Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes Rating: R Director: John Wells Quick Impressions: Some people might find watching August: Osage County a disturbing experience, but for me it was reassuring. For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been stressing out trying to decide whom I’d rather see win Best Supporting Actress, Jennifer Lawrence …
Runtime: 1 hour, 59 minutes Rating: R Director: Spike Jonze Quick Impressions: My husband and I went to Her because it’s finally out here and because we expect it to be an Oscar contender and because we’d heard it was brilliant, but honestly both of us were a little reluctant. “I just …
Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes Rating: R Director: Ethan and Joel Coen Quick Impressions: One of my favorite moments at the movie theater in recent years came in 2010 when at the end of the Coen Brothers’ True Grit, a young girl (probably about thirteen) sitting with an older relative in …
Runtime: 2 hours, 59 minutes Rating: R Director: Martin Scorsese Quick Impressions: Now I realize some people may think I’m kidding and some may think I’m crazy, but watching The Wolf of Wall Street inspired me to come up with the perfect part for Leonardo DiCaprio. He’s always rumored to be attached …
Runtime: 2 hours, 5 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: John Lee Hancock Quick Impressions: I love Disneyland. I grew up there. Maybe that sounds crazy, but I went to thirteen different schools. We moved just about every year. If we ever spent over a year in just one place, we made …
Runtime: 2 hours, 9 minutes Rating: R Director: David O. Russell Quick Impressions: Christian Bale deserves an Oscar nomination for his role in American Hustle, and that’s a problem because at this point like twenty-five other guys also deserve one, and there are only five to go around. I feel like …
Runtime: 2 hours, 40 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Peter Jackson Quick Impressions: When I was in fourth grade I was so obsessed with Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy that I mixed up a potion in the bathroom, said an incantation, and drank it all up while I wore a plastic ring …
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: Stephen Frears Quick Impressions: I’ve been excited to see Philomena. Like a great many people, I adore Judi Dench. And when I saw director Stephen Frears’s The Queen back in 2006, I thought it was the most perfect film since Casablanca. (I’m not saying that either of …
Runtime: 1 hour, 57 minutes Rating: R Director: Jean-Marc Vallée Quick Impressions: I don’t envy the entertainment bloggers/journalists that make Oscar predictions for a living. In the past, I’ve thought about making predictions myself. (Privately I always do but only for the entertainment of my family.) Honestly though, who can …
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes Rating: PG-13 Director: J.C. Chandor Quick Impressions: All is Lost is not the kind of movie that ordinarily excites me. It’s very bare bones. It’s just a man and a boat and the sea. That’s it. No family. No friends. No human antagonists. No tigers. No …
