By John H. Foote One of the dumbest rules ever created for the Academy Awards is that an actor is eligible for nomination only once in the same category each year. So, if someone has three brilliant performances in three different films, they must decide which one they are going to campaign for the nomination.…
By John H. Foote Every year there are artists that deserved a nomination for an Academy Award in any one of the categories. So for the next year, Alan and I are going to explore one nominee in each category from various years of the Academy Awards. Not just the big categories, but the below…
By John H. Foote I have been told by actors themselves – Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Viggo Mortensen and Holly Hunter – that an opinion such as mine, coming from a man who has acted, who has studied acting, and who has directed a substantial number of plays matters a great deal to them. “Well,…
By John H. Foote “The Golden Globes are fun; the Oscars are about money”. So spoke Warren Beatty about 40 years ago when the Globes came under fire, and not for the first or last time. Did anyone really think it would come to this? Last night the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a dubious group…
By John H. Foote Groundbreaking Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier passed away this week, his life dedicated to breaking ground in film for African Americans. Actor, director, writer, Civil Rights spokesman, Poitier was a mountain of dignity during some of the most turbulent times in America history, always carrying himself with confidence and humility as…
By John H. Foote (****) In Theatres The great love story for the ages is said to be Romeo and Juliet. Frankly. I have always preferred Cyrano de Bergerac, written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand, a mature and brilliant love story that vastly soars past Romeo and Juliet. No question, Shakespeare created a magnificent piece…
By John H. Foote (***) In theatres now. Streaming in January. Some in the theatre world hold a superstition that to utter the title “Macbeth” or any lines from that play will doom the stage performance. Some actors hold this belief religiously, some do not. I was directing in the 80’s and 90’s and worked…
By John H. Foote (****) In Theatres and Steaming on Netflix Black comedy has always been the best of the sub-genres of comedy for me. Taking a subject that is in no way funny (murder, nuclear explosions, divorce, a drunken Santa and now a meteor speeding towards earth) has always tickled my funny bone. My…
By John H. Foote Maybe it is the strange familiarity of A Christmas Story that hits home. Each year I watch the film a few times before Christmas Day. I do not know why the film has such a profound impact on me. It takes place in the late 50s, when I was born, so…
THE YEAR’S BEST MOVIES By John H. Foote Movies returned with a thundering triumph this year, exploding back on big screens. As we all slowly, hopefully, leave our basements and adjust our eyes to daylight, movie making and theatres are beginning to make a comeback, inching their way back to where once they ruled. Nothing…