Melanie Dishman's archive

Narrowing Golden Globe actor field for Oscars will be tough

Selma
boyhood

Last weekend, the Golden Globes showered “Boyhood” (available now on VOD) with the lion’s share of awards. Best Supporting Actress went to Patricia Arquette, Best Director (Drama) went to Richard Linklater and Best Drama went to the movie. It was quite a night for the Texas filmmaker’s grand experiment, as he has called it.

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Films look to make early run in awards season

Into the woods
Big eyes

The awards season is officially underway, and anticipation will begin in earnest after the winners are announced at the Golden Globe ceremony this Sunday. This event sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press has never been a huge indicator of whom Oscar will favor, but because it splits the film categories into “Drama” and “Comedy or Musical” there are twice as many winners, and that offers much more exposure for top competitors.

‘Into the Woods’

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2014 Year in Review

This was the year of a lot of worsts, some pretty goods and a spare few bests in the bunch. In fact, the entire summer of 2014 may go down as one of the overall worst years for movies in quite some time. A slew of superheroes dominated screens and numbed audiences. One of the later entries, “Guardians of the Galaxy,” literally saved the day — and the season.

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Two stories based on real people should vie for Oscars

“The Theory of Everything” and “Wild”

“The Theory of Everything”; Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones; Directed by: James Marsh; Rated: PG-13

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Chris Rock as director is only getting better

‘Top Five’

Starring: Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson

Directed by: Chris Rock

Rated: R

 

From a comedian who has tried writing and directing a couple of times before (“Head of State,” “I Think I Love My Wife”), this is Chris Rock’s best effort yet. The keen observations of pop culture that fuel his comedy are used here to craft a wickedly funny movie that has a surprising undercurrent of pathos to it.

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