By John H. Foote And to be clear, it is not always because I did not care for the performance, but more often than not that there were better performances that lost! So often the industry decides that an actor is “due”, it is “their time for an Oscar” and come hell or high water…
By John H. Foote Admittedly I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Kristen Stewart was nominated for Best Actress for her haunting performance as Princess Diana in Spencer, a performance actually better than the film it is in, one that elevates the film to a greater level. After emerging from film festivals in Venice…
By John H. Foote Spider Man: No Way Home swung into theatres just before Christmas and altered the entire Oscar landscape with rave reviews, the kind of adulation resulting in Best Picture attention. No one was more surprised than me, because this is the umpteenth version of Spider Man we have had, the first that…
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…
By John H. Foote Every film critic has them, those beliefs that are just not popular within critics circles. The question is, do these critics have the courage to discuss what might be very unpopular opinions? I do. 1. THE MARX BROTHERS BORE ME — I have never understood the appeal of the Marx Brothers…
By John H. Foote So many fine performances this year, each category for acting at the Academy Awards is jammed packed with potential nominees, with five slots for each. Rather than listing them by category or even by preference, I just wrote them down, lead and supporting together, again in no particular order. These were…
By John H. Foote When composing a Top 10 List of movies, I always like to follow it up with the 10 worst. So, here it is, the worst of the worst I have seen this year. Not much else to say, except no one sets out to make a bad film. But sometimes they…
By Alan Hurst John’s recent look at the Oscar snubs of Nicole Kidman and Tom Hanks got me thinking. They’re both winners and multiple nominees, but they also have a resume of performances that somehow Oscar overlooked. Coming from another generation of stars, Shirley MacLaine is another one who can be listed with Kidman and…
By John H. Foote With four Academy Award nominations and one win for Best Actress in The Hours (2002), Nicole Kidman appears headed for her fifth nomination this year as Lucille Ball in Being the Ricardos. Her win for her performance as Virginia Woolf in The Hours left many cold. Much was made of the…
By Alan Hurst The passing of Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim last Friday at the age of 91 marked the end of an era for musical theatre. Although his musicals often struggled for financial success, their impact was undeniable – both at the time of their debut and in the numerous revivals since. He…