Image: Focus Features
Chris Luckett
“Last year, in my Best Movies of 2014,
I commented on how weak a year we’d had.
If only I’d known what 2015 would be like!”
–Chris Luckett, The Best Movies of 2015
For the second year in a row, I didn’t see 25 movies worthy of inclusion on my best-of-the-year list. Moreover, there are even fewer on this year’s list than last.
Image: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images
Chris Luckett
With just a few hours until the winners begin being announced, we’re fast approaching the deadline for people’s Oscar bets. Need some last-minute help? Here are my predictions of the movies that’ll be bringing home the gold tonight, ranked in order of their wins’ likelihood.
Image: A24
Chris Luckett
Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences expanded their Best Picture category to up-to-10 nominees, there’ve been even more movies to catch up on than there used to be. On top of that, sometimes life just gets in the way of seeing them all.
Image: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images
Chris Luckett
This was a year without many surprises — unless you consider La La Land tying the record for the most Academy Award nominations surprising. More analysis and review will be written in the weeks to come about this year’s crop of nominees, but for now, the nominations…
Image: EPA
Chris Luckett
This morning at the crack of dawn, a half-dozen of Hollywood’s elite will announce to the world the nominations for the 89th Academy Awards. What movies can you expect to see up for the treasured trophies this year? It’s a less contentious year than most, but expect to hear a few of the same names many times over.
Image: Lionsgate
Chris Luckett
For a genre that people always say is dead, the movie musical is reborn really often. Three years ago, Frozen brought the genre back from the brink. Before that it was Sweeney Todd and Once, after Chicago and Moulin Rouge! did the same. The musical may be just as common today as in prior decades, but that doesn’t make the masterpieces any less special when they flitter into theatres. La La Land is one such delight.
A love letter not just to the classic movie musicals of the ’50s and ’60s but also to sweeping romances and the glitzy mythology of Hollywood, La La Land has been the buzzed-about movie this year, since first storming Toronto International Film Festival in September. In a rare instance of hype being on the mark, everything you’ve heard about the Best Picture frontrunner is true.
Photo: Lionsgate
Chris Luckett
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), held every September, is generally considered to mark the beginning of Oscar season, with many award hopefuls and buzz-about contenders making their debut.
TIFF’s director and chief executive Piers Hendling, joined by artistic director Cameron Bailey, held a news conference to reveal this year’s crop, featuring cowboys, whistleblowers, and a Ryan Gosling-Emma Stone reunion.
The Apple Box 