible year for faith-based films, as almost all of the aforementioned movies were bad, if not outright terrible. Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings may be another Biblical movie in a long string of them, but it’s also better than most.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
(This is Part 3 of a five-part series looking at the Oscar nominees in the eight major categories. Click here for Part 1 or Part 2.)
Chris Luckett
Ten lead performances are nominated for Academy Awards each year: five male and five female. This year’s batch includes some real heavyweights; despite two of them scoring first-time nominations, the ten actors and actresses up for Lead Performance Oscars have 38 Academy Award nominations between them.
Photo: Columbia Pictures
Chris Luckett
Director David O. Russell has consistently made great movies in the last decade, like I Heart Huckabees and The Fighter. Last year’s Silver Linings Playbook was Russell’s best movie yet, setting the stage for his first masterpiece. American Hustle is not that movie, but it’s still remarkably good. Continue reading
The Apple Box 