Hard In The City vs. The Oscars: Live Blog & Winners 2011

Since my live blog of the Golden Globes this year was surprisingly popular (really, I didn’t think anyone would care what I have to say), I am again live-blogging and tweeting up a storm for the Academy Awards this evening. Should you need them, here are my predicted winners.

The Not-Oscars 2011

It’s that time of year again, folks! What I like to call “movie Christmas.” And like an actual holiday, the Academy Awards often end up as more of a disappointment than anything else — any Oscars handed out to not-so-great nominated films like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and The Iron Lady can be chalked […]

Gold Rush: Independent Spirit Award Winners 2012

And the Oscar winners have been announced! Congratulations, everyone! Thanks for playing and see you next year. Okay, actually, these are the Independent Spirit Awards winners, but there’s a lot of overlap with tomorrow’s predicted champions. Traditionally, the Spirit Awards are meant to be a way to counterbalance the Academy’s ardor for more mainstream, bombastic […]

Gold Rush: Oscar Predictions 2012

Though so many of us take the Oscars very seriously (guilty as charged), really, it’s just a game. It’s no different than the Super Bowl, except there are about five teams playing in every “quarter” and it’s actually quite embarrassing to be wearing the same outfit as anyone else. No jerseys on the red carpet. […]

Top Ten Films: 2011

Is it me, or were 2011’s movies more united by theme this year than is usual? Nostalgia was the big one, with several titles capitalizing not just on our nostalgia of a past era, but of movies from a past era — from silent films to Spielberg blockbusters and everything in between. Films like The […]

Gold Rush: Screen Actors Guild Award Winners 2012

The Screen Actors Guild has chimed into awards season, with at least one fairly surprising surprise. (Here were the nominees.)

Gold Rush: Academy Award Nominees 2012

At this point, what else is there left to say, but: Oscars… Extremely Lame & Incredibly Disappointing.

Gold Rush: Oscar Nomination Predictions 2012

Predicting the Oscars is useless. Sure, it can be fun guessing the winners when the big night is nigh, but what’s the use of predicting nominees? I’m telling you, there is none. And yet, people do it. I use the term “people” to refer to that small handful of folks like myself for whom the […]

Hard In The City vs. The Golden Globes: Live Blog & Winners 2012

It’s the Golden Globes! And because I currently have nothing better to do, I am watching and blogging about them. (Nominees here, FYI.) I’ll be doing some sort of live-blogging/recap as we go on, so… enjoy!

Gold Rush: National Society Of Film Critics Winners 2012

And you thought it was all about the Oscars, didn’t you? Nope. The Academy Awards are basically the last group to have their say about which films are the year’s most esteemed, and their picks don’t necessarily (or even often) reflect the feelings of the critical community, which is why you’ll see a lot more […]

When Peppy Met George: The Year Of Loving Nostalgically

(Movies discussed in this post: Beginners, Certified Copy, Forget Me Not, One Day, Midnight In Paris, The Artist, The Future.) I have two questions for you: 1) Have you ever been in love? And, if so — 2) Was it quirky?

Salander ‘Girl’: Lisbeth Leads A Trio Of High-End Horror Movies

(Films discussed in this post: The Skin I Live In, Contagion, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.)There are two kinds of filmmakers in this world: those that suck, and those that do not. And when it comes to taking risks, the former group tends to play it safe, while the latter category pushes the […]