Again, a year where I didn't see as many movies at the theater as I used to. If I had no experience in a category, I offered no prediction for those. Here are my 2023 Academy Award predictions.

BEST PICTUREAll Quiet on the Western Front ( Read more... )

I didn't see as many movies this year as usual due to family (my mom was ill and passed in November), but I've been catching up the past few weeks! Ready to do my predictions. Then I'll report back how on-target I was after the ceremony is over.

2019 Oscars
Wendy’s predictions (doing this for 20 years)

Best Picture:Black Panther ( Read more... )

Aquaman, after all the ways your movie could've been fraught, you didn't avoid ANY OF THEM except for casting a gorgeous hunk of raw sexuality for the lead (instead of Patrick Wilson, who, with bleached yellow hair, looks like the corny orignal version of Aquaman). Jason Momoa is SUCH a charismatic presence he takes your breath away in everything ( Read more... )

Watching and analyzing films is my thing. I see more movies every year than most of my buddies. And Oscar Night is my jam! As I do each year, I'm posting predictions. I'll be back later to document how I did. UPDATE: Several surprises at the Oscars this year! NO love for Star Wars -- it got nothing. And someone pointed out that Wonder Woman ( Read more... )

Well, sadly, this high concept movie, with only about 10 min of Kirsten Wiig despite what the advertising looked like, has done terrible at the box office. With reason! DOWNSIZING was all intellect and very little emotion. Except for one certain character (not the protagonist!), but more on that below. There are some intriguing elements in the ( Read more... )

Entirely charming and very emotional (many, many tears!), the Disney movie COCO creates a whole fabulation around the Day of the Dead in Latin cultures, what it means and how it works. Some of it was inspired fantasy, but several things are actually how Mexicans celebrate El Dia de los Muertos. The songs are fun, totally Mexican cancionnes, and the ( Read more... )

There's an agreeable slouchy quality to the southern-fried caper movie, LOGAN LUCKY. The actors all drawl (it's set in and around Georgia) and the money-laden target is Formula One. It feels somewhat like it was written and directed for a lark -- and the huge reason for that could be that Stephen Soderbergh announced he was retired from Hollywood a ( Read more... )

BEST PICTURE ( Read more... )

Ahhh, Taika Waititi. He's so askew and charming! Yes, his stuff is indie and low budget, filled with eccentric characters. But he's basing them on real New Zealanders like himself. He's half-Maori and half-Jewish (which explains his other performing name, Taika Cohen; Taika is Maori for Tiger). He co-wrote, directed and acted in (he was the kind- ( Read more... )

As a social justice warrior (!) I loved the idea of ghostbusters with a female crew. And then when I saw who'd be in the cast, I was delighted!! After seeing GHOSTBUSTERS, I was laughing and impressed. It is a lot of fun to watch! But I was also downhearted because the script was shoddy, the bad guy was banal, and there was obviously a ton of money ( Read more... )