It’s finally that time again. Tomorrow, AMPAS is announcing its list of nominees for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. So, of course, now is the time to fill in your final Oscars nominations predictions. This is exactly what I’ve done here. Below you’ll see what I’m predicting along with a few comments here and there. The choices are ranked from either one to five or one to ten based on how confident I am that something is getting nominated with 1 being the most confident. Let’s get to it.
Christopher Abbott in Leigh Whannell’s WOLF MAN — PHOTO: Universal Pictures (Still image from trailers).
Directed by Leigh Whannell — Screenplay by Leigh Whannell and Corbett Tuck.
It’s strange to think back to now, but the final film that I saw in theaters before the world shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was Universal and Blumhouse’s The Invisible Man from Upgrade director Leigh Whannell. Now, almost five years later, Leigh Whannell has taken another Universal Monster under his wings with Wolf Man, as he has taken over a project that was once envisioned as Ryan Gosling vehicle from Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance,. Instead, Whannell’s leads are Christopher Abbott (Sanctuary) and Julia Garner (Ozark). With an early-to-mid-January release, is Whannell’s second Universal Monster adaptation as good as his first? Well, let’s have a look.
We’re now in 2025. Granted, it’s only the first day of the new year, but, hey, we have to accept that 2024 is now in our collective rearview mirror. Like has become tradition on this website, I start every year by listing the ten articles or reviews written in 2024 that were the most popular based on views. At the very end of the article, I’ll even reveal what non-2024 written output was the most popular in the year to which we have now all said goodbye. Let’s get to it!
Tonight, we say goodbye and farewell to yet another year. Every year has its highs and lows and 2024 was no different. When I think about highs and lows in 2024, a lot of things come to mind, including many global issues and crises. But, frankly, if I were to think of a couple of images that sum up both crushing defeat and our ability to rise up and out of the ashes, I think about buildings. Yeah, that’s right. In April of 2024, the iconic and historic Danish building and tourist attraction Børsen (which translates to ‘the stock exchange’) burned down. I was in Copenhagen on the day that it happened, and I remember how I and everyone around me lost focus and just started looking out of the window at smoke rising, as a building that’s always been a part of our lives was suddenly gone before you knew it. There is hope that it can be rebuilt, and it is that hope that I want to highlight here because, as a symbol, I am immediately reminded of the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris following its own tragic and fiery catastrophe. When we fall, we can rise again. If we do it together, we can rebuild what we hold dear. And even though the state of the world can look scary, we can unite around worthy causes to keep culture and history alive for generations to come. We need that hope.
I'm Jeffrey Rex 