Oscar comebacks: Adrien Brody in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. Generally speaking, most actors, actresses, and directors either get that once-in-a-lifetime Academy Award nomination, or, if they’re lucky, a couple or…
McCabe & Mrs. Miller with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie: Robert Altman’s anti-Western (a.k.a. “revisionist Western”) is one of 25 movies added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry…
Julie Christie, easily one of the most compelling performers of the last half-century and an ardent political activist for liberal causes, has her day on Monday, Aug. 2, as part…
Strangely, Dirk Bogarde never became a major star in the United States. He was well known in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s, but he wasn’t the superstar he…
Joseph Losey 1963 classic The Servant with Dirk Bogarde and James Fox. Sarah Miles also stars. “Among the greatest things that happened to British cinema were the arrival on our…
The Genie Awards 2008 ceremony, held last night in Toronto, was dominated by Sarah Polley’s remarkably accomplished directorial debut, Away from Her, which won a total of 7 awards. The…
Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban on the red carpet at the 2008 Oscars. Nicole Kidman has been nominated for two Best Actress Academy Awards: Baz…
As the saying goes, it’s not over until the fat lady sings. Since Amy Adams is anything but fat, that meant another three hours of Oscar give-aways after her rendition…
Sarah Polley, Tamara Jenkins, Julie Christie At the 2008 Oscar luncheon at the Beverly Hilton hotel on Monday, Academy president Sid Ganis remarked that “regardless of those circumstances, which are…
Transformers 2007. Without special effects there would have been no Transformers, as Michael Bay’s futuristic action flick offers no acting, no writing, and no direction. Hence, Transformers is our pick…
Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen. David Cronenberg made a name for himself by directing (and sometimes writing) dark, disturbing dramas (The Brood, Scanners, Videodrome, The Fly) in which violence/gross-out stuff…
Atonement with Vanessa Redgrave. Having made her big-screen debut in the late 1950s (Behind the Mask) and a steady film actress since the mid-1960s (Blow-Up, Camelot), Vanessa Redgrave was bypassed…
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly with Marie-Josée Croze: Golden Globe Awards’ non-ceremony eyebrow-raiser. Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s book of memoirs – reportedly written after Bauby (1952–1997) suffered a stroke…
Control with Sam Riley as Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis. What are the BAFTA Awards? Don’t be fooled by the inclusion of Anton Corbijn’s low-budget Ian Curtis biopic Control in…
No Country for Old Men with Javier Bardem: “Critical thinking.” Needless to say, an Academy Award nomination isn’t necessarily an indication of overwhelming critical acclaim; on the other hand, overwhelming…
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