Director Series #1: Paul Thomas Anderson

Welcome to a new series here on Scriptophile, where I look back at the filmography of an acclaimed director and analyze each of their films! Today we kick things off with one of the biggest auteur names to come out of the 90’s: PTA himself, Paul Thomas Anderson! PTA has gone from whiz kid extraordinaire to cinephile- and Academy-darling over the past two and a half decades. How has his style and storytelling evolved over time? What kind of themes does he like to explore through his characters?

Top 10 Films of 2020 (So Far)

As is tradition here at Scriptophile, I like to mark the occasion of July 1st by highlighting the best of what the first half of the year had to offer. 2020 is an especially odd year, however, with theaters shut down due to COVID-19 and the future of new releases in jeopardy. As such, I saw far fewer movies than I usually do by this point in the year and we may not even have an awards season to look forward to in the fall and winter months! That said, we could all use a little positivity right now and I still love talking about film, so let’s look back and see what the year has had to offer us so far!

Top 10 Upcoming Films of 2020

As another excellent year (and decade) of cinema leaves us, we can always look to the future to see what is on the horizon! As loaded as 2019 was, 2020 is looking even better with several big-name directors releasing their latest projects. What films from the next twelve months look enticing? What could be the big Oscar players of next year?

Top 20 Upcoming Films of 2019

Awards season is fast approaching! What films are being buzzed about most as heavyweight contenders for the Oscars, and which am I most looking forward to?

Cannes Film Festival 2019 Review Round-Up

Cannes Film Festival is perhaps the most prestigious awards circuit stop on the planet, and it just closed its doors on the 2019 season. Some high-profile films made their much-anticipated debuts there this year, while some under-the-radar picks surprised many, including the ultimate winner. What did critics have to say about the big contenders, and what does it mean for the Oscar race?

Sundance Film Festival 2019 Review Round-Up

The first major film fest of 2019, Sundance Film Festival, just wrapped up, and several of its films are already making waves with major distribution deals for 2019 release. What are some of the most buzzed-about titles?

Top 10 Film Disappointments of 2018

While most critics have been posting their 10 Worst Films of 2018, I want to try something a little different. I ended up skipping a lot of the truly awful fare in theaters, so you won’t see stinkers like A Wrinkle in Time or Fifty Shades Freed on this list. Rather, these are the ten films that I went into expecting a solid film but left thoroughly dissatisfied. Here are the Top 10 Most Disappointing Films of 2018!

Top 20 Films of 2018

I saw a lot of movies in 2018…82 to be precise. Part of that is thanks to services like MoviePass, but mostly it was a desire to fully commit to the year and determine for myself what makes each of the year’s best movies tick. My journey of discovering what makes a great film meant I had to sit through a lot of mediocre fare, but you can learn just as much from the movies you don’t like as the ones you do. And on occasion, a film I went into expecting to hate ended up being among my favorites of the year (and some appear on this list!). With that being said, I could not narrow down my list to just ten because so many great movies have lingered in my memory that I have to talk about. So enjoy Part 1 of my Top 20 Films of 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?

My Top 10 Anticipated Films of 2018

We’re in the thick of summer blockbuster season at the moment, which is not typically my favorite time of year for cinema as strong writing and well-crafted stories are set aside for flashy visual effects and lowest-common-denominator fare. While the awards contenders won’t be released until the end of the calendar year, it’s never too early to look ahead and speculate on what the best films of the year might be! While limited information is available for some of the films on the list, I’ve compiled the ten films that I’m most looking forward to from the upcoming year.