The viewer is left to draw their own conclusion and although I liked that the film did that, another part of me would have liked a definitive conclusion. Having said that, it's probably better that it was left open-ended because too many documentaries have an obvious agenda meant to convince the viewer of some particular point of v

Legend may not be the most memorable biography about a real-life gangster (make that gangsters ), but Tom Hardy's turn as the Twin crime bosses Reggie and Ronnie Kray is easily the film's highlight. It's also a notable case of an actor having to play off himself while at the same time crafting multi-faceted portraits of two real-world charact

My Kid Could Paint That was the last film I saw at the 2007 Sundance film festival games missions|Https://moviefestivalhub.Com/ Festival, and is a fascinating look at the story of four year old Marla Olmstead, who a couple of years ago took the art world by storm by rocketing from lower middle class obscurity to international fame through the sale of her paintings. This documentary by director Amir Bar-Lev is extremely well done and is about as close to neutral as I think one could

Several indie and lesser-known critical-darlings received little-to-no love from the Hollywood Foreign Press, including titles like The Tree of Life , Warrior , Drive , Martha Marcy May Marlene , and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy . Similarly, there were more than a few surprising snubs (no Best Director nod for David Fincher on The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ? No Winnie the Pooh for Best Animated Feature?) and certain films fared far better than anticipated (namely, The Ides of March ). However, there were also more than a few no-brainers (ex. Meryl Streep being nominated for The Iron Lady ) and some rather unexpected choices (ex. Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Lov

There were also many very funny moments in the film including one scene where Farrell decks a guy he thinks is an American and right afterwards says: "That's for John Lennon." But then part way through the movie the tone changes abruptly into a much darker and tragic mode. Humor is still sprinkled throughout after this turn, but when you laugh at this point it's almost more like nervous laughter, just to release the tension of what you're watch

On the TV side: the mini-series Mildred Pierce landed four nods, including acting nominations for stars Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, and Evan Rachel Wood. Showtime's Homeland , HBO's Boardwalk Empire , and ABC's Modern Family each landed three nods, while HBO's hit fantasy series Game of Thrones and FX's successful spooky romp American Horror Story also managed to secure two nominations (including, in the coveted Best Dramatic Television Series category). Sadly, AMC's critical smash, Breaking Bad , only landed a Best Actor

Amir Bar-Lev, the director of the film, spent an entire year with the Olmsteads shooting this documentary. He became aware of them by reading a story about Marla and her paintings in the New York Times. His initial approach to the documentary was to take a look at the world of modern art, but as things progressed he saw that the real story was what was going on with Marla and her fam

Yes, Pixar's Inside Out is nominated for Best Animated Feature, but it would have been nice to see the HFPA nominate the critically-acclaimed computer animated movie for Best Comedy too - seeing as that doesn't carry the qualifier of being the best animated film of the year. And if both The Martian and the decidedly serious Joy count as "comedies", then so does Quentin Tarantino's darkly funny single-setting western/murder mystery, The Hateful Eig

Hounddog is a drama film directed by Deborah Kampmeier, starring Dakota Fanning as a young girl named Lewellen who finds solace in Elvis Presley's music while growing up in the rural South. The film delves into themes of trauma, resilience, and the transformative power of music. David Morse and Robin Wright Penn play pivotal supporting roles, contributing to the film's exploration of complicated family dynamics and personal stren

Right from the opening frame of the movie it seems that the director is intent on keeping the audience off-balance. The camera pans across various landmarks and streets in the beautiful town of Bruges, Belgium with music that sounds like it comes from some French romance movie. But as this is happening, we get quick cuts to the two main characters, Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) making funny comments profusely laced with the F-b

2015 was a noteworthy year for cinema purely in terms of variety, when it came to the year's most critically-acclaimed film releases. Something like the Steven Spielberg historical drama, Bridge of Spies earned the applause and admiration that one expects when a prestigious Spielberg picture is produced nowadays (which is not to say the film doesn't deserve it, per se), but even revivals of decades-old pop franchises like Star Wars and Mad Max were equally enthusiastically received (more so in certain cases) as the year's general crop of arthouse offerings, auteur efforts, and Oscar-baiting end of year dra