Ranking the Best Picture Winners of the 21st Century

Let’s be honest: it’s been a poor couple of months for cinema. Summer blockbuster season has passed, and we’re now all waiting for awards season to begin so we can start to get some quality films in theaters again. So as we await the slow death of films like The Meg and The Predator and The Nun, let’s do something fun and take a look back at the past century and determine how the Academy winners have aged, from 2000 to 2018!

**(Now updated for 2018!)

Top 15 Upcoming Films of 2018

Fall is almost here, which means awards season! Most of the heavy-hitting films will be released in the next few months, and there are several that excite me. What am I most looking forward to seeing through the end of the year?

Toronto International Film Festival 2018 Review Round-Up

TIFF is generally considered the most important film festival of the year when it comes to generating awards buzz. Several high-profile films have already debuted and critics have their first taste of what the big players in this year’s conversation will be. Check out the first reactions to Widows, Beautiful Boy, Boy Erased, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, If Beale Street Could Talk, Life Itself, The Front Runner, and Roma!

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” Film Review

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the latest hit Netflix exclusive, directed by Susan Johnson based on a YA novel by Jenny Han. It stars Lana Condor as Lara Jean, a shy teenager whose life is upended when secret letters to her boy-crushes are revealed to the world. August sure seems to be the month of Asian-American leads with this, Searching, and Crazy Rich Asians dropping all within a couple weeks of one another. It’s already drawn strong reviews around the web with a 95% Rotten Tomatoes score. Does it live up to the hype?

Throwback Thursday: “Sunset Boulevard” (1950) Analysis

Billy Wilder’s 1950 masterpiece Sunset Boulevard is widely regarded as one of the best films about Hollywood ever made. Told through the eyes of a cynical screenwriter, it explores themes of long-lost fame, naive optimism, and the harsh realities of what it takes to make it in entertainment. Conceived as a social commentary on Hollywood’s Golden Age, it has proven to be eerily prescient about the future of cinema and continues to be an accurate portrayal of the industry. How does the story so acutely reflect the realities of the studio system through its characters?

Venice Film Festival Round-Up: Early Reactions and Buzz

The first major festival of awards season is underway, and already a bevy of potential Oscar contenders have debuted. What’s the scuttlebutt around town? What have reviewers taken an interest in? What are the major surprises and letdowns of the festival so far? Check out the first reactions to First Man, A Star is Born, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Sisters Brothers, Suspiria, and The Favourite!

“Searching” Film Review

Searching is a mystery-thriller written and directed by Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian, previously known for a viral video shot entirely on a Google Glass. It stars John Cho as a father desperately searching for his missing teenage daughter, using her laptop in order to uncover her past. It utilizes a unique found-footage shooting style featuring mostly laptop/phone screens, much like 2014’s critically-panned Unfriended. Can Searching transcend the pitfalls of the genre and craft a compelling story in spite of the constraints of the format? *SPOILERS AHEAD!*