If you are like me then you spend much of the first few months of the year waiting for “that” action flick; waiting for the year’s first knock-down, drag-out bullet infested homage to people who kill people. These are not Oscar contenders and they are not always well received by critics, but when you take them for what they are, then you have one hell of a ride ahead of you. Director Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces is that kind of film and more – a film that delivers pulse pounding action, an awesome cast of characters and a little substance for good measure.

Coming off of the gritty, unrelenting cop drama Narc, Carnahan has made a film in Aces that gives one half the amount of grit, but delivers twice the amount of fun. Read the rest of this entry »

(Columbus, January 23, 2007) Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men was named Best Film by the staff of Film School Rejects in the 1st Annual Film School Rejects Honor Roll, recognizing the best (and worst) in the year of film. Read the rest of this entry »

As much as things change, they always stay the same. Something along those lines can be said about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the quaint little awards gala they hold every single February. As much as fresh, engaging cinema may be released every year by extremely worthy artists, they still seem to want to stroke the ever-growing ego of one Clint Eastwood. Such is the case with this year’s Oscar nominees. I digress.

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(Beverly Hills, January 23, 2007) M. Night Shyamalan’s box office dud Lady in the Water was named the worst film of 2006 by the United Critics Organization (UCO) in the 2007 GAG Awards, sponsored by 7M Pictures. These annual awards recognize cinematic catastrophes and just plain awful films.

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I will save all of my Nostradamus-esque predictions until it comes time to wax Oscar wisdom sometime later next month, but that isn’t to say that some close friends of mine aren’t ready to make their stake at who will take home a Golden pumpkin Globe. Chris Beaumont, who writes for my favorite little distraction Film School Rejects, goes all out - he gives us who will win, who should win and who will just be overlooked when it comes time for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to speak its peace tomorrow night (January 15). See Chris’ predictions here: 2007 Golden Globes: The Quick Run Through. Also, don’t be afraid to check out the Central Ohio Film Critic Awards, as they were released last Thursday (hint: someone you know, whose blog you may or may not be reading, is a member of the afore mentioned group…)

Audiences love a movie that has rhythm. Last year’s Walk the Line would be a perfect example, delivering great performances and an infectious soundtrack to make a film that is just fun to watch. But what about a movie with soul? Can that do the same thing? Enter the Bill Condon written and directed Dreamgirls to test the theory.

Dreamgirls is the story of three friends from Detroit, yearning to make it big with their smooth sounds and their unrelenting drive. The girls learn very quickly though (in the first scene of the movie, in fact) that you don’t get big without a little help. The trio of Deena (Beyonce Knowles), Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose) and Effie (Jennifer Hudson) are approached by smooth talking manager to be Curtis Taylor (Jamie Foxx), and with promises of singing behind James “Thunder” Early (Eddie Murphy) and beyond, Taylor hooks the girls into hitting the road. Read the rest of this entry »

Toward the end of the year, and on into the month of January fans of cinema everywhere are bombarded with the last ditch efforts of studios to capture the limelight and rake in some coveted Award season hardware. With that onslaught come some excellent films, as seen this year with the likes of Pan’s Labyrinth or Children of Men. In some cases, films of this nature are held until the end of the year in order to maintain that fresh Oscar scent. On the flipside, every year gets its share of Oscar bait-and-switch – movies that show promise but don’t quite make the cut. This year gives us Alpha Dog, a film that is doomed to be more of a lukewarm January filler than a serious late season contender.

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Now that just about all the other critic associations in the world have made their picks for the year’s best in cinema, it is time for the critics of Central Ohio to chime in! Why is this so significant? Because yours truly is part of the press release - on the bottom - under members! Enough of my own self-righteous gloating about being a “real” film critic, here are the winners from the 5^th Annual Central Ohio Film Critics Awards:

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Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film, Children of Men, has everyone in the critical world talking. This includes, of course, the fine critics that populate Central Ohio. So in order to give you a taste of what Columbus’ critics have to say about this end of the year sensation, here are some clips:

“… it raises the stakes for all concerned, including the Spielbergs of the world, in terms of what a drama, a sci-fi flick, and a period piece can and should be. Like I said, Alfonso Cuarón is The Man.”

- David Medsker, Bullz-Eye.com

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This movie just looks a bit odd, but hell - who can resist Samuel L. Jackson? On top of that, who can resist a scantily clad version of Christina Ricci chained up by Sam Jackson? For all the weird fetish boys out there, here comes Black Snake Moan, due out in February. Yes, to cure your early year itch for intrigue, here is a film about interracial love in the South, nymphomania and well… sexual oddity. For now, all I have is the new poster. Click the little version to the right to see it in its full sized glory.

When you make a film about a war there are bound to be politics involved. I mean, come on, this is Hollywood for crying out loud. Every film must decide, at some point, whether it is for or against the particular war that it portrays – or at least that is how critics like myself will see it. In this light, Irvin Winkler’s Home of the Brave seems to have a bit of identity crisis, never really deciding whether it wants to be for or against the war in Iraq – but in this case, indecision may not be the film’s only fault.

The story centers around members of an Army Reserve squadron from Spokane, Washington, all of whom were involved in a terrible convoy ambushing right before they were due to come home after a lengthy tour in Iraq. Read the rest of this entry »

If you have followed, up to this point, the career of Director Alfonso Cuarón (which I cannot say that I have), then you would be aware of the fact that he has made a few small, but intelligent films. His only major credit (and by major, I am referring to something that mainstream America would recognize) is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. But no matter what your level of exposure is with Cuarón’s work, there is one thing that is unmistakable – the man has some serious visual style.

It is that visual style that sets the tone in his latest film, Children of Men. From the first, shockingly bold scene of the film on, Cuarón paints a vivid portrait of our world, 19 years in the future, where women can no longer have babies and mankind itself is fading into oblivion. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s call this a very short Oscar update, shall we? Less of an editorial and more of a briefing. In all honesty, it is just an excuse for me to put my opinions to rest for a moment - or maybe not. On to the news at hand, as previously expected, both the Producers Guild and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced nominees for their year end awards. The Producers of America, those men and women who sit in front of the studio executives of the world and pitch the rubbish that eventually turns into straight-to-DVD pseudo porn such as National Lampoon’s Pledge This! are first on our docket, with their nominees for Best Picture:

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Just eight days removed from declaring Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men the “movie of the millennium”, Slate’s movie critic Dana Stevens released a statement saying “Ok, maybe I was feeling a burst of yuletide generosity last week when I labeled this ‘the movie of the millennium’, but it’s been a long time since a filmmaker has brought together intellectual rigor, technical prowess and compassion the way Alfonso Cuaron does.” Ok, fair enough. We all know that critics get caught up in their own over-exaggerated levels of zeal when it comes to movies they like, so who can really fault her for trying to get her name on the movie poster by spewing out such a ridiculous comment. Over at FSR, we would probably have done the same, but less people would have noticed. The fact still remains that everyone is still high on Cuaron’s piece about the death of mankind, and it has people whispering that naughty little phrase that rhymes with Oscar dinner.

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The second coolest place to find movie reviews on the web (right behind Film School Rejects), Blog Critics (or BC Magazine to the grown-up world) named the Best Films of 2006 today. And it just so happens that yours truly was part of the mix, weighing in with my love for Little Miss Sunshine. I have been writing for BC for a while now, and it is truly a diverse, rowdy crowd of writers who represent just about every demographic. I would highly recommend checking them out, at least for the simple fact that you can read more of my work there. But enough of that…

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