Hollywood

These Are the Nominees Who Deserve to Win the Oscar

Forrest Hartman

Anyone who has followed the Oscars knows that factors outside artistic integrity play into the eventual winners. Must a film or performance be great to land a nomination? Generally, yes. But the art is only part of the equation. Studio support, marketing campaigns, the past work of a nominated artist, and even the reputation of key players have a role in determining winners. Therefore, we think it’s worthwhile to toss those factors aside and talk about who deserves to win this year’s Academy Awards.  

Sav Rodgers Pays Sweet Tribute to Director Kevin Smith With New Film

Ben Friedman

In a new video for Highbrow Magazine, contributing writer and film critic Ben Friedman discusses a poignant story of filmmaker Sav Rodgers and his new film, Chasing Chasing Amy, which pays fond tribute to acclaimed indie director Kevin Smith's film. Friedman discusses how Rodgers relates his own personal story, while documenting the important role Smith's film played in his own life -- in addition to featuring interviews with Smith and the film's stars.

More of the Best Movies We Have Ever Seen

Forrest Hartman and Tara Taghizadeh

If you have never seen The Graduate, you can’t really call yourself a film buff. This astounding 1967 movie, directed by the late, great Mike Nichols, co-written by Buck Henry, and starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, took the world by storm when it was first released. The bizarre love triangle – boy has affair with married woman, then falls in love with her daughter – is riveting, and under Nichols’s direction, the blend of comedy and drama are interwoven perfectly.

Cinequest 2023 Features a Wide Array of Ambitious, Impressive Films

Ben Friedman

In failing to reach agreements with the striking guilds, Hollywood executives are essentially forced to promote movies without their A-list cast. The first signs of danger may present themselves this month – August -- with the Venice International Film Festival and Telluride Film Festival beginning at the end of this month. In the meantime, film festivals such as the Cinequest Film and Creativity Festival offer a glimpse of what this upcoming season has in store for Hollywood, both professionally and creatively.

A Bad 2023 Summer Movie Season Could Spell Yearslong Impending Doom for Hollywood

Ben Friedman

Disney made headlines in early June when its latest Pixar outing Elemental grossed $29.6 million on its opening weekend – an all-time low for the studio. This, along with the financial failures of Strange Worlds and Lightyear, suggests Disney animations struggle to get families back in the theater following the pandemic. Disney’s rush into streaming post-pandemic may prove costly as its animated projects continue to wither.

From Ordinary to Extraordinary Lives, Biopics Continue to Captivate Film Fans

Angelo Franco

Pam and Tommy was made anyway, of course. It received generally favorable reviews though; in the zeitgeist that is the current state of the Hollywood machine, the series has been largely forgotten already. It came and went and it rode the visibility that anything about a sex-tape was bound to receive, especially if it was about one of the most famous sex-tapes in the world to this day.

The Razzies Want Hollywood to Own Its ‘Bad’

Forrest Hartman

The Razzies also hammered Tom Hanks, who is one of the most celebrated actors in cinema history. Hanks not only won Worst Supporting Actor for his outing as Col. Tom Parker in “Elvis,” he received a share of the Worst Screen Combo Razzie. For the latter award, co-winners were the oddball accent he adopted as Parker and the latex facial prosthetics that made him look overweight. “These people have choices,” Wilson said.

Watching the 2023 Oscars: A Year of Reckoning

Tara Taghizadeh

After the unforgivable slap seen and heard around the world at last year’s Oscars ceremony, a few major questions remain: whether the Academy did enough to punish Will Smith for the attack on Chris Rock, and, given the general decline in viewership, are awards ceremonies still relevant? Of course, the greatest slap in the face to Will Smith – pardon the pun-- would have been if Chris Rock had hosted this year’s Oscars, but Rock turned down the offer.

Action Movies: Over-the-Top Spectacles or Misunderstood Meaningful Narratives?

Garrett Hartman

Critics and general audiences alike often view these films as over-the-top spectacles lacking meaningful storytelling. The action-packed focus of these films obviously detracts from narrative content; however, there seems to be a false perception that spectacle means the complete absence of worthwhile content. After all, we still learn about characters and how they develop during action sequences. For example, in “The Matrix’s” iconic scene where Neo dodges bullets in slow motion, we see Neo’s transformation from someone held to the mercy of the system to someone who has the will to defy it. 

Sundance 2023 Delivers an Aura of Studio Excitement and Powerful Films

Ben Friedman

Now following the success of CODA, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival became the topic of far greater anticipation. Given that Apple paid 25 million dollars for the rights to release CODA on its streaming service, film studios responded by bringing deep pockets to this year’s festival. Many of the festival’s popular entries such as Flora and Son and Fair Play sold as high as $20 million to Apple and Netflix, respectively.

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