Image: Warner Bros.
Chris Luckett
There’s something about ’90s comedies that, when watched now, seems kind of… quaint. All the demographic-courting PG-13 fare like Wayne’s World, Dumb & Dumber, and Tommy Boy — even more boundary-pushing, R-rated comedies like Clerks. or There’s Something About Mary — still lacks a little of the subversion, intellect, or bravado of the comedies of the new millennium.
Photo: Open Road Films/Elevation Pictures
Chris Luckett
Twenty-fourteen was not the best year for movies. By no means is that to say there weren’t some truly great ones, but there was more than the usual number of mediocre or simply good movies, and fewer masterpieces than in the past few years.
That having been said, while there may not have been as large an abundance, there were still 25 films that stood above all the rest. Comedy, sci-fi, drama, animation, romance, suspense, documentary, horror, and action make up these, the very best movies of the year. Continue reading
Photo: EPA
Chris Luckett
Stuck at work tonight? Having to spend the evening with family? Check back at this space tonight, starting at 8:30 EST (7:30 CST), for minute-by-minute updates of the winners of the 87th Academy Awards as they’re announced.
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chris Luckett
Left your Oscar pool until the last minute? Want to show up your friends with a little friendly competition? Here’s my guide for what to expect during tonight’s Academy Awards. Continue reading
Photo: Warner Bros.
Chris Luckett
On New Year’s Eve last year, I resolved to try and see every wide release that came out in 2014. (“Wide release,” these days, means a minimum of 600 screens.) It’s resulted in me seeing many more movies by this point in time than I usually do. Last year, I didn’t see my 50th movie until the first week of October. This year, with another month to go until October, I’ve already seen 84 movies from 2014. Continue reading
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chris Luckett
Wes Anderson is the most visually distinctive film director since Stanley Kubrick. Other than his first film, the six that followed — Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Moonrise Kingdom — all looked similarly idiosyncratic to the point of being immediately identifiable, even just by a still frame, as “Andersonian.” His eighth feature, The Grand Budapest Hotel, is at once a typical Wes Anderson movie and also something much more.
Photo: Kevin Scanlon/Getty Images
Chris Luckett
As The Grand Budapest Hotel expands into 304 theatres across the U.S. and Canada today, many Wes Anderson fans are anxious to find out how it stacks up against Anderson’s other movies. For a writer-director with only seven feature films under his belt, Anderson has a bigger following than most directors not named Tarantino or Nolan.
Photo: Buena Vista Pictures
Chris Luckett
With the visually distinctive writer-director’s The Grand Budapest Hotel in the midst of opening wide into theatres, you may have noticed some familiar faces in the movie’s ubiquitous ads. If you’ve seen any Wes Anderson movie, then you’ll already recognize some of the cast, as Anderson has a habit of recasting the same actors in different films he makes.
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chris Luckett
This year’s Academy Awards may be over, but with Oscar-contender The Grand Budapest Hotel hitting theatres tomorrow, it’s never too early to look ahead to next year’s race. Here are some of the early contenders, based on previous nominations and early buzz.
Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Chris Luckett
Every year, superstars like Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Leonardo DiCaprio star in brilliant, two-minute movies. The fact that these short films are also advertisements for other movies and that they precede “feature presentations” at the theatre doesn’t stop some of them from being works of art in their own right. Of all the trailers that were released in 2013, these are the very best.
The Apple Box 