Category: Emotional Rantings
Easy rider: Academy rewards safe biopic ‘Green Book’ with Best Picture
by Matt Ward
Newly crowned Academy Award winner for Best Picture “Green Book” is like clanging a cowbell at the end of Shoshtakovich’s seventh. Everyone who doesn’t understand what that means believes it’s perfect. There’s nothing particularly wrong with “Green Book,” a well-acted and competently made film, yet completely ordinary by comparison to other features in the Academy’s Best Picture category. It’s just that a film like … Read More Easy rider: Academy rewards safe biopic ‘Green Book’ with Best Picture
Green Book: A beginner’s guide to overcoming racism
by Matt Ward
It’s sometimes easy to forget that #OscarsSoWhite was nearly three years ago, a time when no minority actors or actresses were nominated in back-to-back Academy Award ceremonies. Movies like the Best Picture winning “Moonlight,” “Black Panther” and “BlacKkKlansman” are proof that studios have begun empowering a wider array of filmmakers to examine new and old stories from fresh perspectives. The rise of Netflix as … Read More Green Book: A beginner’s guide to overcoming racism
Widows: A most complex crime
by Matt Ward
Don’t put “Widows” in a box. The latest film from Academy Award winner Steve McQueen isn’t just one type of movie, no matter how much it may seem to be a simple heist thriller at first glance. Chicago serves as the backdrop for the entire cinematic experience, and more than just a place for action to happen, “Widows” is a Chicago movie embedded with … Read More Widows: A most complex crime
Venom: Dr. Hardy and Mr. Mediocre Movie
by Matt Ward
Tom Hardy deserves better. Watching the talented actor’s latest film, it’s easy to tell that no one on screen cares more about their performance or has thought about their character more than Hardy. Everything about his work is nuanced, with immense planning given to the affectation of each line, the physicality involved and the Jekyll and Hyde quality his work espouses. But stuck in … Read More Venom: Dr. Hardy and Mr. Mediocre Movie
Life Itself: Worlds collide
by Matt Ward
There are elements of a good movie in “Life Itself,” a deeply thoughtful melodrama from Emmy-winning “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman. Slowly, painfully over the course of two hours, this is all stripped away as viewers are consistently ripped apart emotionally with jarring, contrived twists of fate. It’s all in service of Fogelman’s overarching premise, that life itself is the ultimate unreliable narrator … Read More Life Itself: Worlds collide
Blaze: Behind the music
by Matt Ward
Biopics are movies made about stars. Blaze Foley was never a star, simply a mythical folk hero who played with Townes Van Zandt and had his songs covered by the likes of John Prine, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson. It’s fitting then that the independent film telling his story isn’t a traditional paint-by-numbers biopic. Filled with raw grittiness and passion, “Blaze” is a cinematic … Read More Blaze: Behind the music
Sign of the times: Artistic fantasy drama The Shape of Water wins Best Picture Oscar
by Matt Ward
It’s true. The reigning Academy Award winner for Best Picture and 13-time Oscar nominee features a scene of inter-species sex between a mute woman and a fish-man-god. That’s cinema in the modern era, a changing of the guard that began last year with the surprising upset win by gay coming-of-age story “Moonlight” that continues through genre films like “The Shape of Water,” “Get Out” … Read More Sign of the times: Artistic fantasy drama The Shape of Water wins Best Picture Oscar
Oscar nods take ‘Shape’: Recapping 90th Academy Award nominations
by Matt Ward
So it’s Oscar nomination morning and I have some thoughts….. Let’s get into these picks and do super early winner predictions. Best Picture: Call Me By Your Name, Darkest Hour, Dunkirk, Get Out, Lady Bird, Phantom Thread, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri I had seven of these nine nominees yesterday when I made my final picks heading into … Read More Oscar nods take ‘Shape’: Recapping 90th Academy Award nominations
2017: A cinematic year in review
by Matt Ward
There’s little doubt that 2017 will go down in history books for far different reasons than its cinema. Films that changed the landscape of moviemaking as we know it were few and far between this year, but several – three to be exact – made game-changing impact on the possibilities big screen theatrical releases could become moving forward. Despite emerging sexual harassment and abuse … Read More 2017: A cinematic year in review
Revisiting the Oscars: In defense of La La Land
by Matt Ward
Heading into last night’s Academy Awards ceremony, I was fully prepared to write another glowing column about “La La Land,” raving about the film’s actual merits on a night that felt like Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece was going to be picked apart by fans of other nominated films and later derided as “not a good Best Picture winner” by those who actively dislike the movie. … Read More Revisiting the Oscars: In defense of La La Land
Academy Awards stunner: Surprise winner Moonlight steals Oscars stage
by Matt Ward
“Moonlight” deserved to win Best Picture. “La La Land” deserved to win Best Picture. Watch them both. Enjoy them both.
How I’d write #DeflateGateTheMovie
by Matt Ward
Everything about tonight’s incredible, dramatic Super Bowl that saw the New England Patriots rally back from 19 points down to win 34-28 in the first overtime championship game in NFL history begs to be turned into cinema. I started tweeting about #DeflateGateTheMovie during the Pats’ ridiculous comeback in the fourth quarter and basically started trying to will this concept into existence because, let’s face … Read More How I’d write #DeflateGateTheMovie
Cinematic Considerations 