10 Cloverfield Lane Review

About two months ago now, I saw that 10 Cloverfield Lane was trending on facebook. This was in mid-January shortly after I had done my in depth look at all of 2016. A Cloverfield sequel was NOT on my radar. In fact, it was on no one's radar. So when I saw it was trending, I naturally assumed that they had announced that a Cloverfield sequel was in the works and would come our way in 2017 or 2018. I was down for this. I'm in the party that loved Cloverfield and I'll get to that in a second. But no. But no. They weren't announcing that a Cloverfield sequel was in the works. They were announcing that a Cloverfield was complete and was coming in two months. And here's the trailer. That absolutely floored me! They made a freaking movie of this caliber without anyone spilling the beans. J.J. Abrams loves his secrets and this was a huge one. Back in the day this sort of thing happened all the time. You never really knew what movies were coming out until you went to the theaters and watched the trailers. But that was before social media. We don't live in a day and age of secrets anymore. The second a director, studio, or producer thinks about making a movie, it's already all over the headlines. But 10 Cloverfield was made and finished without anyone knowing about it. That's incredible!

Cloverfield. This is a fairly polarizing movie. It was a horror/thriller of sorts made back in 2008 when the idea of a found footage movie was still a novel idea. I'm not a fan of all found footage movies. In a lot of the recent found footage movies, the format was completely unnecessary and even held the movie back. Earth to Echo is a great example of that. Could've been a fun movie. The found footage made it kinda dumb. But Cloverfield did it good. It was an alien invasion movie done found footage style that gave you the feel that if someone were actually recording during an alien invasion, that's exactly how it would've gone down. There were so many brilliant, unique elements to it that made it really fascinating. But I get it. It's not for everyone. Many didn't like the alien invasion element or constant explosions. Many got super dizzy and/or annoyed with the constant, shaky handheld camera style. And that's fine. So if you disliked the movie for these or other reasons, this is a movie that you can just forget about, right? WRONG! This is actually nothing like Cloverfield. It's not a sequel. It's not a reboot. It's not a spin-off. It's not a prequel. It's not a side-quel. I don't even know if it's in the same universe. So what it is? J.J. Abrams called it a blood relative. Yeah, that describes it pretty well.

There's a lot of similar elements to Cloverfield, hence the name, but this is a completely different thing. None of the actors or characters return. We're in a different part of the country. There's no references to the events or people or date in the first one at all. In fact, this is not even a found footage movie. That will give many of you a sigh of relief. And while I do like plenty of found footage movies, I will share your sentiments. In this case, no found footage was a very good thing. Now I've been spending a lot of time telling saying what this movie is not because I want you to go in with the right mindset. But now let me tell you what this movie is. It's a thriller. And it's a dang suspenseful thriller that is successfully terrifying in many ways. While Cloverfield had a ton of characters and they were all frantically running around in Manhattan, 10 Cloverfield Lane had three characters and they were all confined to one small area for nearly the whole movie. We have this girl who leaves her boyfriend and is driving down the road at night when suddenly her car gets hit and she rolls over several times. After blacking out, she wakes up confined in what looks like a dungeon while handcuffed to a pole. "I just got kidnapped," she thinks. "I didn't kidnap you," John Goodman responds. "I rescued you."

I don't want to say too much about this plot because the less you know, the better it is. Needless to say, this girl is not convinced at all that John Goodman rescued her, but he's adamant that he saved her life. As an observer to all this, I honestly had no idea who to trust or what was going to happen. I think I flip-flopped in my head about 10 to 20 times. Maybe more. I kept playing out in my head what I thought was going to happen, but there were so many twists and turns in this movie that every 10 minutes or so I changed my mind. The second I thought I actually knew what was going on, the movie took another turn. This happened literally throughout the whole movie. And dang this was suspenseful. I was downright terrifying for nearly the whole movie. The fact that this is a relative to Cloverfield made this even worse because I knew based on that movie that I couldn't put anything past this movie. They could literally do just about anything and I wouldn't be surprised. That's what happened in Cloverfield. I don't want to spoil that movie for those of you who haven't seen it, but there's a lot of crazy things that happen in that movie. I didn't think for one second that they couldn't do whatever the heck they wanted and it made me scared.

All three actors in this movie were fantastic. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was our lead female character and she was so great in this. People these days are always on the lookout for a strong female character in a movie and by goodness did they get one with this girl. Her co-prisoner/rescuee (we don't know which is the case and I'm not going to tell you) is played by John Gallagher Jr. and he is also great as her partner in crime as they try to figure out what in the heck is going on. But despite these two great performances, it's John Goodman that completely steals the show. He has proven time and time again that he is one of the best actors in the business right now and has been for many, many years. His character is both very mysterious and very creepy and boy does he pull that off. Yes, he has the charm to him that at times will make you side with him and believe that everything he is trying to tell these people is true. But yet he also has the creep factor that just terrifies you, especially when he flips out at them. I mean, John Goodman is no small dude. If you make him mad, he is terrifying and inescapable. If he is chasing you, you better pray that he makes a mistake.

Did you know that John Goodman has never been nominated for an Oscar? Not even once? We all jumped on the Leo bandwagon in demanding he get an Oscar and we rode it until he finally won this past year. Can we make John Goodman our next target? He deserves a gold trophy as well. Thrillers rarely get nominated for anything, especially not when they come out in March, so he won't get one for this role, but I hope he does soon. There's a lot of other things I want to talk about with this movie, but I'm not going to touch on them out of respect for the experience. Just know that I was on the edge of my seat the entire time in this very suspenseful movie. But there is an ending to this movie that I'm going to vaguely dance around because when it comes to thrillers, one of the most important elements is to have a good ending and in this case I am completely torn. On one hand, I think it's genius and amazing how things turn out. On the other hand, they could've taken a page or two from the original Cloverfield. On a third hand, there was another thing that I wish they would've done that could've been amazing that they didn't do. What does all this mean? It means that you should watch the movie then come talk to me and we can sort things out.

All in all I really enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane. If you were a fan of the first, it probably means that you enjoy suspenseful movies and thus I have reason to believe that you will enjoy this one as well. Just don't go in expecting a Cloverfield 2 because that's not what this movie is. If you normally love thrillers, but you didn't like Cloverfield because of the found footage style or you thought the alien element of it was a little silly, then you might actually enjoy 10 Cloverfield Lane. It's a very different movie that spends most of it's time in a claustrophobic bomb shelter type of place and is not found footage. If you aren't in the mood to be terrified from beginning to end, this might not be your movie because this is one of the most suspenseful thrillers that I have seen recently and is much more terrifying than the original Cloverfield. I'm undecided on the ending as of now, but this is a non-stop thriller that is suspenseful from beginning to end and much of the credit there goes to John Goodman for being such a terrifying and creepy character that is very mysterious at the same time. I love Cloverfield and I also love 10 Cloverfield Lane. But for very different reasons. My grade for 10 Cloverfield Lane is a 9/10.

Zootopia Review

In the last few weeks I've been watching a lot of Disney movies. I decided that in honor of the release of Zootopia that I would compile a list of my top 10 favorite movies from Disney animation studios, much like I did last year with Pixar. This list will come later in the month as there are still plenty of Disney animation movies that I want to watch to make sure I have that list right. I also wanted to give Zootopia a chance to make that list, which is one reason why I decided not to post that list before Zootopia came out. If I'm being honest, giving Zootopia this shot was just a courtesy thing. Based on the advertising, it looked like it would be a fun movie. But no way would it be good enough to in the conversation with the best of the best of Disney animation, would it? Turns out I was very wrong. This is totally in contention for that list. I'm not sure if it will actually make it or not, but this is a lot better than I thought it would be. With Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, and now Zootopia, Disney is on a roll!

It's funny, a big deal was made in the marketing of this movie that this was a movie about anthropomorphic animals. Anthropomorphism is the idea of giving human attributes to anything not human. Which, if you think about it, is what Disney has done in almost every single animated movie that they've ever made. Like seriously. How many times has Disney had a talking animal in one of their movies? Or a talking object of some sort that is not supposed to talk? Exactly. I don't really know why this was such a big focus in the advertising. Granted, Zootopia takes this a bit further than they usually do by having these animals in human roles and human careers. But not even that is unique to Disney. Robin Hood is the first movie that immediately comes to mind that did the exact same thing that Zootopia did. But oh well. The movie looked like it would be absolutely hilarious, especially after I saw that DMV sloth trailer. Sure, they spoiled like the funniest scene in the movie. But they successfully got everyone's attention, so I suppose it was worth it. Better than spoiling the ending or some major plot points like a lot of trailers do.

So yes, I expected a fun, gag-filled movie that would have me rolling in laughter the entire film with perhaps a bit of Disney emotion thrown in there. And I was down for that. But holy fetching cow that is not what I got. In fact, it was pretty much the exact opposite. Yes, there were plenty of laughs in this movie, but I actually didn't laugh as much as I thought I would as the humor in this plays second fiddle to the story and the emotion. And by goodness is this a powerful, relevant film. Being that Disney actually hid what most of this movie is about, I won't dive into too many details about theme and plot because there is a lot. But I will say that this is about an adorable little bunny who has a goal to be a police officer. There's never been a police bunny in the history of Zootopia, but she is stubborn enough that she is bound and determined to make this goal a reality. Which of course she does because you've seen the trailers or the posters. But then we have this thing called adulting that she experiences. She grows up thinking that this thing called adulting would be fantastic and that everything in Zootopia would be perfect and amazing. But then reality sets in. She achieves her dream and starts adulting only to figure out that not everything is as it seems.

That's where the emotion of this movie kicks in and that's when this movie successfully does what the best Disney movies do. Appeal more to the adult crowd than to the kids while still being a fun movie that kids enjoy. Being that I've watched a lot of Disney movies recently, two classic examples of this are Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas. These are two movies that I watched all the time as a little kid. I loved them. But then I watched them as an adult and that is when I discovered the deep, powerful emotion that those movies have. I discovered the themes that the movies include that I never really knew much about as a kid because I didn't have as much world experience. When a movie can evolve like this over time, it's really a thing of beauty. While most Disney movies are fantastic, not all of them are like this. There are plenty that I've noticed don't hold up quite as while when I watch them as an adult. Others hold up just fine, but don't necessarily dive that deep. And that's fine, I suppose. It would be unfair to expect a masterpiece out of every Disney movie. In my opinion, it's fine to make a movie that is simply good. Zootopia I was expecting the latter. I thought it would be good. But yes, it accomplishes the feat of being deep and powerful.

Part of me wants to dive super deep into this movie and analyse all the themes in a lot more depth. But I'm not going to. They were left as a surprise to me when I entered the theater and since I enjoy the element of surprise, I'm going to let you discover most of that on your own. Just know that this is a very mature Disney film. It's very comparable to Pixar's Inside Out from last year as it dives into themes that will appeal more to adults. Kids probably won't understand the psychology of a human brain like adults will. But they will have fun with the characters. That's why Inside Out was so great. Good for kids. Great for adults. In Zootopia, kids won't understand that themes of adulting like adults will because they haven't had the experience of being an adult. But the bunny and the fox are fun characters that they can love. Good for kids. Great for adults. But when I say mature, it's more than just that. Adulting isn't the only theme of the movie. There are others. The third act is especially powerful. This also gets fairly dark for a Disney movie. The second half of the movie becomes an all-out crime drama as the fox and the bunny are trying to solve a certain case and there's some pretty frightening scenes with even a few jump scares. Older kids should be fine. But young kids might not actually enjoy this. It might be too scary for them.

In the end, I went into Zootopia with fairly high expectations. Despite me thinking it was a bit silly of them to focus so much on the idea of anthropomorphic animals in the marketing because this is definitely nothing new, I did love the trailers for this movie. It looked like it would be a ton of fun. Turns out I didn't laugh as much as I thought I would, but instead I was treated to a movie that had a lot of emotion and depth to it, which is what I would actually prefer. I love the experience of watching a Disney movie that I loved as an adult and learning of the depth that I missed when I was younger. It's happened a lot in my adult years. With these newer Disney films, I love the experience of going in and enjoying it right off the bat because of the depth and emotion. If it ends up simply being a good, fun movie like Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, and Frozen, then that's just fine. I love those movies for what they are. But if they can dive deep like Big Hero 6, then that's even better. Zootopia is the latter. In fact, out of this modern crop of animated movies from Disney Animation Studios, this is probably my favorite by a hair or two, but they're all fairly close, which is why I will also give Zootopia a 9/10.

Fuller House Season 1 Review (SPOILERS)

The first season of Fuller House was released on Netlfix on Friday, February 26th, at midnight pacific time. That was 1 a.m. for me. And yes, my roommate and I sat down and watched the first several episodes within the first half hour of it being released. After taking some breaks for things like sleep and life, we were back on it and within 24 hours of it's debut, we were finished. It was a blast! Normally I don't review sitcoms like this simply because there usually isn't much to say. Did the episode make me laugh? Yup. Okay, that's a positive review! Get my vibe? But this one is different because there definitely is a lot to say with Fuller House. And yes, I am throwing the spoiler tag up there because the non-spoiler review for this season would be really short. Do you like Full House? If so, then check out Fuller House. If you don't like Full House, then don't waste your time. There's literally hundreds of T.V. shows out there. Find the genre you like. Fuller House is made for the fans of Full House and for these fans, it pays off in a huge way. There. That's my non-spoiler review. Now if you haven't seen it, go watch the 13 short episodes and come back and read the rest of this!

I didn't actually read any reviews of the show before jumping in. For this show, I felt that was completely unnecessary. I do like seeing reactions from fellow fans and for that I went to the only place that I think people should go for reviews. IMDb. Call it untrustworthy if you want, but you can go to the episode listings and look at the average score that fans who watched the episodes gave it. Looking at this, I was pleased to see that fellow Full House fans like myself were enjoying the show. I think it wasn't until after I was already finished that I noticed that the critics on Rotten Tomatoes completely and utterly hated the show, which shocked me actually. But who cares about them. Rotten Tomatoes is actually a good site to look at what critics thought of movies. Recently they added T.V. shows to Rotten Tomatoes and that was the dumbest thing ever. I could go into detail about why it is so bad, but now is not the time for that. Yet I do want to throw it out there that I really hope none of you actually trust the T.V. side of Rotten Tomatoes when looking at shows you want to watch because it is a very flawed system.

With all that out of the way, let's dive into this show! To start things off, we have a song to talk about. Take a listen:

Yeah I know. It took me a while to get used to theme song with Carly Rae singing it. It's much better with the original singer. But I've gotten used to it and now I kinda like it. Some might find this hard to believe, but I actually like Carly Rae. Yes, "Call Me Maybe" drove me up the wall a few years back when it was all over the radio, the internet, and my life in general. It just wouldn't go away. But now that it's been a couple of years since then, I've actually learned to like the song for what it is. And Carly Rae does have a lot of good music. She's a talented girl. When you think about Fuller House, it's essentially a modern, updated version of Full House. They do pay tribute to the original series, but they don't spend the whole show reminiscing in the past. They are enjoying the present and looking forward to the future. And such, it's fitting to take the old song and update it with a modern pop singer. Yes, the old version is still better, but the more I think about, the more I realize that the old song as is wouldn't fit Fuller House. This isn't Full House. This is Fuller House.

But I am glad they kept this song as their theme, because the lyrics of the song fully encompass why I love Full House and why I also love Fuller House. I embedded the full, extended version of the song up there for you to listen to and so I won't quote the whole thing. Instead I will quote for you the minute-long edited version that they use for the opening credits. Here it is:

"Whatever happened to predictability?
The milkman, the paperboy, the evening T.V.?

"Everybody eventually
Says that they're as lost as you.
So everybody shout it together
'Hey, don't sell your dreams so soon!'

"Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a heart, there's a heart, a hand to hold on to.
Everywhere you look, everywhere you go
There's a face, there's a face, of somebody who needs you.
Everywhere you look.

"When you're lost out there and you're all alone,
A light is waiting to carry you home.
Everywhere you look."

That's such an inspiring message. Everywhere you look and everywhere you go, there's a hand to hold onto and a face of somebody who needs you. Life is going to get tough. You may feel lost. You may feel depressed. But if you look around you, people care. Your friends care. Your family cares. Everyone's situation in life is different, but life is something to hang onto because it's great! When you look at the heart of this show, that's what it's all about. Yes, there's a lot of well-written characters with great story arcs and genuinely funny humor, but in the end this is all about the feels. Each episode usually focuses on a different person who is going through a different challenge. These challenges are very real challenges that normal people and families have to go through, thus the show is very relatable and you honestly feel inspired and touched watching these problems work themselves out with the help of the other people around them. These are great lessons that teach important family values and I love it! Am I referring to Full House or Fuller House when I talk about all this? Both. Fuller House season 1 captures the magic of full house and this it feels more like Full House season 9 instead of Fuller House season 1. It's not really a new show. It's essentially just the same show.

The very first episode of this season is fantastic! In order to introduce us to this new show, we bring in all of our old characters that we know and love from Full House. Each gets their own introduction and a deserving round of applause from the studio audience. And by all, I mean almost all. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen aren't back as Michelle for season 1. But I loved how they handled it. "Where's Michelle?" "Oh she's off in New York working on her fashion line." *the whole cast then stares at the camera for several seconds* Yes! That was played so well! They were essentially breaking the fourth wall there telling these girls that they are wanted back on this show, even if it's for a brief guest appearance. This breaking of the fourth wall happened again in the birthday party episode when Romana states that she bought her stuff from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Kimmie looks at the receipt and says, "With prices like these, no wonder they don't need to act anymore." I busted up laughing at that! Yes, I know the nearly 30-year-old twins are living very different lives right now than they were. But I want them back. And so does everyone in the cast. In fact, I read somewhere that John Stamos is going to be begging them to do season 2. I hope he is successful.

But anyways, after we introduce all our old characters again and successfully usher in this new series, we then have a passing of the torch. This show isn't about Danny, Jesse, and Joey all helping raise Danny's three girls. This is about D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy all helping raise D.J.'s three boys. Because we start off learning that D.J.'s husband has passed away and D.J. is really having a hard time with the idea of having to do it all on her own, so Stephanie and Kimmy volunteer to move in and help her. No they don't invent the wheel with this show. But they didn't need to. There's a formula that made Full House successful, so there's no need for Fuller House to go away from that. I talked about this a lot with my Star Wars: The Force Awakens review. Many people were mad at that movie for being too much like A New Hope. That didn't bother me. It wasn't an outright copy of the original movie, but it followed the same, successful formula that made the original a big hit. And do you know what, $2 billion later it appears that this was a very good move for The Force Awakens. Had they done something completely different, they may not have earned nearly as much money.

This principle applies to Full House and Fuller House. If Fuller House had decided to be a completely different show than Full House and follow nothing that made that original series so successful, this may not have worked. Screw what the critics had to say about this movie. I didn't even read why they hated it. Fuller House knew what it was that made people like Full House and they followed that formula and it worked. Yes, I love this new role reversal. We watched D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy grow up before our eyes on Full House and now it's great seeing those three as adults trying to complete the circle of life by raising kids of their own. Or in Stephanie's case, helping raise her sister's kids because as we tragically learn later on, she can't have kids. That was heartbreaking! That's probably the moment in this season that gave me the most feels. Speaking of the kids, I was hoping our new kids would be as likable as the young girls in Full House. Turns out they were. Kimmy's daughter Ramona was my favorite new kid, but D.J.'s two oldest boys, Jackson and Max were fantastic as well. Ramona and Jackson did an excellent job at playing young teenagers go through teenage problems and max was hilarious as the annoying little brother. And of course baby Tommy was adorable!

Yes this show was episodic in nature. The focus was on each individual episode, which is how it should be. But of course there was an over-arching story and in this case it was the romance between Kimmy and her husband/ex-husband Fernando as well as D.J. and her newly found love-triangle that she has to deal with. I'm not always completely into the romance in shows, but for whatever reason I was fully invested in the romance on this show this season. First off, it was good seeing Kimmy get some spotlight from the writers. She's always been the weird, goofy character that everyone always makes fun of and she still is that in this season, but she also gets some moments of feels and a lot of those come with Fernando. He did feel very exaggerated, but it kinda grew on me because Kimmy is also an exaggerated character, so it worked. Then we have The Bachelor-style love triangle between D.J. and her two guys, Steve (aka Aladdin) and Matt. I totally dug this! Aladdin was D.J.'s high school sweetheart and so I'm glad he got such a big role. It makes sense to have them be together in the end, right? But I'm glad they didn't rush it and I'm also equally torn because the new guy Matt is super cool. Who did she choose? Neither. She wasn't ready. What a great finale! Meanwhile, Matt and Aladdin go off for pizza and beer together in such a guy-like way, both holding out hope that D.J. will choose one of them in the near future when she is ready.

Finally, before I end this review, I want to give a shout-out to the humor in this show! Personally I'm very picky with my comedy, especially when it comes to sit-coms. I hate most modern sit-coms. It's not that I'm a Grinch who doesn't like to laugh. It's just that I don't find them funny. Most sit-coms these days are so focused on sex humor and it drives me up the wall. I don't like this. Non-stop sex humor and toilet humor just isn't funny to me. I like clean humor that's genuinely funny. At one point a while back I wondered if I just didn't like sit-coms. Nope. That's wrong. I do like sit-coms. But it's those 80's and 90's sit-coms that I loved. There was Full House, Saved By the Bell, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Home Improvement, and Everybody Loves Raymond just to name a few. These were amazing sit-coms that I loved to watch growing up and still enjoy watching re-runs of on occasion. I don't know if I can accurately describe the humor in these shows and why they made me laugh so much, but you'll notice if you think about all of them that there is definitely a formula they follow with their humor that just works. I was crossing my fingers that Fuller House would stick to this style of humor as opposed to following the style from modern sit-coms. Thankfully they did. Fuller House feels like a 90's sit-com which is probably why I love it so much.

In the end, Full House is a show that I've loved for a long time. I didn't actually watch the show live on T.V. when it was around being that I was born when they were already on their third season and the show ended when I was six. But there were a lot of these sit-coms from the 80's and 90's that I absolutely loved watching re-runs of in my growing up years and Full House was definitely one of them. When they announced that they were doing Fuller House, I was immediately stoked. In fact, I was so stoked that I watched it with my roommate within the first half hour of Netflix releasing it and was finished with the season withing 24 hours. So yes, I loved it. My expectations were very simple with this show. I wanted them to capture the magic of the original series and they did. I laughed. I got the feels. I was inspired. I was entertained. I acted like a teenage girl watching all the romance play out. It was just plain out great seeing this cast back at it again as well as seeing some new cast members fit right in with all the old cast. No, a bunch of grumpy old critics who probably hated Full House can't hold this back. If you didn't get the memo, Fuller House has already been renewed for season 2 and I can't wait!

Movie Preview: March 2016

This past month was the month of the Deadpool. This was definitely a total game-changer as it proved that with the right marketing strategy, you can make money regardless of what your rating is. Most blockbusters go for the PG-13 rating because that seems like the rating you have to be in order to make a crap ton of money. Not anymore. Deadpool is already at nearly $300 million in the U.S. box office. And it did that in February. It smashed the previous record for a February opener which was set just last year by Fifty Shades of Grey. Times are a changing! But unfortunately February was a one movie wonder as nothing else really broke out. Risen and The Witch did well with their budgets in mind, but that's about it. Things will definitely pick up in March as in the last few years it's almost been seen as the first unofficial Summer month, which is especially the case this March as Warner Bros. is releasing what is pretty much guaranteed to be one of the biggest movies of the year in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. That's not even the only big movie, so get ready for this movie lovers! It's time to dive into March!

March 4th - 6th-

Deadpool has been reigning as king of the box office for the past three weeks with not even any close competition. That ends this week as Disney Animation Studios is releasing their 55th animated feature, Zootopia. This will the first of two movies from the studio this year as the Polynesian princess Moana will take their traditional November spot later this year. This is also the first time Disney has released two animated movies in one year since Lilo & Stitch and Treasure Planet in 2002. No need to try to convince you to be excited about this. Disney has been pleasing audiences with their animated movies for nearly 80 years now, which started with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves back in 1937. Although they went through a bit of a slump in the early 2000's, they've been on a role recently as Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Frozen, and Big Hero 6 have all been critical and financial successes. Zootopia will look to continue that success as it has yet to have a rotten review come in on Rotten Tomatoes as of the publishing of this post with 71 reviews counted and has no direct competition at the box office until mid-April at the earliest. Don't expect Frozen numbers of course, but this could definitely end up in the same ballpark as Big Hero 6 ($222 million) and Wreck-It Ralph ($189 million) or even a bit higher.

Next up is the sequel that no one really asked for in London Has Fallen. Back in March of 2013, Olympus Has Fallen became a surprise hit as the first of two bombing the white house movies that year. In fact, Olympus Has Fallen ended up higher than White House Down as it closed with just under $100 million after opening to $30 million. It did this despite poor critical reviews as it proved to be a fun option for fans of action movies. But yet, it wasn't the type of movie that really needed a sequel and it's certainly not a sequel that anyone was asking for. But we got one anyways and now it's London that is in danger now. With Triple 9 and Gods of Egypt failing the previous weekend, this could give action fans their necessary action fix. Reviews are dangerously low for the movie as they are sitting in the teens on Rotten Tomatoes, but this is sure to be critic proof once again. At least in the opening weekend. If this is another success, which city or country is in danger next? Let's just hope it's not Paris. That would bad.

And finally we have the movie headed for more of a niche audience with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. The unique title might catch people's attention, but the premise of this is a bit of a hard sell. This is based on the memoir The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Kim Barker, which recounted her experiences as an American international reporter over in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That premise might sound interesting enough for audiences, especially since the movie stars Tina Fey fresh off her success with Sisters playing the lead role of Kim Barker. Co-starring is Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, and Billy Bob Thornton, which is also really good. The tough sell is the fact that this is a comedy, not a drama. War dramas are quite popular. But a war comedy? On board to direct is Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who previously teamed up for last year's Focus and 2011's Crazy, Stupid, Love. If this movie gets anywhere close to those movies' numbers ($53 million and $84 million), this will be a huge success. It will look to avoid Tina Fey's Admission numbers which could only muster $18 million in March of 2013.

March 11th - 13th-

This week we have a huge surprise coming to theaters, that of 10 Cloverfield Lane. I say huge surprise because until January 15th of this year, no one outside the people involved in the making of the movie even knew of its existence. This is very impressive considering that in this age of social media, it's very hard to keep secrets. But J.J. Abrams and crew pulled it off. They made a high-profile movie without anyone even knowing about it until they dropped the trailer in front of the movie 13 Hours. Paramount did have a movie called Valencia scheduled for this date, but that just turned out to be 10 Cloverfield Lane's secret code name. Cloverfield was a found-footage horror/thriller that found pretty big success in January 2008. It held the January opening weekend record for quite some time. You'll notice that this follow-up is not called Cloverfield 2. It's called 10 Cloverfield Lane. That's because it's not a sequel to that movie. It doesn't have the same characters or even the same monster. It's not even in the found-footage style. However, J.J. Abrams called this movie a "blood relative" or a "spiritual successor" to Cloverfield as it has many of the same elements that made film a success with a combination of fear, weirdness, and comedy that made Cloverfield such a unique movie.

If Whiskey Tango Foxtrot doesn't work out in the first weekend of March, the second weekend of March will provide another movie for comedy fans in The Brothers Grimsby. This is a spy comedy starring two brothers whose lives went in very different directions, but yet a certain turn of events forces them to team up. Spy comedies can work very well, the most recent example being last year's Spy, which rode healthy reviews to a final total north of $100 million. The Brothers Grimbsy stars popular comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen, who has a pretty decent track record with Borat, Bruno, and The Dictator. These movies are very polarizing and offensive to some, but they have their following. The Brothers Grimsby is likely to be the same way, especially with Cohen on as writer. Larry Charles is not directing this time around like he was with the other three. Instead we have Louis Letterier, who has quite the diverse resume has he directed the first two Transporter movies, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans, and Now You See Me. Co-starring with Cohen in this is Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson, Penelope Cruz, and Isla Fisher.

March is always a busy month for a lot of things. Not just movies. This year Easter Sunday falls on March 27th, which means the month is ripe for a faith-based movie or two. This Easter season we will have four of them. One came last month. Another one comes in early April. That means with this preview, we have two to talk about and the first one of those is The Young Messiah. Movies about the life of Christ have been made almost non-stop since film was invented. Christian filmmakers have always had a desire to tell the world the story of Christ and since there's money to be made, Hollwood has joined the party, too. Despite all of these movies about the life of Christ, The Young Messiah is doing something a bit different by focusing on Christ when he was a child. This is based on the book by Anne Rice called Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, which is a fictional story about Christ around ages seven to eight. I say fictional because almost nothing is said about Christ's childhood in the New Testament. So some creative liberties were obviously taken to write this story in order to portray what Christ's childhood may have been like. With so many faith-based films coming out at once, that could limit the potential a bit for all of them, but the unique element of The Young Messiah could help it stand out.

Last and, well, probably least is the romantic comedy The Perfect Match. With a cast comprising of no real notable names, a director that hasn't done anything big, a generic title, a cliche premise, and an R rating, this has the perfect formula to slip right under everyone's radar. Terrance J, Paula Patton, and Lauren London previous all starred in a movie called Baggage Claim in 2013 which only made $21 million total. The director Bille Woodruff directed a couple of duds back in the 2000's and came back in 2014 to direct an even bigger dud in a movie called Addicted that only made $17 million total after opening to $7 million. The Perfect Match is about a playboy named Charlie who meets a girl named Eva. Convinced that none of his relationships will work out, they make an agreement to be casual with this relationship, but then Charlie decides he wants more. Yup. I told it was a cliche premise. A total similar to Baggage Claim or Addicted feels pretty generous at this point.

March 18th - 20th-

As is our annual March tradition at this point, we will get the next chapter in The Divergent Series, this third chapter being called The Divergent Series: Allegiant. Don't let yourself get confused. The Divergent books only have three books: Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant. But this movie is not the finale to this movie series. As is customary with these young adult book adaptations, the final book in the series has to be split into two movies, right? That's what they've done here. They just decided to drop the "Part 1" and "Part 2" from the titles of the final two movies and instead call it Allegiant and Ascendent. I suppose their purpose in that is to trick everyone into thinking that this isn't just the first half of the finale, because historically those don't make as much money. But that's exactly what this. Fans of the series are sure to show up. Although it is worth noting that there does seem to be a bit of fatigue setting in with this genre. Insurgent was down significantly from Divergent. The Scorch Trials was down a bit from The Maze Runner. The final two Hunger Games movies made quite a bit less than the first two. January's The 5th Wave failed miserably in trying to start a new franchise. With that in mind, it feels safe to say that Allegiant will also be down even more from Insurgent.

One week after The Young Messiah, our second faith-based film of the month hits theaters. That movie is Miracles from Heaven. With two faith-based movies coming out in two weeks, it could either be a very good month for the genre or they could self-destruct each other as Christian audiences might be forced to choose between the two. We'll see what ends up being the case. If you want to look at a great success story for a faith-based film, look no further than Heaven is for Real. Around Easter 2014, that movie shocked the world by opening to $22 million and holding extremely well to end up at $91 million. Now Sony's TriStar brand is back using the same formula that made Heaven is for Real a hit, hoping for similar success. Heaven is for Real was the true story of a kid who died and claimed he visited Heaven before he miraculously came back for life. Miracles from Heaven is the story of a young girl with a rare digestive disorder who is miraculously healed after surviving a terrible accident. And I hope I didn't just describe the whole movie to you. Both movies were based on books written by the parent of the child. In this instance, Jennifer Garner plays that mother.

March 25th - 27th-

The final weekend of March brings us the movie event of the year, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Warner Bros. initially wanted this movie to be the Summer opener this year, but Marvel is very possessive of that spot and decided to schedule that exact spot as well. The two movies initially did a showdown for a while as neither studio wanted to budge. But the second Warner Bros. learned that the Marvel movie planned for that spot was Captain America: Civil War, starring more Avengers than were in the last Avengers movie, they immediately chickened out and moved to this spot in March, which is looking like a very smart movie as it will have a whole month all to itself. DC was off to a bit of a rough start with their movie universe as Man of Steel was very polarizing to say the least. They look to get things back on track here as they are finally doing something that comic book fans have been asking for for decades. Batman and Superman together in the same movie. This is huge. Initially people were nervous about the idea of Ben Affleck as Batman, but that was put to ease when they saw footage. There is one question mark for this movie. Is it too crowded? It's not just Batman and Superman. There's also Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, possibly the Flash, and the supporting characters from the Batman and Superman stories. DC is obviously trying to play catch-up here with Marvel by rushing into the Justice League. Let's just hope it works out.

Speaking of a movie sequel that no one really asked for, providing counter-programming to Batman v. Superman will be My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. It was 14 years ago when My Big Fat Greek Wedding became one of the greatest indie phenomenons in the history of probably ever. It opened in April of 2002 and stayed in theaters for a staggering 52 weeks, holding extremely well. Despite not earning more than $11 million in any given three-day weekend and not getting higher than number two at the box office, it went on to earn $241 million at the U.S. box office and still stands as the highest grossing movie ever to not hit #1. That's pretty dang good for an indie movie that had a budget of only $5 million. Comedy sequels have worked in the past, but it is worth noting that waiting this long to do a sequel to a popular comedy didn't really work for Anchorman 2 and was even a bigger disaster for Zoolander 2 last month, so there's definitely no guarantee that this works. If it does work, which is also possible given that most of the original cast is back, it's of course unfair to expect a similar run as it's predecessor, but it could provide some good counter-programming for those not interested in a big-budget comic book movie.

And finally, we get the first of three horror movies in three weeks. I'll get into the other two when I talk about the April movies, but this first one is The Disappointments Room. These movies keep happening because they are really easy to make a small profit as they don't cost very much at all. We've had three horrors so far this year and all of them have made a decent profit when taking into account their very small production budget in mind. The Forest made $26 million, The Boy made $34 million, and The Witch has done $17 million in 12 days so far. The Disappointments Room will probably open somewhere between $5 to $10 million and end up between $15 and $30 million total. That'll be a success. The screenplay for this movie was written by Wentworth Miller, who stars as Leonard Snart in CW's The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. The director is is D.J. Caruso, who directed Disturbia and I Am Number Four. The star of the movie is Kate Beckinsale. That looks like a decent lineup on paper, but then you look at the haunted house/haunted room premise and it then appears about as cliche as you can get with a horror movie.

The 88th Academy Awards: Predictions

Tonight is the big night! The Oscars! I follow the Oscar buzz all year round and thus I find it really fun to find out who the winners are. I meant to get this out earlier, but oh well. Better late than never, right? This year has been especially controversial as it's the second straight year with an all white lineup in the acting nominations. This apparently makes the Oscars racist, despite the fact that a Mexican won best picture and director last year and that same Mexican has a great chance of doing winning both those awards again this year. People are also choosing to ignore the fact that Lupita Nyong'o won best supporting two years ago and is one of many non-white individuals that have carried home statues in the past. Yeah, I think it's a bunch of bull crap. Anywho, with that small rant out of the way, it's time to give you my annual predictions as to who I think will win. And of course, I will also give my picks as to who I want to win. If my predictions are wrong, that's okay. That just makes things more interesting. It's fun being surprised on Oscar night! In case you are wondering, my order here is the order in which the nominations were announced. Let's begin!

Original Song:

Nominations:
-Fifty Shades of Grey - "Earned It" - The Weeknd
-Racing Extinction - "Manta Ray" - J. Ralph & Antony Hegarty
-Youth - "Simple Song #3" - David Lang
-The Hunting Ground - "Til It Happens to You" -  Diane Warren & Lady Gaga
-Spectre - "Writing's On the Wall" - Sam Smith

Will Win:
-Youth - "Simple Song #3" - David Lang

Should Win:
-Racing Extinction - "Manta Ray" - J. Ralph & Antony Hegarty

I don't know why "See You Again" wasn't nominated here. It was nominated in all the other pre-cursors and won most of them. And for good reason, if you ask me. Oh well. You can never predict what the Oscars are going to do in this category. As far as what will win, I'm leaning towards the song from Youth, but Gaga could very well pull it off. Personally I like the Manta Ray song out of this group, but as long as that horrid Bond song doesn't win, I'll be content.

Cinematography:

Nominations:
-Carol - Ed Lachman
-The Hateful Eight - Robert Richardson
-Mad Max: Fury Road - John Seal
-The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki
-Sicario - Roger Deakins

Will Win:
-The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki

Should Win:
-The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki

Love or hate The Revenant (personally I'm on the love side of the argument), you gotta have mad respect for what they pulled off with the cinematography. That had me in awe for the whole movie, especially knowing what lengths they went to in order to make the movie look and feel genuine, like using all natural light in every shot. Apparently all the Oscar people agree with me here, because this is a guaranteed winner. Sorry Roger Deakins. Maybe next time.

Documentary Short Subject:

Nominations:
-Body Team 12 - David Darg & Bryn Mooser
-Chau, Beyond the Lines - Courtney Marsh & Herry Franck
-Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah - Adam Benzine
-A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness - Sharmeen Obaid-Chindy
-Last Day of Freedom - Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman

Will Win:
-Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah - Adam Benzine

Should Win:
- n/a

I'm not going to lie, I haven't watched any of these short films. Nor do I really have any idea which one is going to win. They all sound fascinating, now they just need to make them available to watch for crowds outside New York or Los Angeles so I can check them out. In terms of my prediction, I read a few accounts from people who actually saw them and apparently Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah is our winner, but I feel the Academy is unpredictable when it comes to these.

Documentary Feature:

Nominations:
-Amy - Asif Kapadia & James Gay-Rees
-Cartel Land - Matthew Heineman & Tom Yellin
-The Look of Silence - Joshua Oppenheimer & Signe Byrge Sorensen
-What Happened, Miss Simone? - Liz Garbus, Amy Hobby & Justin Wilkes
-Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom - Evgeny Afineevksy & Den Tolmor

Will Win:
-Amy - Asif Kapadia & James Gay-Rees

Should Win:
-n/a

Well now this is embarrassing. I haven't seen any of these feature-length documentaries, either. I almost saw Amy, but never got around to it. I like documentaries. I just don't usually seek them out in the theaters. But one of these days, I'm going to start watching these award-winning documentaries. I'm serious with that. As far as the winner, yeah Amy is winning. I'm pretty confident with that pick. I don't even need to read what other people think to determine that.

Costume Design:

Nominations:
-Carol - Sandy Powell
-Cinderella - Sandy Powell
-The Danish Girl - Paco Delgado
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan
-The Revenant - Jacqueline West

Will Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Jenny Beavan

Should Win:
-Cinderella - Sandy Powell

I had my reservations when it came to Cinderella, but when it came to production design and costume design, it was a heck freaking yes. It didn't get nominated for production design, but it got the costume design nomination, so I have to give it a shout-out right here. I hope it wins. But Mad Max is taking home the Oscar here as I'm certain will be the case with a lot of these smaller awards.

Sound Editing:

Nominations:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Mark Mangini & David White
-The Martian - Oliver Tarney
-The Revenant - Martin Hernandez & Lon Bendeer
-Sicario - Alan Robert Muray
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Matthew Wood & David Acord

Will Win:
-The Revenant - Martin Hernandez & Lon Bendeer

Should Win:
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Matthew Wood & David Acord

Can we give something to Star Wars? Even if it's just one of these sound awards? I'm not really the best judge at sound editing, but I just want Star Wars to win something and Star Wars does have good sounds in it. Like they don't use real light sabers to make the light saber sounds, if you know what I mean. And BB-8? Exactly right? But I suppose I'll settle with nature sounds winning because I'm pretty sure The Revenant is taking this one home.

Sound Mixing:

Nominations:
-Bridge of Spies - Andy Nelson, Gary Rydston & Drew Kunin
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Chris Jenkins, Gregg Rudloff & Ben Osmo
-The Martian - Paul Massey, Mark Taylor & Mac Ruth
-The Revenant - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Randy Thom & Chris Duesterdiek
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Andy Nelson, Christopher Scaabosio & Stuart Wilson

Will Win:
-The Revenant - Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montano, Randy Thom & Chris Duesterdiek

Should Win:
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Andy Nelson, Christopher Scaabosio & Stuart Wilson

Yeah, did you hear what I just said? I want Star Wars to win something at the Oscars and they do pretty good in the sound department. But yeah, The Revenant I think is winning. Although don't be surprised if these sound awards once again goes to Mad Max.

Makeup & Hairstyling:

Nominations:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega & Damian Martin
-The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - Love Larson & Eva Von Bahr
-The Revenant - Sian Grigg, Duncan Jarman & Robert Pandini

Will Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega & Damian Martin

Should Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Lesley Vanderwalt, Elka Wardega & Damian Martin

Both Mad Max and The Revenant would be well suited for this. I mean, Leo got attacked by a virtual bear and they had to make that look convincing with dang good makeup. Plus, they had to make the whole cast look like 1800's fur trappers. But yeah, Mad Max is taking this award home, too, and when push comes to shove I'll take Mad Max. I mean, they had a whole cast filled with post-apocalyptic wasteland characters. Half the cast was covered with make-up to make that look convincing. Although it would be kinda entertaining if the third movie here with the super long title took this home.

Live Action Short Film:

Nominations:
-Ave Maria - Basil Khalil & Eric Dupont
-Day One - Harry Hughes
-Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut) - Patrick Vollrath
-Shok - Jamie Donoughue
-Stutterer - Benjamin Cleary & Serena Armitage

Will Win:
-Ave Maria - Basil Khalil & Eric Dupont

Should Win:
-n/a

Once again, I haven't seen any of these. They showed them to the Oscar voters and to a very limited audience in New York and Los Angeles. But if these somehow show up online somewhere I'm totally down for watching. I enjoy short films. I'm picking Ave Maria to win. But I feel like any of them could.

Animated Short Film:

Nominations:
-Bear Story - Gabriel Osorio & Pato Escala
-Prologue - Richard Williams & Imogen Sutton
-Sanjay's Super Team - Sanjay Patel & Nicole Gridle
-We Can't Live Without Cosmos - Konstantin Bronzit
-Word of Tomorrow - Don Hertzfeldt

Will Win:
-Sanjay's Super Team - Sanjay Patel & Nicole Gridle

Should Win:
-Sanjay's Super Team - Sanjay Patel & Nicole Gridle

Hey, look! I've seen one of these short films! Sanjay's Super Team showed up in front of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur and it was adorable and touching. In fact, it was better than feature length Pixar movie that followed it. Of course I want it to win! And I feel it will. Animated shorts by Disney and/or Pixar usually own this category at the Oscars. Although I haven't seen the other four, so I guess that's not completely fair for me to give my personal judgment.

Animated Feature Film:

Nominations:
-Anomalisa - Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson & Rosa Tran
-Boy and the World - Ale Abreu
-Inside Out - Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera
-Shaun the Sheep Movie - Mark Murton & Richard Starzak
-When Marnie was There - Hiromasa Yonebayash & Yoshiak Nishimura

Will Win:
-Inside Out - Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera

Should Win:
-Shaun the Sheep Movie - Mark Murton & Richard Starzak

Of course Inside Out is winning this category. I will be in utter shock if it gets upset. And no I'm not complaining because I loved the movie. But if you've been following my reviews this year, you'll know that I've been head over heels for Shaun the Sheep Movie ever since I've seen it. I like how the Oscars keep nominating these stop motion animation movies. It's a shame that no one goes and watches them, so I'm glad the Academy notices them. But one of these days, I do hope they get an actual win. Same thing goes with these Studio Ghibli/GKIDS films. They need a win. And to be honest, I nearly chose When Marnie was There as my favorite over Shaun the Sheep Movie. Go see it if you haven't! So, so, so good!!!!

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Nominations:
-Christian Bale - The Big Short
-Tom Hardy - The Revenant
-Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
-Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
-Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Will Win:
-Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Should Win:
-Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Yeah, this one is easy. Five great performances. Don't get me wrong. But Sylvester Stallone's performance in Creed was honestly one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, performance of the whole year. I've loved the Rocky movies my whole life and Stallone totally knocked this out of the park in Creed. I'm glad the rest of the world agrees with me because he's been winning everything this year and thus is almost a guarantee. Glad to see Tom Hardy finally get an Oscar nomination. But his win can wait.

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Nominations:
-Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
-Rooney Mara - Carol
-Rachel McAdams - Spotlight
-Alicia Vickander - The Danish Girl
-Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Will Win:
-Alicia Vickander - The Danish Girl

Should Win:
-Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight

I don't get this category. I really don't. Winslet, Vickander, and Mara were definite lead roles. Not supporting roles. You can even argue that for McAdams as well. Jennifer Jason Leigh is the only true supporting role out of the five. I'd vote for Vickander if she got in for Ex Machina instead of The Danish Girl. It almost happened. But it didn't. She's winning and I'm going to be happy for her. But my vote would be for the woman who stole the show in Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Jennifer Jason Leigh. What a performance. Kate Winslet has upset potential and I'd be fine with that. I loved Steve Jobs and she was great in that!

Visual Effects:

Nominations:
-Ex Machina - Andrew Whitehurst, Paul Norris, Mark Ardinton & Sara Bennett
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver & Andy Williams
-The Martian - Richard Stammers, Andrew Langlands, Chris Lawrence & Steven Warner
-The Revenant - Rich McBride, Matthew Shumway, Jason Smith & Cameron Waldbauer
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould

Will Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Andrew Jackson, Tom Wood, Dan Oliver & Andy Williams

Should Win:
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan & Chris Corbould

Okay, if we're not going to give Star Wars the sound awards, can we at least give them the award that was made for blockbusters? And for crying out loud, shouldn't we give praise to J.J. and crew for returning Star Wars to practical effects? Please? Pretty please? I feel Mad Max will take this home as well and I'm not complaining too much at that. Although I do have to make sure to give an honorable mention to The Martian as well. Superb visual effects! And that bear in The Revenant that mauled DiCaprio? All visual effects. That alone almost deserves the Oscar as well.

Film Editing:

Nominations:
-The Big Short - Hank Cowin
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel
-The Revenant - Stephen Mirrione
-Spotlight - Tom McArdle
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Maryann Brandon & Mary Jo Markey

Will Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel

Should Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Margaret Sixel

Definitely no complaints for me here on this one. Mad Max is in fact my second favorite movie of 2015 because it's the absolute perfect action movie. Not the type of movie that usually wins this many awards, but hey, I'm not complaining. And if you go back and watch all these action sequences, it's the phenomenal editing in the movie that makes it so good. I'm not joking. If I could only pick one award for Mad Max to win, it would be editing. Although these are five great movies here, so I won't be too mad if it gets upset.

Production Design:

Nominations:
-Bridge of Spies - Adam Stockhausen, Rena Deangelo & Bernard Henrich
-The Danish Girl - Eve Stewart & Michael Standish
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson
-The Martian - Arthur Max & Celia Bobak
-The Revenant - Jack Fisk & Hamish Purdy

Will Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson

Should Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Colin Gibson & Lisa Thompson

Another Oscar in the bag for Mad Max and yet another one that I'm not complaining at. Although it would be nice to see Bridge of Spies and The Martian to take something home and this would be the perfect category to do that in, but they did create a post-apocalyptic wasteland with Mad Max, so yeah.

Adapted Screenplay:

Nominations:
-The Big Short - Charles Randolph & Adam McKay
-Brooklyn - Nick Hornby
-Carol - Phyllis Nagy
-The Martian - Drew Goddard
-Room - Emma Donoghue

Will Win:
-The Big Short - Charles Randolph & Adam McKay

Should Win:
-The Big Short - Charles Randolph & Adam McKay

Is it the best adaptation we're voting for here or the best screenplay that was adapted? Does that make any sense? I can't say I've read the original source material for any of these, so if it's the first one than I'm out. But if we go with the latter, then I pick The Big Short. Such a clever, funny, witty screenplay that managed to turn a subject that I knew nothing about into a fascinating movie. And yes, it's definitely going to win this award. It's been winning here in all the pre-cursors. In general, The Big Short has been coming on strong in the last month, so wherever it's nominated in, it has a shot to win or spoil. 

Original Screenplay:

Nominations:
-Bridge of Spies - Matt Charman, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
-Ex Machina - Alex Garland
-Inside Out - Pete Docter, Meg LePauve, Josh Cooley & Ronnie del Carmen
-Spotlight - Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy
-Straight Outta Compton - Jonathan Herman, Andrea Berloff, S. Leigh Savidge & Alan Wenkus

Will Win:
-Spotlight - Josh Singer & Tom McCarthy

Should Win:
-Inside Out - Pete Docter, Meg LePauve, Josh Cooley & Ronnie del Carmen

We're judging screenplays here. That's what I had to remind myself when picking my favorite. Spotlight is the definite winner here, especially since the Academy is going to want to give the movie something and it's been winning all the pre-cursors when it comes to original screenplay. But that Inside Out screenplay. Dang that was good. So clever and sharp from beginning to end. Ex Machina would be my second pick here. But I do love Spotlight, so I won't be upset.

Original Score: 

Nominations:
-Bridge of Spies  - Thomas Newman
-Carol - Carter Burwell
-The Hateful Eight - Ennio Marricone
-Sicario - Johann Johannsson
-Star Wars: The Force Awakens - John Williams

Will Win:
-The Hateful Eight - Ennio Marricone

Should Win:
-The Hateful Eight - Ennio Marricone

I love music and there were a lot of amazing scores last year. All five of these are fantastic. But there is one that definitely stands head and shoulders above the rest. Such an easy pick as there's a dang good reason why The Hateful Eight has been winning everything when it comes to score. From the second this movie began, the score just blew me away and it never let down. The Hateful Eight was very average for Tarantino standards, but the score was great. Tarantino himself is a moron when he's on stage, so let's hope hope Ennio Marricone is actually there to accept this award.

Foreign Language Film:

Nominations:
-Embrace of the Serpent - Colombia
-Mustang - France
-Son of Saul - Hungary
-Theeb - Jordan
-A War - Denmark

Will Win:
-Son of Saul - Hungary

Should Win:
-n/a

I've not seen any of these foreign films. I know. Bad me. But I've heard nothing but praise for both Son of Saul and Mustang and thus it wouldn't surprise me to see either of them winning. But I'm going to lean on the front-runner taking this award home. Son of Saul.

Directing:

Nominations:
-Adam McKay - The Big Short
-George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
-Alejandro G. Inarritu - The Revenant
-Lenny Abrahamson - Room
-Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

Will Win:
-Alejandro G. Inarritu - The Revenant

Should Win:
-Lenny Abrahamson - Room

It's hard to argue against Inarritu with this one considering what he pulled off with The Revenant, which is why he is taking home his second straight best director Oscar. George Miller could play spoiler here if Mad Max wins all the awards that I believe it will. But when I think of this year's directors, I immediately think of the man who took a young boy in Jacob Tremblay and got perhaps the best child performance ever out of him. But not just that. He got everyone to buy into the premise of Room and made it one of the most emotional and engaging movies of the year that really made you think about life in general and what it means. I really enjoyed Room and this was the movie where I gave all the credit to the director.

Actress in a Leading Role:

Nominations:
-Cate Blanchett - Carol
-Brie Larson - Room
-Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
-Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years
-Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Will Win:
-Brie Larson - Room

Should Win:
-Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Sorry, I'm not stoked over this group of ladies. I hated Cate Blanchett's character in Carol. I didn't think J-Law deserved an Oscar for the bland movie Joy. Charlotte Rampling was okay in 45 Years. And the star of Room was by far Jacob Tremblay, not Brie Larson. Brie did good in it, but I wasn't blown away by her performance like many others were. I wanted Tremblay to represent Room. That leaves us to the one and only deserving performance of the bunch of them. My girl Saoirse Ronan, who I've loved for a long time now. She was incredible in Brooklyn. Brie has been winning everything thus far, so she's taking the Oscar home. But I'm hoping for the upset here.

Actor in a Leading Role:

Nominations:
-Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
-Matt Damon - The Martian
-Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
-Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
-Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Will Win:
-Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

Should Win:
-Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant

It's about freaking time! I honestly believe that Leo is one of the best actors in Hollywood right now. He selects his movies very carefully and always completely loses himself in his characters. He's one of the most recognizable and popular actors in the business, but yet every time without fail I see his character he's portraying in the movie and not him. Even if the movie itself isn't great, Leo always gives 150 percent. He should be winning his second or third Oscar right now. Not his first. Oh well. And no, I don't think this is just a lifetime achievement award. Even if he had already won two or three Oscars, I'd still vote for him because what he did in The Revenant was mind-blowing. And yes, he is winning. He's won literally everything so far.

Best Picture:

Nominations:
-The Big Short - Paramount Pictures
-Bridge of Spies - Dreamworks
-Brooklyn - Fox Searchlight Pictures
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Warner Bros.
-The Martian - 20th Century Fox
-The Revenant - 20th Century Fox
-Room - A24 Films
-Spotlight - Open Road

Will Win:
-The Revenant - 20th Century Fox

Should Win:
-Mad Max: Fury Road - Warner Bros.

It's a three movie race right now between The Revenant, The Big Short, and Spotlight. The Revenant is the current favorite and so I'm playing it safe here with my prediction. But Spotlight was the big favorite before The Revenant came on the scene, so don't be surprised if it comes back and wins. But right now I actually think Spotlight is third. If there's going to be an upset for best picture, I think it comes from The Big Short. I'm not ready to call it. But it's close. If you ask me, all eight of these movies are actually really good. I think the Academy did a good job this year in picking the best picture candidates. Yes, Star Wars was my favorite movie of the year last year, but its award was $2 billion at the world wide box office. Better that than a little golden trophy, right? However, with Star Wars not in the mix, my personal choice definitely goes to Mad Max, although Spotlight is pretty close behind.

Risen Review

Just over two weeks ago, the movie Hail, Caesar! was released. The movie as a whole lacked a whole lot of substance, but I bring it up here because the premise centered around a group of filmmakers making a religious movie back in the 1950's that told the story of Christ from the prospective of a Roman soldier. Now in the same month as Hail, Caesar! we get an actual movie about the story of Christ told from the prospective of a Roman soldier. I find that to be a rather hilarious coincidence. What are the chances of two separate groups of people sitting down and both making a movie with this unique premise and releasing it in the same month? I love it! Moving on, Risen is the first of four major religious movies coming out around this Easter for Christian audiences to choose from and as a Christian I feel a special obligation to review these movies because other critics aren't the best judge of these types of movies, if you know what I mean. They almost always end up on the rotten side of the tomatometer, even if they are good movies. Take this one for example. It's currently rotten at 59 percent, but I'm going to recommend it because I thought it was pretty good!

When it comes to making a movie about the life of Christ these days, I do think it's important for a studio to go about things in a new or unique way simply because this is a story that has been told in movie form over and over ever since movies began to be made. I don't mean to say that studios should change the story completely by telling something that didn't happen. That's what the movie Noah did with the story of Noah in the Old Testament and it was a disaster. I'm just saying that if yet another movie about Christ is to be made, they need to bring something new or unique to the table. The life of Christ as told in the four Gospels is very rich and deep. There's a lot of information that can't all be told in an hour or two, which means that there are a lot of different angles or focuses that can be used while still being true to the story that happened. But if you make the exact same movie that has already been made a hundred times, it's a little redundant. This is one reason why I enjoyed Risen. It tells the exact same story that we all know, but does so in a unique way that feels fresh. How would an average Roman soldier react to these events? This is an intriguing premise that is pulled off in a very real, human way.

I should mention that this is not a spoiler review. I'm not going to reveal what happens. But at the same time, I will dive a little deeper into the story than I usually would simply because everyone knows the basic story of Christ's death and resurrection. Even if you're not a Christian, it should come as no shock to you that, spoiler alert, Christ gets killed. Then he rises again, meets with his apostles and disciples for a final time, and ascends to heaven. We all know that story. If you don't want my insights as to why I enjoyed this specific portrayal, then you are more than welcome to exit this review and go check it out on your own. That won't offend me. Just know that I enjoyed this and recommend it. If you are interested in my insights without having seen the movie, then lets continue. First off, this movie begins where most depictions of Christ leave off. The resurrection. That's what this movie is all about. One of the first scenes of the movie shows Christ dead on the cross. The Roman soldier that we follow (Clavius is his name) is given the charge to break the legs of the people on the cross to speed up the crucifixion process, which was a very common practice. When they get to Christ, they realize it's not necessary because he is already dead. Clavius then gets a good, long look at the Christ before moving on and that's our setup.

The whole point of this movie is the journey that Clavius goes on and it's a very interesting journey that is very relatable. I do get frustrated with Christian movies that paint everything as black and white, which is not the case with life. If it was, I'm in a lot of trouble because I've made a ton of mistakes that would put me on the black. There is a lot of gray area and I really liked this movie for showing that. The movie starts with Christ already dead, so we don't get to hear what he stated on the cross in this movie, but one statement that I've always been fascinated with is the following: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." He's talking about the Roman soldiers there who really didn't know what they were doing. They crucified a lot of people in that time period, many for claiming to be the promised Messiah. This wasn't new to them. They really didn't realize what they were doing. Often it's easy to point at all the followers of Christ as "good" and everyone else as "evil." But is this actually fair? Is it possible that there were some believers that rebelled against what they were taught? Is it possible that there were some Roman soldiers who would've followed Christ had they been given the opportunity? Absolutely!

Ultimately, that's what this movie is about. Clavius is a good man. He just happens to be a Roman soldier. You could argue that some on the Roman side, like Pontius Pilate, had more of a knowledge of what was going on, yet allowed Christ to be crucified anyways. Clavius is not one of them. He's just following orders. "Go break the legs of the people that were just crucified." Okay. "Please let me have the body?" Okay. "The body is gone. Go find it!" Okay. That last one is a big focus for this movie. The idea of the resurrection was a very foreign idea, even to the followers of Christ. More on that in a bit. But how would the Romans react to this? They did their best to seal up the tomb and even put guards there to protect it. Yet the body is gone. Are they all going to actually believe that he rose? Probably not. It would be easy to steal the body and spread rumors that he rose as promised, especially when they find out that the guards got drunk. But even the guards' actual story would seem hokey. "Two angels showed up and rolled away the stone." "You were probably hallucinating." "You're probably right." Can't you just see a conversation like this happening? So now we start a manhunt for this body led by Draco Malfoy and Voldermort's brother (Tom Felton and Joseph Fiennes) and that is really interesting because this becomes a crime drama of sorts.

Speaking of those two, both of them did a great job in this movie, especially Joseph Fiennes, who plays Clavius. A lot of Christian movies have really cheesy acting that brings the movie down, especially our Kendrick Brothers movies, but this is the opposite. Joseph Fiennes makes this movie and his reactions to various events is very real and human. He's just trying to do his best to be a good Roman soldier, but then he sees things that are very contradictory for him. The movie could've taken the instant covert route and suddenly make him the ultimate hero, but it really doesn't. Instead he becomes very conflicted and confused. If you've grown up thinking one way and suddenly you see evidence that perhaps you may be wrong, you're usually not going to simply jump ship and throw away everything you've known. This was one of the most real stories of faith that I've seen recently. You can probably guess who he interacts with in the second half of the movie and I won't spoil how those interactions go, but I absolutely loved those conversations. And Tom Felton as co-lead in this movie was also great. He goes through a very different journey in this movie than Clavius, but I think this is the most human and relatable that Tom Felton has been. He's very good at playing the jerk in his movies, even with his post-Harry Potter career, but that's not really the case this time around.

And then we have the depictions of our classic New Testament events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection. I have to say that this was all pretty great. Sure, there were a few odd little things here and there, like nails only in the wrists and not in the palms or Christ's final ascension looking like a bird exploded into the sun, but for the most part this felt very real and accurate. In this sense, I have to give praise to the set designs and costume designs for making this actually feel like 33 A.D. Jerusalem as well as the close attention paid to the historical details of the time. Most adaptations do fine in making you buy that you're back in that time period and even when they don't do great, you give them a pass and focus on the story they're telling. This really sold it, though. It really gave the feel that, despite a few little odd quirks, this is how things would've gone down. Along these lines, I also have to give praise to the look of Jesus himself. A lot of adaptations portray Jesus as this person who really sticks out like a sore thumb because he looks like an American living among the Jews and Hebrews. I have reason to believe that the actual Jesus blended in very well with the people around him and thus is why many people had a hard time believing him because he looked like one of them. Jesus in this movie definitely looked like Jesus, but he also blended in very well with the crowd, which I really appreciated.

Finally I have to give a lot of praise to the portrayal of the apostles in this movie. It's easy to look at the label of apostle and immediately assume that Jesus selected the 12 most spiritual and dedicated men of the that time period that were perfect from day one. That's how they're often portrayed. What is often overlooked is the fact that all of these men went through a lot of progression before they became the standout people that they are known for. Jesus' death was an especially trying time for them. These were still essentially brand new converts. After Jesus called them to be apostles, only three years had gone by before he died. Jesus warned them of his death and resurrection, but they really didn't fully comprehend what he meant until afterwards. Many doubted. Some denied him. Judas even betrayed him. These were imperfect men who felt lost right at his death, which is probably the big reason why Jesus came back to them. They needed more instruction. After he left the first time, they went back to fishing. Jesus came back to tell them to go feed his sheep. Go teach the people. The second half of this movie is all about the apostles and this is how they were portrayed and I loved it. Yes, Clavius fits in this, but I told you I wouldn't tell you how he does, so I will let you find out for yourself.

Will this go down in history as one of the best movies about the life of Christ? Maybe not. I don't know if this is going to be your movie tradition every Easter for the next 30 years. I will admit that there were times during the first half of the movie where I got a little bored. But we live in a day where faith-based films are on a huge high in Hollywood and when compared to this modern group of faith-based films, I honestly think that Risen is one better ones that has been made. This is not preachy. This doesn't portray things as black and white. It's not full of cheesy acting or poorly written dialogue. As a Christian, I do appreciate the good intentions of some of these studios, but as a critic of film I have to admit that a lot of them aren't that great. But this one is different. It's a well-made film that not only has an interesting premise, but has amazing execution, especially when it comes to the tone and feel of the movie as well as the acting. It's a great story of faith that I honestly appreciated. And it focuses on an aspect of Christ that doesn't get enough attention in my opinion. The resurrection. Most movies about Christ include the resurrection, but many times it's an afterthought or tacked on at the end. How many times do we get a movie that focuses solely on the resurrection? Exactly. That's what Risen is and I definitely recommend you seeing this Easter. I give Risen an 8/10.