Oscar Predictions 2019 (Part 2)

Last week I predicted who will win in the eight major awards categories at the upcoming Academy Awards. Today I’m looking at the remaining 16 categories and giving my thoughts on who will walk away victorious!

My 2019 Oscar Predictions (Part 1)

Next Tuesday is the nomination announcement ceremony for the upcoming Academy Awards, and I’ve spent the last week and a half outlining all of the major categories. Today I’ll be giving my quickfire predictions for each of the “minor” categories (minus the shorts) with brief thoughts on each!

2018 Scriptophile Film Awards

I’ve spent plenty of time following the pundits’ opinions of the key races and predicting what is likely to make the cut at the Oscars this year. What I haven’t spent much time doing yet is deciding what I would vote for if I had a ballot! So regardless of the internal politics and trends within Hollywood, here is how I wish the major races would play out.

“Bird Box” Film Review & Analysis

Bird Box (2018) is the new Netflix sci-fi horror-survival film helmed by esteemed Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier. It stars Sandra Bullock as a woman who must guide two young children through a world in which you cannot open your eyes outdoors or you will die. The film is written by Eric Heisserer, who penned one of the cleverest sci-fi films of the decade in 2016’s Arrival. The film is sure to draw comparisons to A Quiet Place from earlier in the year, with a similar premise surrounding a malevolent being preying on one of the five senses. What sets this one apart?

2019 SAG Award Nomination Analysis: Winners and Losers

This morning, the Screen Actors Guild announced their nominations for the upcoming  awards ceremony, and there is a LOT to unpack. Who/what are the big winners and losers from the announcement?

My Top 10 Films of 2018 (So Far)

We are officially halfway through the year, and while there are many quality films yet to come, we’ve had plenty thus far that are worthy of praise. What have been my 10 favorite films of the year through six wonderful months of cinema?

“A Quiet Place” Review & Analysis: From Script to Screen

For this review I’m doing things a little bit differently. John Krasinski’s new horror flick A Quiet Place has been garnering rave reviews, and I planned to see it on opening weekend even though I am not a horror fan. I’ll admit it, I’m a scaredy-cat who hates jump scares and uncomfortable on-screen situations. When I do end up watching a horror film I tend to prefer knowing more or less what’s going to happen to defuse the tension a little bit and lessen the blow of the jump scares. Luckily there was a perfect way to do this…read the screenplay ahead of time!

The original spec script for A Quiet Place was sold in early 2017 by writers Bryan Wood and Scott Beck. After the studio got a hold of it, they hired John Krasinski to do a rewrite and then direct the film, which opened this past Friday. I did not read the final shooting script ahead of time, but I did get a chance to read the original spec script (which you can read for yourself HERE!), which has been floating around the Internet for a while. I don’t usually read screenplays before watching the film myself, but it seemed appropriate this time for a couple reasons. One, as mentioned earlier, I can get the nasty business out of the way up front so I don’t shit my pants in the theater. And two, it would be a perfect opportunity to analyze the changes that the film underwent from original script to final product. As an aspiring screenwriter myself, it was an eye-opening experience to see: a) what sold to the studio, and b) what things were added or done away with.

SPOILERS AHEAD!