Most Anticipated Movies of 2022

10. The Batman
Director: Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Dawn/War of the Planet of the Apes)
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Colin Farrell, Paul Dano, Jeremy Irons, Jeffery Wright, Andy Serkis, Zoe Kravitz, John Turturro

Although we've been over-saturated with superhero movies and shows for the past 10+ years, I am still excited to see Robert Pattinson take on the Dark Knight. He more than proved himself with his manic performance in the Safdie Brothers' Good Time, and Ari Aster's twisted The Lighthouse, so I trust he'll deliver. I worry it might be too overstuffed with villains, but since Batman is my favorite superhero, I can't help but geek out at the prospect of Paul Dano as The Riddler, or Colin Farrell pulling off The Penguin. Plus, Matt Reeves has done a fantastic job bringing a unique vision to effects-heavy action films lately, so I'm hoping for the best!

Release Date: March 4, 2022

TOP TEN Movies of 2021!

2021 - such a weird year for movies! Theaters continued to struggle as HBO offered films on streaming the same day of release, but also, somehow Spider-Man managed to make a billion dollars. Celebrity deaths like Norm Macdonald and Michael K. Williams hit hard. The Golden Globes aren't being televised, and Oscar season is super short since last year they had an extended deadline for COVID. Crazy times! All that being said though, if you dug around for gems there were plenty of amazing movies to watch this year. 

So here it is, my official "Top Ten" movies of 2021!

10. Raya and the Last Dragon

Directed By: Don Hall & Carlos López Estrada

Written By: Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Kiel Murray, Adele Lim, Paul Briggs, Dean Wellins, Qui Nguyen & John Ripa

Awkwardly released in March, when theaters were open but moviegoers were still unsure about returning, Raya and the Last Dragon was unfairly left behind before it could really find its audience. But this fantasy epic ranks among the Studio's best films with a stunningly realized world, along with fun, heartfelt characters. 

BEST and WORST 2021 Movie Superlatives!

The 2020s are shaping up to be the greatest decade ever! Right guys? .... Right? .... Ok, maybe they've sucked, but at least we can all escape our problems with movies! 2021 may have only been slightly less wonky of a movie year than 2020, as theaters slowly started to reopen as the months went on, but there was still awesome stuff that came out that deserves to be applauded. So before I get to my official top ten list of 2021, here are some highlighted categories from this year in film that were some of my favorites (and least favorites). Enjoy!

BEST ACTOR - Anthony Hopkins, The Father

Anthony Hopkins may have completely stole the thunder from the Oscars this year, ending the broadcast with a shocking win over Chadwick Boseman's final role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, but for anyone who actually watched The Father, no one can say it was unearned!

Perhaps the greatest role ever from one of the greatest actors of all time, Hopkins' portrayal of a man experiencing dementia perfectly (and horrifically) captures the feelings of confusion and time displacement that many of us have experienced with either parents or grandparents. It's also a particularly brave, self-reflective performance because Hopkins himself is an older man, and playing a role like this can probably hit close to home. The Father is a magnificent film, and it's Hopkin's performance that holds it all together. A well-deserved honoree of being the oldest Oscar-winning actor ever!

Predicting the 93rd Academy Awards (EVERY CATEGORY)

Despite 2020 being an absolute dumpster fire of a year, with movie theaters being open for maybe half the year, and the latter part at limited capacity, it wouldn't have seemed outside the realm of possibility to outright cancel the Oscars this year. But looking over the nominees, honestly, this is one of the strongest collection of films in a long time! Below, check out my predictions in each category, as well as my personal ranking of each film. I was able to watch every nominee this year, so by reading this blog, you just might win your virtual office Oscar pool!

BEST PICTURE
My Personal Ranking:

1. Minari

2. Sound of Metal

3. The Father

4. The Trial of the Chicago 7

5. Promising Young Woman

6. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Nomadland

8. Mank

I Predict: Nomadland

I think this is a two-way race. Minari and Nomadland seem like the frontrunners here, with Trial of the Chicago 7 just a little behind. Mank may have the most nominations but it's the least lovable - it's really only appealing to movie nerds. The rest are all fantastic films with wide appeal. Nomadland, the "unofficial" frontrunner this year, has been a beast this awards season, picking up Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes and at BAFTA (the British Academy Awards). 

Minari could follow the same trajectory as Moonlight for a win, though. It's the little A24 "movie that could", and it's a lot more of a crowd pleaser than Nomadland, which could give it an edge considering the Academy's preferential ballot where voters rank the movies (so not just #1 votes are counted). Plus in a year with anti-Asian hate on the rise, it could win, but I'm not getting my hopes up too much. I'd be overjoyed to be wrong!

10 Biggest Oscar Snubs of 2021

Despite the fact that movie theaters have been either closed or at minimum capacity for the majority of the year, IT'S OSCAR SEASON!! The Oscars are like my personal Superbowl, and nomination announcement day is always exciting. What made the cut? Who will go home a total loser? Getting an Oscar nomination cements one's movie cred in the history books forever, even during a weird COVID year, so a snub hurts extra hard! The following are what I consider to be the 10 biggest snubs of the 2021 Oscars:

10. The Invisible Man snubbed for Best Visual Effects, Best Actress, Best Sound

Horror movies getting respect at the Oscars is always the exception to the rule. Although Get Out, Silence of the Lambs, and The Exorcist show that sometimes a fright flick can cut through the sobering period pieces and family melodramas, it just wasn't The Invisible Man's year. Despite being a brilliant reinvention of the classic Universal Monster as a metaphor for hidden domestic abuse it earned no love this season. Elizabeth Moss delivers a fantastic performance essentially against "nothing" (I mean, it's an invisible man), the sound design was delicately calibrated for the perfect scares, and the visual effects were simple, but horrifying. I was hoping for it to sneak in there somewhere but oh well... at least this movie will definitely have a longer shelf life than most of the other nominees!

Top Ten Movies of 2020!

2020 has almost come to an end. It's been a crap-tastic year for sure, with COVID making a ruckus and all the political unrest and whatnot. But with all that quaran-time on my hands, I did manage to see a bunch of fantastic movies despite theaters being closed for the majority of the year. I whittled down my top ten of the year based on the following subjective criteria: how likely I'd be to recommend it, how strong of an emotional reaction it gave me, and how it well it captures that 'X' factor in the cultural zeitgeist right now. 

10. Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm

Directed By: Jason Woliner

Written By: Sacha Baron Cohen, et al.

I had to put Borat 2 on the list, because no other film this year made me laugh as much, or made so many headlines! Yes, the scene in which Maria Bakalova, playing Borat's daughter, interviews Rudy Guliani leading to an awkward hands-down-pants encounter in a hotel room, is one for the history books! But that alone isn't what makes this a "top ten" film - it also hilariously exposes the problems in our country in that special way only Sacha Baron Cohen can do. 

Cohen puts his life on the line for his comedy - like in the scene where he performs a "Wuhan Flu" song at a conservative rally and he almost literally gets attacked, or stays in character for days and days while living with a couple of old gents deep into QAnon conspiracy theories. Few comedians have that mix of societal insights and balls of steel as Cohen, and I'm so happy that he's able to constantly push the boundaries!

BEST and WORST 2020 Superlatives!

Welcome to my annual movie superlatives for 2020! Although I focus my reviewing skills more on my Letterboxd page nowadays than my blog, I have to at least compile my best-of lists at the end of the year! And what a crazy year it's been. Despite the fact that movie theaters were shut down for the majority of the year due to COVID, there were still a bunch of great movies released, mostly to streaming platforms, that deserve to be lauded.

But before I reveal my official top ten list of the year, I want to spotlight a number of movies that were the best of the best (or the worst) of 2020 in certain categories. Each category features a main winner, a runner-up, and five honorable mentions in order of best to next-best. I've also created a YouTube playlist for the music sections. So without further delay, here are my 2020 Movie Superlatives! 

BEST ACTOR - Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal

Riz Ahmed first came onto my radar in 2014 acting opposite Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler (my #2 movie that year), and he was also magnificent in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as an innocent college student sent to prison. His career is only going up, and Sound of Metal is his first major breakout leading role. 

Here he plays punk-metal drummer Ruben Stone, who is starting to lose his hearing. Thinking his music career and life is over, Ruben's girlfriend convinces the ex-heroin addict to check into a farmhouse rehab for the deaf community. Ahmed's performance is wonderfully complex as Ruben navigates his new, unwanted situation that transforms who he is. It's an incredibly emotional and physical performance, and not to mention he took six months of drum lessons to prepare for the role. Easily one of the best of the year - hopefully he earns his first Oscar nomination!