Countdown to CIFF: #1. So many short films
For the 10 days leading up to CIFF’s opening gala, I’ll be posting a quick write-up per day on some of my favourite movies at the fest. I’m not exactly unbiased — CIFF does give me a paycheque, after all — but these posts are my own opinions and not those of the festival. And … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week 14 — The French Connection
But efficiency and action don’t usually translate into a Best Picture. If they did, Taken would have brought home a trophy last year (which, for the record, would have been awesome). So, how did The French Connection manage to win?
The Oscars Project: Week 13 — Patton
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, with the help of the good folks at Casablanca Video and the Calgary Public Library, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to The Hurt Locker. Some of … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week 12 — Midnight Cowboy
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to The Hurt Locker. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week 11 — Oliver!
The era of the honest, straightforward musical has passed. It’s like we’ve somehow forgotten their language. The idea of crowds bursting into song has been parodied so often, audiences can’t accept it as anything but ridiculous. In a way, it’s a mixed blessing — it means that the next Dr. Strangelove or The Hustler won’t be beaten by My Fair Lady or West Side Story (and that’s not mentioning 2001, which came out the same year as Oliver! and didn’t even get a nomination), but it’s like a whole avenue of cinema has been cut off.
The Oscars Project: Week 10 — In the Heat of the Night
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to The Hurt Locker. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week 8 — The Sound of Music
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to The Hurt Locker. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them … Continue reading
The Oscars Project: Week 7 – My Fair Lady
For 82 years, the Academy Awards have purported to choose the year’s best film. For the next year, I’ll be watching one best picture winner per week, starting 52 years ago and working up to The Hurt Locker. Some of the films are rightly regarded as classics. Others, decidedly less so. But each of them … Continue reading
The Consumption 