Looking back years from now, I think 2023 will be remembered similarly to how people remember 2007 and 2019. It was an incredible year for cinema, and it was therefore incredibly hard to cut this list down to only ten (with one honorable mention). Some of the films that almost made it onto the list, but came up just short, include All of Us Strangers, Fallen Leaves, The Promised Land, Infinity Pool, and La Chimera. It’s wild to think that even though I really loved Barbie, it wouldn’t even have found its way into a top twenty for the year — that’s how good of a year for film 2023 was.
Continue reading “Top Ten Films of 2023 | Flashback”Tag: Oscars
Hollywood’s Biggest Night Celebrated Indie Film’s Greatest Champion | 97th Oscars – Recap and Review
On Sunday, Conan O’Brien hosted the 97th Academy Awards. It was the first time that the tall red-haired beloved comedian had hosted Hollywood’s biggest night for AMPAS, and it was in a year where it felt like one film ran away with the major awards. Indeed, multi-hyphenate filmmaker Sean Baker — someone who is known for his decidedly non-mainstream indie oeuvre, which has made him a true critical darling — became a 4x Academy Award winner with his very first nominations. Baker’s Anora took home Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Lead Actress, Best Director, and Best Picture. Baker’s film dominated the night, but how should we feel about it as a winner and how did Conan do as an Oscar host? Well, let’s run through The Great, The Good, The Mixed Feelings, The Bad, and The Ugly of the 97th Academy Awards.
Continue reading “Hollywood’s Biggest Night Celebrated Indie Film’s Greatest Champion | 97th Oscars – Recap and Review”Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 97th Oscars
The wait is almost over. In mere hours, stars will be walking the red carpet, Conan O’Brien will take on hosting duties, and, not long thereafter, awards will start to be handed out. But, hey, before we get to that, I still have to tell you which films I think will be victorious on Hollywood’s greatest night. In the race for Best Picture, for instance, it’s been a rollercoaster ride where I, initially, thought Anora would go all the way, only for the Golden Globes (and the Oscar nominations) to indicate that the real fight was between Emilia Pérez and The Brutalist. However, when controversies surrounding toxic social media posts, ill-advised statements, and AI started happening, the Globes’ darlings started to fall into the background. Now, after the guilds and BAFTA, it certainly looks like the big winner of the night will be either Conclave or, the early favorite, Anora. What do I think? Well, let’s get to it.
Continue reading “Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 97th Oscars”IFSCA Awards 2024-2025 | Winners
Yesterday, on March 1st, 2025, the International Film Society Critics Association (IFSCA / @IFSCritics on Twitter), of which I am a voting member, announced their full list of winners for the ongoing 2024-2025 awards season. Like any other film critics association, their awards celebrate the best films of the past year. Below you can read the full list of winners and runners up.
Continue reading “IFSCA Awards 2024-2025 | Winners”Why did ‘Dune: Part Two’ underperform? | 97th Oscars – Nominations
It was a good morning for horror fans as Nosferatu received several Oscar nominations, while The Substance broke through in the above-the-line categories, as it was nominated for five categories in total. It wasn’t, however, the best nomination morning for science fiction fans hoping to see Dune: Part Two get the recognition the critical acclaim would suggest it deserves. Sure, it, too, got five nominations, but it was a serious step down from the ten it got for part one, and it missed out on nominations in categories that some thought it was, frankly, a frontrunner in. So, what gives? Today, I’ve laid out ten reasons for why it had a somewhat disappointing nomination morning. So, let’s get to them.
Continue reading “Why did ‘Dune: Part Two’ underperform? | 97th Oscars – Nominations”Who Will Be Nominated? – Final Predictions | 97th Oscars
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.
Continue reading “Who Will Be Nominated? – Final Predictions | 97th Oscars”11th I’m Jeffrey Rex Awards – 2023

I know. I didn’t just forget which year we’re in. We’re about to say goodbye to 2024, and here I am with a list of the very best films, shows, and whatnot from 2023? That’s certainly a choice, right? Look, I’ll be honest. I’ve been pretty busy this year, and I, around summer time, felt like I might as well wait until I had seen the two or three films that I felt I had to watch before publishing my lists for 2023. It kind of makes sense, right? If it’s already late, then I might as well make sure the choices are bulletproof, you know? Anyhow, here we are, and I’m going to be running you through all of my winners in a single post. Some awards have been canned (e.g. poster, trailer), other fresh ones have been added (e.g. stunts). It’ll take some time, but stick with me here. Oh, and look on the bright side, this way the wait between the 2023 and 2024 lists won’t be all that long. Anyway, let’s get to it (and happy holidays!).
Continue reading “11th I’m Jeffrey Rex Awards – 2023”Christopher Nolan’s Coronation Had Kenergy | 96th Oscars Recap and Review

Last night, Jimmy Kimmel hosted the 96th edition of the Academy Awards on a night where awards prognosticators felt most of the big awards were already spoken for beforehand. However, conventional prognosticating wisdom did not always win out, as the presenters read out the winners of the Academy’s 23 categories. The early frontrunner and expected Best Picture winner Oppenheimer did, indeed, become the biggest winner of the night with seven total Oscars including wins that saw shatteringly good work from Robert Downey, Jr. and Cillian Murphy earn them their first ‘Little Golden Men.’ Hollywood’s safest bet and — as I liked to call him last night on social media — the ‘Crown Prince of Cinema,’ Christopher Nolan, had his grand coronation as Steven Spielberg passed the baton, awarded him with the Best Director award, and gave him a big hug. For many, that is what the night will be remembered for — i.e. the triumph of the immensely popular biopic and Christopher Nolan who, as some will undoubtedly perceive it, went toe-to-toe with Barbie and came out of the explosion that was ‘Barbenheimer’ with 7 golden statuettes in tow. Indeed, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is a hugely deserving winner of all of the awards that the cast and crew went home with (including Best Picture, which was announced in a relatively confusing way by film-legend Al Pacino), but that’s not all the 96th edition of the Academy Awards should be remembered for.
Continue reading “Christopher Nolan’s Coronation Had Kenergy | 96th Oscars Recap and Review”Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 96th Oscars
To paraphrase one of Hollywood’s all-time best awards hosts, it is a wonderful day for Oscar! Oscar, Oscar — who will win? In quite a few categories tonight, it seems we already know. But there are some genuine close calls this year with actress, costuming, and production design being particularly interesting. Read on below to find out which films I think will be the big winners tonight, where we all expect Christopher Nolan to be crowned for his achievements as the safest bet in Hollywood when it comes to visionary modern directors.
Continue reading “Who Will Win? – Final Predictions | 96th Oscars”Ridder Lykke (2023) | Short Film Spotlight
International Title: Knight of Fortune — Directed by Lasse Lyskjær Noer — Screenplay by Lasse Lyskjær Noer.
Recently, the Academy Awards-shortlisted short film Ridder Lykke from Danish writer-director Lasse Lyskjær Noer was announced as one of the five nominated films in the competitive and coveted Live-Action Short Film category. In a field that included quite a few big-name efforts like Disney’s The Shepherd starring John Travolta and Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, it was quite the surprise that a tiny short film from Denmark made the cut while those other films did not. It’ll still have a steep hill to climb, if it is to ultimately win the Oscar, as it’ll be up against Wes Anderson’s The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, which is, undoubtedly, the frontrunner in the category.
Continue reading “Ridder Lykke (2023) | Short Film Spotlight”







