By John H. Foote Some of the finest films ever created are celebrating their birthdays this year. It is exactly 100 years since Cecil B. DeMille took to the deserts outside of California when Hollywood was still in its infancy to make the first version of The Ten Commandments (1923). Two films in one, the…
By John H. Foote I have a hunch the Oscars will not go as expected this year, the nominations certainly did not. With no real campaign Netflix film All Quiet on the Western Front amassed multiple nominations all well deserved though no directing nomination is a puzzle. I am leaning toward the film taking the…
By John H. Foote Though the field for Best Actor nominees was very sparse this year, those who found their way into the Oscar race were exceptional performances all. Right now it seems to be a three man race with Austin Butler in Elvis, Colin Farrell in The Banshees of Inisherin and Brendan Fraser in…
By John H. Foote Race? Misogyny? These are now being cited as the reasons Danielle Deadwyler in Till and Viola Davis in The Woman Kong were snubbed for Best Actress nominations when the Academy Award nominations were announced. Are they kidding? I am so sick and tired of this ridiculous garbage. How about the obvious…
By John H. Foote Everything Everywhere All at Once seems headed for Oscar glory. The film’s directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, won the Director’s Guild of America on Saturday making the film the frontrunner for the Academy Award on Oscar night. The popular time travel film has defied the odds becoming a fan favourite,…
By John H. Foote Two weeks after the Academy Award nominations were announced and I am still trying to make sense of them. First let me apologize for not writing near as much as I am used to doing. My father is dying of stage 4 liver cancer, and I am his caregiver. Watching this…
By John H. Foote We are a short time before the announcement of the Academy Award nominations for 2022, so I am going to weigh in on my predictions. It has been an usually fine year especially for women on film, the plethora of performances stunning in what has been a landmark year. Along with…
By John H. Foote After a year in which the industry boycotted the Golden Globe Awards citing many dark reasons, specifically their lack of diversity and inclusion, rumours of bribes, the Association of Foreign Press writers made the necessary changes, and last night the awards were presented with stars in attendance. The Globes have often…
By John H. Foote (****) In theatres In 2006, at TIFF I made my way to the screening of Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, because I admired Polley’s work as an actress, had seen one of her short films and liked it, and I adored Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie. I came out of the…
By John H. Foote Has 2022 been a great year at the movies? Like most years, we saw a handful of good films, some really great ones, but more bad films than good. Choosing the year’s best films is always a pleasure, but a job I agonize over. My first shortlist included 31 films; paring…