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…
Tag: best picture
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) – 4K Review
Sony Pictures’ release of their Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 4 brings me another iconic film that was missing from my viewing history, the Robert Benton film, Kramer vs. Kramer. Based on the novel by Avery Corman the film stars Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep as the titular Kramers. Hoffman is Ted Kramer,…
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) – 4K Review
Stanley Kramer’s funny, provocative, and poignant Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner from 1967 has been a hole in my viewing history for far too long. With the arrival of Sony’s release of Columbia Classics 4K Ultra HD Collection Volume 4, I was able to remedy that, and I was finally able to settle in and…
12 Angry Men (1957) – Sidney Lumet
Reginald Rose wrote the absolutely engaging and captivating script for Lumet’s 12 Angry Men from his own source material and received an Oscar nomination for it as well as a Best Picture nomination with his fellow producer Henry Fonda, both of whom deferred their salary to get the film made. The film was also nominated…
Spotlight (2015) – Tom McCarthy
I love a good movie about newspapers and journalism, and when that movie is also grounded in an actual investigation, well it just gets that much better. There was a time I imagined that I could be a reporter and perhaps that’s why movies of this nature resonate with me. Spotlight, which took home Best…
Rocky (1976) – John G. Avildsen
From the horn fanfare created by Bill Conti to the fantastic steadicam work (a revolutionary reveal at the time), to an open, honest performance from Sylvester Stallone, 1976’s Rocky remains an iconic film, and the first ‘sports’ film to win the Best Picture Oscar. Stallone wrote the film and was heavily involved in its making,…
No Country For Old Men (2007) – Joel and Ethan Coen
I remember watching No Country For Old Men when it first came to home video, I was hip-deep in discovering everything that the Coen Brothers had made, and loving every single one of them. Unfortunately, my first time through it, I didn’t pay lots of attention to it, though some moments are burned into my…
Munich (2005) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg took on the real-world events in 1972 of the Palestinian Black September group’s horrific killing of Israeli Olympic athletes and the resulting action taken by Israeli forces in retribution. Spielberg takes no sides in retelling the event, instead engaging in the human drama at work in the thriller, the effect of the ongoing conflict,…
In the Heat of the Night (1967) – Norman Jewison
In the Heat of the Night shouldn’t be as timely and relevant as it still is. You’d think we could have moved beyond such levels of racism and prejudice, and yet, sections of society seem worse than ever before, and it seems to be both hidden and overt. Featuring powerhouse performances by Sidney Poitier and…
The Greatest Show On Earth (1952) – Blu-Ray Review
Cecil D.DeMille knew how to make an epic, and both versions of his Ten Commandments prove that point, but I was always more intrigued by what I had heard about his circus picture, The Greatest Show On Earth, mainly because it was the film that really ignited Steven Spielberg’s love of moviemaking. I had never…
The Mind Reels 