Running Time: 1 hour, 34 minutes Rating: PG Director: Brad Peyton Quick Impressions: As the end credits rolled, I heard my nine-year-old stepson breathe, “Awesome.” Then he leaned over to me and declared enthusiastically, “You’re going to have one heck of a review to write! That was the best movie …
Demián Bichir Age: 48 Film: A Better Life Role: Carlos Galindo, an undocumented worker, single father, and longtime L.A. resident who buys a truck in order to start his own lawn care business to provide a better future for his teenaged son. Nomination History: This is Bichir’s first nomination. Why …
Running Time: 1 hour, 24 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Josh Trank Quick Impressions: Last Friday night, we promised to take the kids to a movie. My three-year-old picked Beauty and the Beast 3D, so she could see the new Tangled cartoon. Meanwhile, my husband lamented, “It’s too bad she’s not …
Running Time: 1 hour, 53 minutes Rating: R Director: Rodrigo García Quick Impressions: After seeing Albert Nobbs, I am more convinced than ever that as I speculated in my Iron Lady review, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close have some kind of bet going about which of them can win an Oscar …
Running Time: 2 hours and 7 minutes Rating: R Director: Tomas Alfredson Quick Impressions: I’d heard that this film is difficult to follow. My husband and I laughed about that before the movie started because we hear that so often, and in almost every case, the “impossibly confusing” film in …
The Artist Nominated Producer(s): Thomas Langmann Director: Michel Hazanavicius Writer: Michel Hazanavicius Cast: Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, Penelope Ann Miller, James Cromwell, Uggi (the dog), Missi Pyle, Beth Grant Plot: George Valentin, a huge silent movie star in 1920s Hollywood, finds himself suddenly displaced by the advent of …
Running Time: 2 hours, 9 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Stephen Daldry Quick Impressions: Given the way they set up the announcement, I’d say that the Academy (or at least the Academy Awards organizers) wanted this movie to be a surprise nominee for Best Picture, and a lot of people were …
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Phyllida Lloyd Quick Impressions: Because I’m an obsessive fanatic (for no apparent reason) when it comes to the Oscars, I’ve been dying to see this movie. At the Critics’ Choice Awards, Viola Davis beat Meryl Streep. At the Golden Globes, Meryl …
Running Time: 2 hours, 26 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Steven Spielberg Quick Impressions: My husband and I have been unreasonably biased against this movie for some time. Everyone we know keeps saying how it looks so good and so sad. To us, based on the previews, it just looked like …
Running Time: 1 hr, 40 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Michel Hazanavicius Quick Impressions: What distinguishes a comedy from a tragedy? Sometimes the line is so fine that the interpretation of a single sound makes all the difference. I’ve been waiting a long time to see this movie. Everybody has been …
