This year, the Academy Awards turn 90, and the race for the best picture of 2017 is pretty wide open. This is certainly no runaway Titanic or Lord of the Rings year, and by the same token, as long as Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are kept far away from the envelopes, it seems unlikely that there will be audible gasps in the wee hours of the morning after Sunday. … [Read more...]
Mute Hawkins speaks volumes in creaky ‘Shape of Water’
“That’s the future now — green!” With this correction, about 40 minutes into The Shape of Water, struggling commercial illustrator Giles (Richard Jenkins), proudly toting his commissioned portrait of a nuclear American family huddled around a red gelatin mold, is sent back to the drawing board. Green is the hue of progress, not red. Green is certainly the warmest color in … [Read more...]
Arts Preview 2017-18: The season in fall film
Those in search of a thematic thread in this fall’s film releases – always a dubious exercise – will notice a similarity of titles among Wonder, Wonderstruck and Wonder Wheel. May it be a portent of a wonderful awards season at the movies. If the past is any indicator, the major Oscar winners will be hiding in this list of releases arriving in theaters in the final three months … [Read more...]