We complain about the Oscars every year, but usually there are at least couple of semi-remarkable moments to make the show memorable. This year, all we got was Kim Novak’s ruined face and a running gag about rich people actually ordering and eating pizza. And paying for it! Ha ha. This show. I don’t […]

So far I’ve seen six of the nine Oscar nominees for best picture. Still unviewed: Amour, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook. Of the ones I’ve seen, four are superb. It’s tough to rank them in order of preference. In any case, I won’t be howling at my TV if any of these four […]

I seem to be in the minority on this, but I do not care for the Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild. It might be, as some say, a “magical” celebration of childhood resilience, but it is also a celebration of ignorance, squalor and adult dissolution. Its precocious star, little Quvenzhane Wallis, carries the […]

Really, the only reason anybody watches the Oscars is so they can carp about it the next day, or text clever remarks during the show itself. I’m no different. I had my laptop out and was trying to run with the best of them, but I gave up after about an hour. There was […]

Expanding on yesterday’s post, we did go and see The Artist. Two thumbs up. While it’s hard to judge whether the movie’s appeal derives more from the gimmick ( a silent film in black and white) or the story (the inevitable arc of celebrity in Hollywood), maybe it’s best not to overthink it. What […]

Of this year’s Oscar nominees, so far I’ve seen three: The Descendants, Moneyball and War Horse. Tonight, the wife and I may go see The Artist. Maybe we’ll get to some of the others too, but really: the nominees are no longer must-see cinema, are they? Were they ever? We just go for the […]