Jake Gittes

A rare movie that got worse in my eyes after I read the book. The movie is good for what it's trying to do and it's quite affecting (although it does veer into melodrama at times), but I really much prefer Kesey's telling of the story.

If Caine gets in he'll become the first actor in history to give Oscar-nominated performances in six different decades.

During almost every movie I've seen in the past couple of months, "Why am I not watching Fury Road instead?" crossed my mind at least once.

Hmmm. DOR Miller Haynes Fukunaga Tarantino Thinking Haynes might actually be the safest pick for a nomination right now, with everyone raving about Carol and him being one of the most acclaimed directors of the past 20 years who's never had an Oscar nom (basically he's this year's Linklater/Anderson). Fukunaga is getting enough raves that he'll probably be hard to deny. Everyone who's seen MMFR knows that Miller deserves to be here, but this is the Academy, so for now he's the dark horse at best. DOR, QT, Inarritu, Hooper, Spielberg, Boyle battling for the last two spots, maybe three if Miller gets the snub.

It'll be extremely hard even for Carol to beat Inside Out and MMFR levels of acclaim.

So they threw shit at the wall and got lucky. In retrospect we know neither of those movies was even close to locked to win BP until the PGAs or so.

Fassbender does seem to be in as good a place as anyone can 6 months before the Oscars (big, showy, relevant part in a biopic, the guy is popular and a previous nominee, the movie is praised overall and will probably be a solid success). But, it's still 6 months before the Oscars.

People who know which movies are going to win and lose at the Oscars are a reliably entertaining sight from August to December every year.

Well I... actually agree with all of those picks. Adapted looks really weak this year, I won't be surprised if Sorkin wins his second. It's a shame Fury Road most likely will be snubbed due to having the "least" writing (and, well, being the kind of movie it is), even though it has a more elegant story construction and more memorable dialogue than most screenplays of any year. Original could be an interesting race with Tarantino vs Pixar vs Coens vs DOR. I'd love it if Inside Out took this one, it's about time an animated film won for screenplay.

Yeah, well, look, if you get a chance to have Alicia Vikander dance to "Cry to Me" in your movie, you take it.

Good fun. This is the sort of smart, stylish mid-budget action movie that Hollywood should ideally put out every 2 or 3 months, instead of doing it once a year and then not knowing how to properly promote it. Cavill and Hammer were both excellent and Alicia Vikander just dancing in the hotel room to "Cry to Me" is one of the most charming scenes of the year.

Stamp and Samantha Eggar are amazing in this, the former especially is a frighteningly believable MRA gone to the extreme. The only thing I didn't like was an overbearing and intrusive score.

1) Will Compton win the 4 day? No 2) Will Transporter win the three day? No 3) Will A Walk in the Woods make at least 5 million for the three day weekend? Yes 4) Will any film drop less than 13% on Monday? Yes 5) Will more than 7 films increase on Sunday? No 6) Will any film increase more than 165% on Friday? Yes 7) Will We are your Friends drop more than 40%? No 8) Will Jurassic World drop less than 15%? Yes 9) Will any film drop less than 10%? Yes 10) Will Rogue Nation make more than War Room? No 11) Will Minions drop less than Ant-Man? Yes 12) Will any film drop more than 27% on Thursday? No 10/12 3000 11/12 5000 12/12 7000 What finishes in spots: 1 A Walk in the Woods 2 Transporter Refueled 5 Mission Impossible 6 Inside Out 10 Ant-Man 2000 each spot right 4000 bonus if all 5 right Bonus 1: What will Jurassic World be at WW according to Rentrak, by the time Sunday numbers are released? 10,000 $1.647B Bonus 2: What will The Gift make for the 4 day? 10,000 $2.630m Bonus 3: What will the combined weekend 4 day gross be of Hitman, Compton and Uncle? 10,000 $19.585m

It's OK. Would have resonated a lot more if I'd seen it 5-10 years ago, or if I'd been born in 1970. It's got a lot of charm, it mostly doesn't condescend to its characters or viewers, and the big confession scene works despite itself, because even though I never knew any high schoolers who would ever bare their souls to each other in eloquent monologues like that, I know that at some point many kids want to say all those things, so it's the kind of wish-fulfillment that works. On the other hand, despite good performances, the characters remain little more than stereotypes even as they're complaining about being seen as stereotypes, and the ending with not one, but two couples being formed all of a sudden comes off as ludicrous more than anything else. And whether you see her as delightfully weird or actually mentally ill, Ally Sheedy's character could hardly end up with a worse fate than basically giving up her identity to get a makeover she neither wanted nor needed and start dating a dull jock because they just got high together. And the fact that the movie pulls that shit while preaching a "be yourself" message... I don't even understand. That's just dispiriting.

Heat Fargo Star Wars Apocalypse Now There Will Be Blood The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

That movie is 3 hours of delightful weirdness.

Red Beard was a reminder that I actually really like life-affirming, inspirational movies, as long as they aren't patting themselves on back for it. It's a story about a guy becoming a better human being that manages to stay entirely believable.

Did I say anything about their intentions? I was talking about the results.

Chimes at Midnight seriously needs that Criterion treatment.

The main issue with Oscar bait movies is that they tend to take interesting, distinctive stories and people and then give them the bland, broad, formulaic treatment that makes all of them feel virtually the same. It's not ambitious or creative filmmaking, it's cinematic tap water, just checking off boxes and making viewers feel good about themselves.

I guess it's for the best that Hooper seems to have shot this largely without his bizarro diagonal camera angles, but it's hard to even actively dislike him now. This really looks like personality-free Oscar bait that could have been directed by anyone.

Good timing with this BTW. Watching a lot of comedies should make this September a lot brighter than it usually is.

I'd say that, if anything, the reveal about the Vuvalinis makes them more interesting characters, and their own attempt at redemption through helping the Wives is more powerful in retrospect. Who cares what the MRAs think.