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Hello, fellow moviegoers! Wow! Did that really just happen? In case you didn’t watch the Oscars last night, or you haven’t been on social media at all in the last 12 hours, the Oscars pulled a Steve Harvey. They accidentally awarded Best Picture to the wrong movie. La La Land was initially announced as the winner, but in the following excitement, it became apparent that they read from the wrong card. The actual Best Picture winner is the film Moonlight. Yeah, that happened…  Before I get too far into this article, I just want to say, good for Moonlight. That movie was an absolute triumph of a film! It was a look into the life of somebody who most of the general movie-going audience wouldn't be able to relate to, yet they make the character extremely relatable. The biggest success of Moonlight is how perfectly it highlights that we're all people just living our lives. We all have different circumstances, and we all have different approaches to the world, and that's okay! Now, many people are speculating to their heart’s desire over what actually happened last night. If you’re like my father, you believe that it was all a set-up to get people talking and increase ratings. In reality, though, we don’t actually know what happened. We do know that Warren Beatty did, in fact, have the wrong envelope. He had the envelope containing Emma Stone’s Best Lead Actress win. However, Stone claims she was holding the envelope when they won. How could that be? Well, turns out they actually have duplicates of all of the envelopes just in case one gets lost. Chances are, some confusion happened backstage and Beatty ended up with the other Best Lead Actress envelope. Mistakes happen. Take what you want from all of this, but what I believe the most disappointing thing is about all of this actually isn’t La La Land's loss (though that is a bummer). I believe the most disappointing thing about this situation is the fact that it is overshadowing the fact that, guess what? Moonlight won Best Picture! That happened! It was a major Oscar upset! Moonlight is a great movie, and I believe that it winning Best Picture should motivate a lot more people to see it! However, the situation is completely overshadowing that! Please! Go see Moonlight! It’s a movie that I believe everybody should see at least once. I feel bad for the cast and crew of Moonlight for not being able to get the experience of hearing their name called for Best Picture in a traditional fashion. That would've been a much better way to receive the award, but they won nonetheless Personally, I would’ve voted for La La Land, but hats off to Moonlight for the upset! Though you wouldn’t believe it by reading the headlines, there was actually more to this year’s Oscars than just that big mishap. First of all, the most exciting thing to me was seeing Casey Affleck win the award for Best Lead Actor. I thought for sure that Denzel Washington was going to win; he was fantastic in Fences, and he had a lot of momentum going into the ceremony. However, Affleck took home the award for his performance in Manchester by the Sea. A performance which, I believe 100% deserved that award. All of the other acting category wins weren’t really big surprises, but they were still great to see! Viola Davis won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences, and she gave arguably the best and most emotional speech of the night. Emma Stone won Best Lead Actress for her performance in La La Land, and in the first award of the night, Moonlight's Mahershala Ali won the award for Best Supporting Actor! Ali’s win is particularly exciting because he has become the first Muslim actor to win an Oscar. Also extremely impressive is that all of these now Oscar-winners are first-time winners! All of these were their first Oscar wins! These performances were each fantastic, and their wins were very well deserved. As far as my predictions went, I think that I did alright, though that really depends on what your definition of alright is. I ended up correctly guessing 11 of the 24 categories, so just under half of them. Though most of the categories I missed were the minor categories. Plus, there were several cases where the person I predicted would win lost, and the person that I thought should win ended up actually winning. So I'm by no means upset. Before I finish this article, I just want to address one thing. Since last night’s confusion, I’ve seen a little bit of a backlash against Moonlight over its win over La La Land. I’ve seen people posting things such as “#NotMyBestPic” on social media, and other things generally dogging on Moonlight for its win. To those people I have to say, have you even seen Moonlight? Did you take the time out of your busy lives to go see this movie? Chances are, the answer is no. That speaks to an overall problem with people and the Oscars. Many people don’t see all of the films nominated, which is understandable. (Heck, even I didn’t see Lion.) However, just because you didn’t see a movie, that doesn’t give you the right to say something should’ve won instead of it. If Lion had won Best Picture instead of Moonlight, I wouldn’t be out tweeting and saying that it was ridiculous. I wouldn't have the right to since I haven't seen Lion. I would actually go watch the movie, then I would make a decision after reasonably comparing the two. The Oscars award the best films of the year, not the most popular. So I urge you, watch Moonlight. It’s an extremely powerful film. It’s very well made, and it tells a great story that I think most people need to hear.  So what did you think of last night’s Academy Awards? Did you agree with all of the wins? Let me know what you think by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this article, share it on Facebook and Twitter! It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
Thanks for stopping by! Hello, fellow moviegoers! Well, it’s that time of the year again. The 89th Academy Awards are this Sunday night, and this year's ceremony looks like it could be a lot of fun. Not only is Jimmy Kimmel hosting, but there were also so many great movies that came out this year! So, for the third year in a row, I’m going to give you a list of my picks to take home the Oscars this year! This is just my opinion on who should win the award, who will actually win it, and what might be some potential upsets. Before we get into this, though, I have a confession to make. I was unable to see all of the Best Picture nominees before I wrote this article. I missed two of them. First of all, I missed Lion, which from what I’ve heard doesn’t have a good chance at winning any awards, so I’m not too upset about that. The big one is the fact that I still have yet to see Fences. Fences has a very good shot at winning several awards Sunday night, but since I haven’t seen the movie yet, I can’t say whether it should or not. I will be watching the movie very soon, and I’ll tweet out my reaction to that, so keep your eye out for that. Without further ado, here are my predictions for the 89th Academy Awards  Smaller Awards: I won’t go in depth for all of the awards, but for the smaller ones here are my predictions:
 Original Screenplay I believe that La La Land’s sweep of the Oscars this year is going to start in the category for Original Screenplay. The script for this film was one that invoked fun, emotion, and kept the film surprising and entertaining throughout. Though the film’s popularity has waned a bit recently, that’s mostly from mainstream moviegoers (i.e. not the Academy). I believe La La Land should and will win this award. If there were to be an upset in this category, I’d say it’d be from Manchester by the Sea, which also had a very strong screenplay. Should Win: La La Land Will Win: La La Land Upset: Manchester by the Sea  Adapted Screenplay Adapted Screenplay will be a little bit more interesting than Original Screenplay. I believe the award should go to Arrival. Arrival’s screenplay is a huge part of what makes that movie so great. It has such subtlety to it, and by the end of the film, the whole thing comes together extremely well. You can’t believe some of the things that happen in Arrival, but they work for the movie, and that’s because of the great script behind it. Though I think Arrival should win, I’m guessing the award will go to Moonlight. Moonlight is a film that is getting a lot of love from critic’s circles around the world, deservedly so. I thought Moonlight was a great movie. It may or may not deserve all of the praise that it is getting, but it was a very powerful movie nonetheless. Moonlight could end up getting a lot of love from the Academy this year, starting with Adapted Screenplay. Should Win: Arrival Will Win: Moonlight Upset: Arrival  Visual Effects The award for Visual Effects this year is one of the few that I would consider a lock. I mean, The Jungle Book came out this year. Is there really anything else to say? Sure, Doctor Strange was crazy to look at, Kubo and the Two Strings took a lot of effort with its claymation, and there was a Star Wars movie this year. But did you see The Jungle Book? Those animals were photo-realistic! Had that movie not come out this year, this might actually be a close race, but The Jungle Book blows all these other films out of the water. No competition here. Should Win: The Jungle Book Will Win: The Jungle Book Upset: Doctor Strange  Original Song More La La Land. Surprise! One of the most remarkable things about all of La La Land’s nominations this year was the fact that it was nominated for Original Song TWICE! Two separate songs! Those songs are “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)”, and “City of Stars”. One of these songs will win, no doubt about it. Personally, I hope that “Audition” wins, that song holds one of the movie’s biggest moments on its back, and it doesn’t falter at all. It’s a song of pure emotion; it’s a tribute to the people who are brave enough to be stupid and chase their dreams. Even though there is a lot of love for “Audition”, I believe the award will go to “City of Stars” purely because that’s the song that seems to be being promoted by the filmmakers and the companies behind the film. That’s the song shown on a lot of posters, and that’s the one everyone seems to talk about. So, it’ll probably win the award. Should Win: “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” -La La Land Will Win: “City of Stars” -La La Land Upset: “How Far I’ll Go” -Moana  Makeup and Hair Of all of the categories to cause people to get angry on the internet, it was Makeup and Hair. Really people? In case you haven’t heard, there are many people online getting upset because Suicide Squad was nominated for this award. They think the film shouldn’t be nominated for anything other than a Razzie, but I believe that this nomination was deserved. In fact, I would say that Suicide Squad deserves to win this award! The makeup in this movie was crazy good! Did you even realize that Killer Croc was made with prosthetics? That wasn’t CGI! I don’t think it’ll win just because people don’t want to give Suicide Squad an Oscar. The award will probably go to Star Trek Beyond, which did have great makeup, but it should go to Suicide Squad. Should Win: Suicide Squad Will Win: Star Trek Beyond Upset: Suicide Squad  Animated Film Who would’ve thought that the Animated Feature category would be one of the most exciting categories to watch this year? Well, with films such as Zootopia, Moana, and Kubo and the Two Strings all having been released this year, this category suddenly became one to watch. If I had to pick, I’d give the award to Zootopia. That movie was so much more than I expected it to be, and oddly enough I think it’s one that everyone should see. In all honesty though, I have absolutely no clue who is going to win this. It could go to any of those three films, and I could not make a legitimate argument against it. This one is a toss-up. Should Win: Zootopia Will Win: Zootopia??? Upset: Kubo and the Two Strings  Supporting Actress This is the first major category that my prediction is affected by my not having seen Fences. The Best Supporting Actress category this year is pretty stacked, with the likes of Viola Davis, Nicole Kidman, Michelle Williams, and Octavia Spencer nominated. However, I believe the award should go to Naomie Harris for her performance in Moonlight. She was unrecognizable in her role in this movie. Not because of prosthetics or makeup, but because she disappeared into her character. I believe that she deserves the Oscar for this role. However, if all of the hype is to be believed, this award will undoubtedly go to Viola Davis for her role in Fences. I can’t attest to whether or not that is deserved, but Davis is a great actress so I’m sure it is. Again, I will be watching Fences before the ceremony Sunday night. I’ll tweet out my reaction afterward, so keep your eye out for that. Should Win: Naomie Harris (Moonlight) Will Win: Viola Davis (Fences) Upset: Michelle Williams (Manchester by the Sea) UPDATE: After seeing Fences, I am further convinced that Viola Davis will win this award, and she definitely should. She was absolutely fantastic in that movie!  Supporting Actor The category for Supporting Actor is always a very interesting one to watch. Every year, this category is always jam-packed with great actors. Two years ago it was J.K. Simmons, Mark Ruffalo, and Edward Norton. Last year it was Tom Hardy, Sylvester Stallone, and Mark Ruffalo again (I still disagree with Mark Rylance’s win). This year the category is no different than years past. Nominated this year are the likes of Jeff Bridges, Dev Patel, and Michael Shannon. Though, just like two years ago, this category has a clear winner. Mahershala Ali should and will win this award for his performance in Moonlight. Ali really exploded onto the scene with his talent this year, and he undoubtedly deserves this award. Should Win: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) Will Win: Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) Upset: Jeff Bridges (Hell or High Water)  Lead Actress The one performance that I would say got snubbed this year was Amy Adams in this category for her role in Arrival. If she had been nominated, I would’ve had a very hard time picking between her and Emma Stone to win. However, she wasn’t nominated, so this year is Emma Stone’s year. Her performance in La La Land was absolutely fantastic. Emma Stone is an amazing actress, and it’s about time that she was given an Oscar. If Birdman hadn’t come out the same year as Boyhood (which Patricia Arquette rightly won for), I’d say that Stone should’ve won for her performance in that movie. She deserves an Oscar, and she'll get it for La La Land. Should Win: Emma Stone (La La Land) or Amy Adams (Arrival) Will Win: Emma Stone (La La Land) Upset: Natalie Portman (Jackie)  Lead Actor When I wrote my reaction to the nominees of this year’s Oscars, I said that I believed that Casey Affleck would win this award for his performance in Manchester by the Sea. At the time, it was one of the few categories that I considered to be as close to a lock as you could get. However, as time has gone on, there has been a lot of love building for Denzel Washington’s performance in Fences. So much so, that this category has become a two-horse race between these two. I still believe that Casey Affleck should and will win this award, but don’t be surprised if Denzel Washington ends up sneaking in there. Should Win: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) Will Win: Casey Affleck (Manchester by the Sea) Upset: Denzel Washington (Fences) UPDATE: After seeing his performance in Fences, I now believe that Denzel Washington is going to win this award tonight. If it were up to me, I'd still give it to Casey Affleck, but I have a feeling the Academy will lean more towards Denzel.  Director The category for Best Director is an interesting one this year. Not only did Mel Gibson get nominated after being shunned by Hollywood for many years, but this is one that category could go several directions depending on what wins Best Picture. Personally, I’d give the award to either Damien Chazelle for La La Land or Denis Villeneuve for Arrival. I don’t think Villeneuve has any chance at actually winning, unfortunately, but Chazelle is the frontrunner. However, if La La Land does end up winning Best Picture, don’t be surprised if they end up giving this award to Barry Jenkins for Moonlight. Moonlight has a lot of momentum right now, and Jenkins undoubtedly has a legitimate shot at taking this award home. Should Win: Damien Chazelle (La La Land) or Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) Will Win: Damien Chazelle (La La Land) Upset: Barry Jenkins (Moonlight)  Best Picture And last but not least, Best Picture. I find it a little funny that the category of Best Picture isn’t the most exciting category at the Oscars this year. This is the big award, but it’s also the one that not a lot of people are talking about. That’s because we all assume that this award will go to La La Land. If you know me, you know that I absolutely loved La La Land, and I do believe that it should win this award. I won’t quite say that it’s a lock, but I’d estimate about a 75% chance that it wins. That other 25% goes to Moonlight. As I said earlier, Moonlight has a lot of momentum going into the Oscars this year, and I won’t be surprised if it does have a couple of upsets. I don’t think that Moonlight should win Best Picture, but I can’t make an argument against it, other than La La Land was better in my opinion. A Moonlight upset in this category would catch a lot of people off guard, and well, the Oscars like to put on a show, so it might actually happen. I do want to take a second and send a little love Arrival’s way. Arrival was nominated for eight Oscars, but unfortunately, I don’t think it’ll win any major ones. There is a small part of me that would love to see an Arrival upset for Best Picture, and I think it would be well deserved. This movie was #5 on my Top Ten of 2016 list when I made it, however, if I were to make that list now, it might move all the way up to #3. Every time I watch Arrival, I love it even more. It’s a brilliant movie, and if you haven’t seen it, you should definitely go check it out. Should Win: La La Land or Arrival Will Win: La La Land Upset: Moonlight  So how excited are you for the Oscars this Sunday night? Who do you want to win? Who do you think will win? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this article, share it on Facebook and Twitter. It really helps! Don't forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
Thanks for stopping by! Hello, fellow moviegoers! To a movie buff, Oscar-season is almost as exciting as Christmas. Yesterday, the nominations for the 89th Annual Academy Awards were announced, and that’s something I’d be remiss not to talk about. I’m not going to list all of the nominees for all of the categories here, but you can find them on the official website (link). I wanted to talk about some of the major categories.  Let’s start by talking about the big award, Best Picture. This year, there was a total of nine films nominated for Best Picture. Those films were: Arrival, Fences, Hacksaw Ridge, Hell or High Water, Hidden Figures, La La Land, Lion, Manchester by the Sea, and Moonlight (You can find my reviews for those films by clicking on the titles). I’ve seen six of the nine films nominated this year, and from what I’ve heard of the other three, I think the Academy, for the most part, got it right this year. These might not have been the nine that I would’ve picked, but I can’t make any legitimate arguments against any of these films. If I had to remove one from this list, it would probably be Hidden Figures, as I wasn’t blown away by that film. However, I know that I’m in the minority on that one, so no complaints from me. One thing that I was glad to see was Viggo Mortensen being recognized for Captain Fantastic in the Actor in a Leading Role category. He gave an absolutely fantastic (no pun intended) performance in that film, and not many people saw it. Hopefully, this convinces more people to see the film because it was a unique little film that I think really deserves some attention. Mortensen has no chance at winning the award, that award will go to Casey Affleck, but I’m glad to see that he was recognized. I think people are a little too trigger-happy to call something a snub. It seems like if someone thinks something should’ve been nominated, then it wasn’t, people automatically call it a snub. I’m a little more hesitant to call something a snub. Before getting upset about a snub, you should ask two questions: “Did it have any chance at winning?” and “What would you take out for it?”. That being said, there are two things that I might consider to be snubs this year, but they’re not major ones. The first, and most prominent, snub this year was Amy Adams for Actress in a Leading Role. I’m a little hesitant here, because of the five nominations (Isabelle Huppert, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman, Emma Stone, Meryl Streep) I’ve only seen two. That being said, I thought Amy Adams in Arrival was much better than Meryl Streep in Florence Foster Jenkins. Don’t get me wrong, Streep gave a great performance in that film, but I would rank Adams over her, and I believed she had a legitimate shot at winning this year. I would've also like to see Taraji P. Henson get some recognition from Hidden Figures here, but I'm not sure who I'd remove, as I haven't seen Huppert, Negga, or Portman's performances. The second surprising thing to me was the complete shut-out of Sing Street. I wasn’t expecting it to get a lot of recognition (Although I would replace Hidden Figures with it for Best Picture), but I thought for sure it would get a nomination for Original Song. Nope, none at all. It was disappointing because Sing Street was wonderful! It was my second favorite film of last year, and I was hoping it would get at least a little recognition. Before I get to the most exciting thing about the Oscars this year, I want to briefly touch on Deadpool. There are a lot of people legitimately upset that it didn’t get a Best Picture or Adapted Screenplay nomination. They were convinced it would after its Golden Globes nominations, and also its nominations from the DGA, PGA, and WGA, which often foreshadow the results of the Oscars. While it would’ve been neat to see Deadpool get some recognition, I don’t think that it’s necessarily a snub like some people are saying. If you legitimately expected Deadpool to get nominated for Best Picture, you need to consider two things: the kinds of films the Academy likes to recognize, and the quality of nominees this year. Now to the most exciting thing, La La Land. As many of you know, I absolutely love La La Land. It was my favorite film of 2016, and I can’t get enough of it! So, you can probably guess that I’m pretty hyped to see it get 14 nominations! It was nominated for Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role (Ryan Gosling), Actress in a Leading Role (Emma Stone), Directing, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, Costume Design, Original Score, Original Song (Audition (The Fools Who Dream)), Original Song (City of Stars), Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing! Honestly, I couldn’t agree more with these nominations. Do I think it will win all of them? No, no chance at all. If I had to guess, it’ll win about half of them, which is still seven Oscars! That’s crazy, and very well deserved!  So what did you think about the Oscar nominations this year? Do you think there were any major snubs? If so, what were they? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this article, share it on Facebook and Twitter! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts!
Thanks for stopping by! Hello, fellow moviegoers! Manchester by the Sea is directed by Kenneth Lonergan, and it stars Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, and Lucas Hedges. When tragedy strikes his family in Manchester, MA, Lee Chandler must return home to try and figure out what they should do next. I don’t want to say much else other than that in fear of spoiling it. Regardless, this film is getting a lot of Oscar buzz, but is it deserved?  Manchester by the Sea is an absolutely fantastic film! This film is the type of film that you’d expect to see nominated for Best Picture and see discussed and praised come Oscar season. That’s not a knock on the film by any means, this movie deserves all of the praise that it’s getting. However, I don’t think this is a film for everybody. The reason I don’t believe this is for everybody is because this is a very sad and depressing movie. It’s the type of movie that most people see once, then they purposefully never watch it again. It’s dramatic, it’s realistic, and it isn’t afraid to trust its audience to handle some pretty heavy things. There are moments in this film where you feel the hopelessness of the characters, and you honestly can’t help but appreciate what they are going through. Though the film delves into some pretty gloomy things, it’s not just a two-hour sob-fest. While there isn’t really a character that is the “comedic relief” in this film, that responsibility goes to several different scenes throughout the film. These scenes feature the main characters joking around and being sarcastic with one another. Not only does it help lighten the mood, but it simultaneously develops the characters. Each and every character in this film was built up incredibly well throughout the film. These characters are supported even more by the amazing performances in this film. Casey Affleck gives the performance of the year in this film! His performance isn’t one of the grand, emotional performances that often get loads of praise (deservedly so). Affleck in this film delivers a very subtle performance. He plays a very quiet character, that often doesn’t say what he wants to. He’s not a very conversational person. Yet, through his body language, Affleck was able to convey to the audience exactly what that character was thinking, in spite of what he was saying. I mean, even his eye movements in this film were extremely convincing and helped to build his character! That’s how good he was! The rest of the cast did great jobs as well, particularly Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges. Both gave performances that deserve some award recognition. Every actor and actress in this film played off of each other extremely well, and their conversations never felt forced or unnatural or for the sake of forwarding the plot. Every performance in this film was extremely convincing in its own manner. The film is only elevated by the wonderful performances of the entire ensemble. I also want to briefly touch on the music and the end of this film. The music was all over the place, yet, it always worked. Some scenes in this film are accompanied by a grand organ, some with a harmonica, some with simple classical music. The music worked extremely well in this film and it fit the scenes and tone fantastically. Finally, the ending of the movie. The ending of the movie is the one thing that I’m struggling with. On one hand, it’s very artistic and it shows that life just goes on. It’s not full of big movie-like events played back to back. On the other hand, it just kind of ends. It doesn’t really have an emotional climax or anything, it almost feels like the movie just stopped playing and the credits rolled. I’m a bit mixed here, but otherwise, this movie was incredible! Manchester by the Sea was absolutely one of the best films of the year. It most definitely deserves all of the praise that it is receiving. Casey Affleck gives the best performance of the year, and the rest of the cast was nothing to scoff at. The film was very sad and depressing, but it worked for the story that was told. It does have little bits of humor sprinkled in there as to not be too melancholy, and that helps this film a lot. I would highly recommend Manchester by the Sea, just plan on only watching it once, unless you’re a huge film fanatic. 9.5/10  So what did you think of Manchester by the Sea? Do you think it has a shot at winning Best Picture at the Acadamy Awards? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter! It really helps! Don’t forget, I post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so check back then for more movie reviews and miscellaneous movie thoughts! Thanks for stopping by!
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Kyle Kruse
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