By John H. Foote Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, who blew audiences and critics minds with her towering performance as Effie, the pivotal role in Dreamgirls (2006), was handpicked by the great Aretha Franklin to portray the iconic singer in the film biography of her life. That film – Respect – has been getting Oscar buzz…
By John H. Foote Legendary screen icon Sophia Loren might just be a nominee for Best Actress for her new upcoming Netflix produced film The Life Ahead, soon to be streamed. Directed by her son Edoardo Ponti, the gritty film looks to tug at heart strings in its depiction of two people at opposite ends…
By John H. Foote After the streaming service leaped into the production business in 2015 with the critically acclaimed Beasts of No Nation, which earned critical acclaim and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for actor Idris Elba, Netflix was taken seriously. They were, however, not necessarily feared or even taken as…
By John H. Foote For his magnificent performance in Cast Away (2000) Tom Hanks won the coveted New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor seeming to pave the way for a third Academy Award which would have made him the first actor to win three Oscars for Best Actor. Further he would have…
By John H. Foote Nominated for Best Actor for his splendid performance in Alexander Payne’s black and white Nebraska (2013) many thought veteran actor Bruce Dern might win the Academy Award for best actor based on his performance, but also as an actor with a lifetime of fine performances. He did not. Leonardo Di Carpio…
By John H. Foote (***) Three-time Academy Award nominated actor Viggo Mortensen both acts and directs in this strong film, his directorial debut. The actor is among the greatest of his generation, nominated for Academy Awards as Best Actor for Eastern Promises (2007), Captain Fantastic (2016) and most recently in Green Book (2018). Mortensen was deserving of further nominations…
By John H. Foote It could indeed. Spike Lee’s fine film about a group of African American Vietnam veterans returning to the site of their greatest tragedies 40 to 50 years later is a powering study of how the war never left those who fought it. The film marks the first time the treatment of…
By John H. Foote To be clear, with my choices a Best Picture nomination comes automatically with a Best Director nomination, it just makes sense. The best directed film must be the years best film, how else can it go I ask? So here we go, my nominees for Best Director since 1970 with my…
By John H. Foote A notoriously difficult category for many reasons, but like supporting actor, stars are born from this one. Many of the winners or nominees go on to Best Actress nominations or wins, yet just as many are nominated once, even win once and then never are in the Oscar race again. The…
By John H. Foote In the 10 years of Oscar winning Best Pictures, since the beginning of the second decade of this New Millennium, I have agreed with the Academy’s choice for Best Film just … ONCE. Going through the years, I took a look at what stronger choices might have won, and why the…