The moment I finished Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, I knew it was tome to check out the cinematic version, another hole in my viewing category. Gregory Peck headlines as Atticus, a role that garnered him an Academy Award. The film garnered two more wins, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Set/Art Dec. It received…
Tag: academy award
Hooper (1978) – Hal Needham
Coming off of Smokey and the Bandit, Hal Needham, Burt Reynolds and Sally Field paired up again for Hooper, a love letter to the stuntmen (and women) of Hollywood – who still aren’t recognized for their contributions with an Academy Award. Reynolds is Hooper an aging stuntman who pals around with Cully (James Best) and…
Throw Momma from the Train (1987) – Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito seems to have a very dark, and very enjoyable sense of humour. He pairs up with Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey, along with Star Trek’s Kate Mulgrew, Rob Reiner Branford Marsalis, Kim Greist, and Olivia Brown to deliver a fantastically dark comedy that seems to deliver a nice nod to Hitchcock and also…
American Fiction (2023) – Cord Jefferson
I’m a little upset that I didn’t go to see this one when it screened at TIFF, but I was very happy that this was a film that my partner and I could watch together, and we greatly enjoyed it. But it’s Jeffrey Wright, the man can do anything, and play anything, and he brings…
Ed Wood (1994) – Tim Burton
I don’t think there’s another director that could have done a biopic on the eccentric, imaginative, and terrible director that was Ed Wood than Tim Burton. Burton’s love and use of miniatures, dark themes and humour, and his eye for casting. Leading the story on screen is Johnny Depp as Ed Wood. Depp has a…
Bridge of Spies (2015) – Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks are always a winning combination as far as I’m concerned, and their work on Bridge of Spies just continues to confirm that for me. Using the true life story of the Abel-Powers incident, the pair take us behind the scenes of one of the major events of the Cold War….
Lincoln (2012) – Steven Spielberg
Daniel Day-Lewis takes the titular role in Spielberg’s masterful film about the iconic president and his struggle to pass the 13th Amendment in support of his Emancipation Proclamation, even as the Civil War continues to tear the country apart. Filled with themes and ideas that are still sad, and frighteningly relevant, this looks at a…
Purple Rain (1984) – Albert Magnoli
Prince was an icon on the verge and his film Purple Rain catapulted him to legend. Using his own life as the basis for the film, the story features electrical musical performances, sometimes subpar to adequate acting, and an engaging tale that highlights everything that he was capable of. Prince plays the Kid who tries…
War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) – Matt Reeves
Matt Reeves followed up his turn on Dawn of the Planet of the Apes with War for the Planet of the Apes, the third film in the new series, which works to tie itself back into the original series, forming one big circle. Andy Serkis dons the mo-cap suit again to bring Caesar, the chimp,…
Innerspace (1987) – Joe Dante
Joe Dante gives us a spin on Fantastic Voyage, with an underlying theme of believing in yourself with Innerspace, a sci-fi action comedy starring Martin Short, Dennis Quaid, and Meg Ryan. Featuring a score by Jerry Goldsmith, this film, when I first saw it, and now, remains a fun and entertaining film with its Academy…
The Mind Reels 