La La Land – 2016

Damien Chazelle is a strange case in Hollywood. He is probably the youngest director to have as much clout as he already has. In less than three years he went from directing an indie film to the biggest film of the year. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling star as two young dreamers who fall in […]

Birdman – 2014

Birdman is a rare film for a number of reasons. Chiefly, it almost can’t exist outside of the contemporary reality in which it finds itself. It’s obsession with social media makes it a great commentary on the present day, but it also limits it to the period in which it is set. This film emulates […]

Oscars: Film Editing

Film editing is one of the littler noticed categories, but it has a surprising correlation to the Best Picture category. The work of film editors lies in helping to assemble the final product and it is an important job in creating a final product that is worth watching. This is the only award focused entirely […]

Three Billboards outside of Ebbing, Missouri – 2017

To say that I was hooked by this movie might be an understatement. Martin McDonagh is on the forefront of greatness and has gone from an indie director to the next big name in cinema. This latest film follows an angry mother who rents the titular billboards to send a message to her local police […]

Unforgiven – 1992

Clint Eastwood is one of the rare individuals that falls into the category of great actor and great director. Unforgiven may not be Eastwood’s best directed film and it may not be his best acted film, but it is the best marriage between the two. It is here that Eastwood most easily directs himself and […]

Victoria & Abdul – 2017

Queen Victoria is the second-longest reigning monarch in British history and as such she has over sixty years of stories that could be told. One of the more interesting stories is about her relationship with a young Muslim named Abdul, who became her personal teacher for the last years of her life. Judi Dench plays […]